The New England Patriots kept themselves in the NFL playoff picture with a 27-13 victory on Monday over the Arizona Cardinals, who lost quarterback Kyler Murray to injury on their opening drive.
Murray’s injury
Murray was carted off the field with a knee injury and was visibly upset after going down without contact on the third play from scrimmage, his right leg buckling beneath him.
He was to have an MRI exam on Tuesday to confirm the extent of the injury, which made a disappointing season worse for the Cardinals, who fell to 4-9 with the defeat.
“It doesn’t look good,” Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury said. “But we’ll know more in the morning.
“It’s tough, no doubt,” Kingsbury said. “You see teams go through it every week but you lose your starter on third play of the game, non-contact, it’s just tough to watch.
“I’ve never seen him (Murray) in that type of shape,” Kingsbury added. “So I assumed it wasn’t good.”
New England improved to 7-6 to remain in the hunt for a wild card berth.
The Patriots defense had six sacks and an interception, forcing one fumble and coming up with four fourth-down stops and one touchdown.
Josh Uche sacked Cardinals backup quarterback Colt McCoy three times.
Linebacker Raekwon McMillan gave the Patriots a 20-13 lead when he collected DeAndre Hopkins’s fumble and returned it 23 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter.
Patriots quarterback Mac Jones connected on 24 of 35 passes for 235 yards and an interception and rookie running back Pierre Strong rushed for 70 yards and a TD.
“Shout out to the defense,” Jones said. “Had some great stops. We’re still working through it but we came here to win and we got the ‘W.'”
With that in the books, Jones said, a relative lack of offensive production was beside the point.
“We came here, we just wanted to win the game. That’s all we cared about,” he said. “To do that you’ve got to execute on a play-by-play basis, and we did that pretty well.”
The Arizona Cardinals fired head coach Kliff Kingsbury on Monday, a day after the team wrapped up a disappointing season with a drubbing against the San Francisco 49ers.
Statement regarding Kingsbury
A brief statement from the Cardinals confirmed Kingsbury’s departure while adding that general manager Steve Keim stepped down due to health issues.
“We have announced that head coach Kliff Kingsbury has been relieved of his duties,” the Cardinals statement said.
“In addition general manager Steve Keim has decided to step away from his position in order to focus on his health.
“The team wishes them well and thanks both of them for their contributions.”
His departure comes less than a year after he inked a contract extension that would have kept him in Arizona through to the end of the 2027 season.
However pressure had mounted on the 43-year-old after a dismal season that concluded with a 38-13 hammering by divisional rivals San Francisco on Sunday.
That left the Cardinals bottom of the NFC West with a 4-13 record — the worst season of Kingsbury’s four-year reign.
Kingsbury’s relationship with star quarterback Kyler Murray has also come under scrutiny this season.
Recent US media reports have said the duo had grown “increasingly distant” this season, with the two men at odds over the nature of Arizona’s offensive game.
Murray has not played since suffering a knee injury against the New England Patriots last month, and is expected to miss the start of the 2023 campaign.
Tom Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers fell to a shock 21-3 loss to the unfancied Carolina Panthers while Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers suffered a third straight defeat with a 23-21 loss at Washington in the NFL on Sunday.
The results leave the two future Hall of Fame quarterbacks with losing records after seven games, with both Tampa Bay and Green Bay on 3-4.
The Panthers traded their main offensive talent, running back Christian McCaffrey, to the San Francisco 49ers on Thursday and came into the clash as heavy underdogs.
But Carolina nullified seven-time Super Bowl champion Brady and the Buccaneers’ offense in an impressive display.
Brady was 32-of-49 for 290 yards as the 45-year-old’s Bucs suffered a fourth loss, leaving the former New England Patriots star in the worst position he has found himself in at this stage in a season for 20 years.
Tom Brady’s Frustration
While Brady was frustrated by a resilient Panthers defense, his opposite number, former XFL quarterback P.J. Walker, deputising for the injured Baker Mayfield, delivered a first win for Panthers interim coach Steve Wilks.
Walker found D.J. Moore at the back of the end zone with a 20-yard pass to give the Panthers the lead in the second quarter and Chuba Hubbard’s 17-yard touchdown run made it 14-0 in the third.
All the Bucs could manage was a 27-yard field goal from Ryan Succop in the fourth before Walker delivered again, finding Tommy Tremble with a 29-yard touchdown pass to secure the victory.
