Julio takes charge in Falcons win, with an assist from Sanu
Julio Jones caught 12 passes for 253 yards and two touchdowns in the Falcons’ 34–20 win over the Buccaneers. It was the third time that Jones gained at least 250 yards on pass receptions in one game, having previously done so against the Packers in 2014 (11 receptions for 259 yards) and the Panthers last season (12 for 300). No other player in NFL history has more than one such game.
The first of Jones’ TD receptions came on a 51-yard pass from Mohamed Sanu. Sanu has completed all six passes that he has thrown in six seasons in the NFL—three for at least 50 yards, and two for touchdowns. He threw a 73-yard TD pass to A.J. Green in 2012. Some benchmarks by which to measure those accomplishments:
- Only three other active players completed their first six passes in the NFL: Brian Hoyer, Derek Carr, and Alex Tanney.
- It took Drew Brees 874 passes to complete three of them for at least 50 yards. Tom Brady didn’t throw his third completion for 50 yards or longer until his 1238th pass.
- Over the last 35 years, Sanu is the only player other than quarterbacks with two or more touchdown passes of 50 yards or longer. Among the other non-QBs to do so were Frank Gifford (3) and Walter Payton (2). The most recent prior to Sanu was Andy Johnson of the Patriots, with two long TD passes to Stanley Morgan during the 1981 season.
Philadelphia wins November
The Eagles defeated the Bears, 31–3, to cap a month in which they won all three games, each by exactly 28 points. Philadelphia’s previous wins this month were by scores of 51–23 over Denver and 37–9 over Dallas. The Eagles’ scoring margin of 84 points in November was the highest in a month of three games since November 1993, when the 49ers outscored their opponents, 122–38.
Blount and Ajayi give Eagles two breakaway threats
LeGarrette Blount and Jay Ajayi both broke runs of 30 yards or longer in Philadelphia’s win over the Bears on Sunday, just as they did against the Cowboys last week. Since 1940, only two other pairs of teammates both gained at least 30 yards on a rushing play in each of two consecutive games: Dick Hoerner and Dan Towler of the Rams in 1951, and Hugh McElhenny and Joe Perry of the 49ers in 1956.
Boswell keeps field-goal streak alive with record-tying game-winner
Chris Boswell kicked a 53-yard field goal as time expired to give the Steelers a 31–28 win over the Packers. It was Boswell’s 19th consecutive field goal at Heinz Field, which is the second-longest streak in the history of that stadium; Shaun Suisham made 23 straight FGs at there from 2012 to 2014. Boswell’s kick also tied the longest field goal at Heinz Field, set by Dan Bailey of the Cowboys last season.
Boswell is only the second NFL player to kick a fourth-quarter game-winning field goal of 50 yards or longer after missing an extra point earlier in the game. The first was Lawrence Tynes of the Chiefs against the Chargers in 2006.
Hundley shines in Packers’ loss
Brett Hundley threw touchdown passes of 39 yards (to Randall Cobb), 54 yards (to Jamaal Williams), and 55 yards (to Davante Adams) in the Packers’ loss to the Steelers. Only three other visiting players threw three TD passes of 30 yards or longer at Pittsburgh: Otto Graham (1952), Jim Plunkett (1980), and Tony Banks (1999).
Brady throws 4 TD passes in Patriots’ win
Tom Brady threw four touchdown passes in the Patriots’ 35–20 win over the Dolphins, 16 years and one day after the first of his 28 games with four or more TD passes. Brady’s first 4-TD game was in a 35–17 win over New Orleans on November 25, 2001. Only two other players spanned 17 or more seasons between their first and last 4-TD games: Brett Favre (1993–2009) and Fran Tarkenton (1961–78).
The only players with as many games with four or more touchdown passes as Brady are Peyton Manning (35) and Drew Brees (31).
A meaningful Saints-Rams game in battle of high-scoring teams
The Saints and Rams both played in the NFC West for 32 seasons (1970–2001) and have faced each other in 73 regular-season games. Sunday’s contest was only the third of those games for which both teams were at least four games above the .500 mark. The first two were played in 1988.
The Rams defeated the Saints, 26–20, in a rare late-season meeting of teams both averaging at least 30 points per game coming into the game. There were only five other such games in NFL