“I think we all just need to do our job better. There’s no easy way about it,” said Brady.
“Anytime you score three points, that pretty much sums it up. We’re plenty capable of making plays, we’re just not making them consistently enough to score points. We make a big play, make a bad play, make a big play, make a bad play. In football that’s just not good enough. You can’t play like that,” Brady added.
Rodgers also found himself beaten by a backup quarterback, as Taylor Heinicke and the Commanders came from behind for a narrow win.
A four-yard pass from Rodgers to Aaron Jones gave the Packers a first-quarter lead and they extended that to 14-3 with De’Vondre Campbell’s 63-yard interception return early in the second.
But Heinicke started the comeback with a nine-yard touchdown pass to Antonio Gibson, trimming the half-time deficit to 14-10, and then put Washington ahead thanks to a superb 37-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Terry McLaurin.
Rodgers ‘not worried’
Two field goals for Washington gave them a nine-point lead before Rodgers again connected with Jones to make it a two-point game.
To add to his disappointment, it was Rodgers who threw a lateral out of bounds in the desperate final play of the game.
Despite the setback, 38-year-old Rodgers said he wasn’t overly concerned about the team’s form, believing they would bounce back strongly.
“I’m not worried about this squad. In fact, this might be the best thing for us,” he said.
The leading quarterback of a younger generation, Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs, offered another example of his quality, recovering from an interception on the team’s first drive in a 44-23 win over the San Francisco 49ers.
Mahomes threw for 423 yards and three touchdowns in the rematch of the 2019 season Super Bowl.
Chiefs receiver Mecole Hardman had a stellar day with three touchdowns — two rushing and one eight yard catch.
It was also a good day for returning Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott, who led the Cowboys over Detroit 24-6 in his first appearance since a thumb injury in week one. The Cowboys are 5-2 while the Lions fell to 1-5.
Prescott finished with 207 passing yards and one touchdown in 25 attempts, completing 19 of them as Dallas relied primarily on their defense and running game.
The Seattle Seahawks (4-3) took over top spot in the NFC West with rookie running back Kenneth Walker III powering to two touchdowns and 168 yards on 23 carries in a 37-23 win over the Los Angeles Chargers.
The New York Giants claimed their fourth straight victory with a 23-17 triumph over the Jacksonville Jaguars, with quarterback Daniel Jones finishing with a career-high 107 rushing yards on 11 carries as well as throwing for 202 yards.
The Tennessee Titans remained in charge of the AFC South division after beating the Indianapolis Colts 19-10.
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Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were sent crashing out of the NFL playoffs on Monday as a rampant Dallas Cowboys advanced with a comprehensive 31-14 victory.
Seven-time Super Bowl champion Brady — whose future remains shrouded in uncertainty — cut a miserable figure as his 23rd season came to an abrupt end.
The 45-year-old quarterback, who announced his retirement from the sport last year only to reverse the decision 40 days later, was never able to generate momentum for a lackluster Buccaneers offense.
Instead, it was the Cowboys, led by quarterback Dak Prescott, who dominated throughout to set up a divisional-round playoff clash with the San Francisco 49ers in California next Sunday.
Brady’s solid reputation
Brady had never lost against the Cowboys in seven previous meetings, but the chances of that record being extended on Monday always looked slim.
The only negative for the Cowboys was the form of kicker Brett Maher, who claimed an unwanted piece of NFL history by missing four straight extra point attempts.
The 33-year-old is the first player in NFL history to miss four extra points in a single game.
Maher made 50 of 53 extra points during the regular season, but his form collapsed bizarrely at Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium.
Fortunately for the Cowboys, Maher’s problems in front of the posts were moot, as Prescott and the Dallas offense set about dismantling the Buccaneers’ defense.
Prescott threw four touchdowns and finished with 305 passing yards from 25 of 33 completions.
The 29-year-old connected with tight end Dalton Schultz for a 22-yard completion for the opening touchdown in the first quarter to cap a seven-play 80-yard drive.
Prescott then cleverly scampered over for the second Dallas touchdown, faking a hand-off before sprinting into the endzone unopposed in the second quarter.
Prescott found Schultz for the tight end’s second touchdown of the night to make it 18-0 at half-time.
Michael Gallup collected a two-yard pass from Prescott for Dallas’s fourth touchdown to make it 24-0 in the third quarter, and despite Maher’s problems with the boot, there was to be no way back for Brady and the Buccaneers.
Brady showed a flicker of his old self late in the third quarter with a superbly flighted 30-yard pass to find Julio Jones for a touchdown that made it 24-6.
But Dallas responded emphatically at the start of the fourth quarter with their fifth touchdown of the night.
Dallas coach Mike McCarthy spurned the chance to give Maher a field goal attempt on a 4th&4 and instead Prescott tossed a touchdown pass to a wide-open CeeDee Lamb.
Maher finally drilled an extra point to make it 31-6.
Play was interrupted late in the fourth quarter after an apparent neck injury to Bucs receiver Russell Gage, before Brady connected with Cameron Brate for a second touchdown. A successful two-point conversion made it 31-14.
The Minnesota Viking’s Kirk Cousins threw for 265 yards and two touchdowns in a triumphant NFL return to Washington on Sunday while the Buffalo Bills were upset by the New York Jets.
Cousins, who spent six largely frustrating NFL seasons with Washington before joining the Vikings in 2018, sparked Minnesota over the Commanders 20-17.
“I knew I was going to be emotional pulling in, seeing the player parking lot where we used to hang out. I about shed a tear,” Cousins said.
“But we had a job to do, and we got the job done.”
The Vikings on the rise
The Vikings, who trailed 17-7 in the fourth quarter, improved to 7-1 overall — their best start since 2009 — and stretched their win streak to six games, each victory coming by eight points or less.
“We feel like we’re using too many of our lives right now. We need to win a little more convincingly,” Cousins said. “We’ve got to find ways to win a little better. We’ve got to play a little better.
“But I’d much rather have these conversations in the meeting room tomorrow after a win.”
Cousins completed 22 of 40 passes, including touchdown tosses of nine yards to Justin Jefferson and 12 yards to Dalvin Cook, and guided a six-minute drive to set up Greg Joseph’s winning field goal with 12 seconds remaining.
“We’re finding ways to win,” Cousins said. “We’re finding the inches. We grind on them and keep trying to pull them out at the end.”
At New York, the Jets drove 86 yards to set up Greg Zuerlein’s 28-yard game-winning field goal with 1:43 remaining to beat Buffalo 20-17 for their best start in 12 years.
Bills quarterback Josh Allen ran for two touchdowns but Jets defenders stifled the NFL’s top offensive unit as Buffalo fell to 6-2, still ahead of the Jets (6-3) atop the AFC East division.
Miami improved to 6-3 in the AFC East as Tua Tagovailoa threw for 302 yards and three touchdowns in the Dolphins’ 35-32 victory at Chicago.
Chicago’s Justin Fields, who had three touchdown passes and a touchdown run in a losing cause, ran for 178 yards to set an NFL one-game regular-season record for quarterbacks, five more than Michael Vick’s old mark from 2002.
AFC East rival New England improved to 5-4 with a 26-3 home rout of Indianapolis as Mac Jones threw for a touchdown and Jonathan Jones returned an interception 17 yards for a touchdown.
Brady heroics bring win
Tom Brady flipped a 1-yard touchdown pass to Cade Otton with nine seconds remaining to give Tampa Bay a 16-13 victory over the reigning Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams.
The 45-year-old quarterback, winner of a record seven Super Bowl crowns, became the first player with 100,000 career p
Image of Tom Brady from Wikipedia.
assing yards, completing 36-of-58 throws for 280 yards.
Brady also delivered his NFL record 69th career game-winning drive in the last two minutes or overtime.
The Buccaneers improved to 4-5 while the Rams fell to 3-5 in the first meeting of the two prior NFL champions in which both had losing records.
The Green Bay Packers (3-6) suffered their fifth consecutive loss, falling 15-9 at Detroit as Aaron Rodgers threw three interceptions while Jared Goff threw two touchdown passes for the Lions.
Cincinnati’s Joe Mixon scored a team-record five touchdowns, running 22 times for 153 yards and four touchdowns with four receptions for 58 yards and another score, to power the Bengals over visiting Carolina 42-21.
Travis Etienne ran for 109 yards and two touchdowns and Trevor Lawrence threw for another score as host Jacksonville rallied from a 17-0 deficit to defeat Las Vegas 27-20.
Cameron Dicker’s 37-yard field goal on the final play gave the Los Angeles Chargers a 20-17 triumph at Atlanta. Austin Ekeler ran for one touchdown and caught a touchdown pass for the Chargers.
Geno Smith threw for 275 yards and two touchdowns and Kenneth Walker ran 26 times for 109 yards and two touchdowns to spark Seattle over host Arizona 31-21.
Jalen Hurts threw four touchdown passes, three of them to A.J. Brown, as the NFL’s only unbeaten team, the Philadelphia Eagles, crushed the Pittsburgh Steelers 35-13 on Sunday.
Hurt’s Inspiration
Impressive Hurts cast aside any lingering doubts about his ability, completing 19 of 28 passes for 285 yards, and the Steelers had no answer to his connection with Brown, who had six receptions for 156 yards as the Eagles moved to 7-0.
“It’s a testament to the receivers we have, the protection we had all day,” Hurts said. “It’s a testament to the work we put in as a team. No man is an island. You’ve got to draw your strength from others.”
The three Hurts-to-Brown touchdowns came in the first half to give the Eagles a 21-0 lead at the half and the win was secured thanks to a 34-yard pass from Hurts to Zach Pascal in the third quarter and an 11-yard touchdown run from Miles Sanders in the fourth.
“We just want to be great,” Brown said of his connection with Hurts. “He knows what I want to accomplish and I know what he wants to accomplish. We’re just having fun and playing for one another.”
It’s only the second time in franchise history that the Eagles have opened the season 7-0 and the first since the 2004 season.
“There isn’t any time to celebrate,” Eagles defensive tackle Javon Hargrave said. “We’re glad we’re 7-0 but there’s a whole lot more to accomplish.”
The Minnesota Vikings improved to 6-1 with a 34-26 victory over the Arizona Cardinals while running back Tony Pollard rushed for three touchdowns as the Dallas Cowboys rose to 6-2 by beating the Chicago Bears 49-29.
A pair of third-quarter touchdowns gave the Vikings an 11-point lead over the Cardinals.
Arizona reduced the deficit to 28-26 after Kyler Murray found Rondale Moore with a 34-yard touchdown pass and Matt Prater added a field goal, but Kirk Cousins wrapped up the win with a 5-yard pass to K.J Osborn.
Dallas running back Pollard starred with a career-best effort, rushing for 131 yards on 14 carries and three touchdowns.
Buffalo improved to 6-1 by defeating the visiting Green Bay Packers 27-17 as Josh Allen threw for 218 yards and two touchdowns.
The Packers fell to 3-5 despite Aaron Rodgers throwing for 203 yards and two touchdowns and Aaron Jones rushing for 143 yards.
McCaffrey hits treble
San Francisco routed the reigning NFL champion Los Angeles Rams 31-14 as 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey, in only his second game since arriving in a deal with Carolina, delivered an epic effort.
McCaffrey became the first NFL player since LaDainian Tomlinson in 2005, and only the fourth since 1970, to throw and run for a touchdown and catch a touchdown pass in the same game with a 34-yard touchdown toss to Brandon Aiyuk, a 9-yard scoring grab from Jimmy Garoppolo and a 1-yard touchdown run.
Derrick Henry ran 32 times for 219 yards and two touchdowns to give Tennessee a 17-10 triumph at Houston. It was his sixth career 200-yard rushing performance, matching the NFL record shared by O.J. Simpson and Adrian Peterson.
South Korean-born Younghoe Koo kicked a 41-yard field goal in overtime to give Atlanta a 37-34 home victory over Carolina while Geno Smith threw for 212 yards and two touchdowns to lead Seattle over the visiting New York Giants 27-13, dropping New York to 6-2.
Taylor Heinicke’s 1-yard touchdown run and a conversion kick with 22 seconds remaining gave Washington a 17-16 victory at Indianapolis.
Nick Folk kicked five field goals for New England in the Patriots’ 22-17 triumph at the New York Jets while Andy Dalton threw for 229 yards and two touchdowns in New Orleans’ 24-0 home victory over Las Vegas.
Tua Tagovailoa’s third touchdown pass, an 11-yarder to Mike Gesicki with 12 seconds remaining, gave Miami a 31-27 victory at Detroit while Latavius Murray’s late 2-yard touchdown gave Denver a 21-17 victory over Jacksonville at London.
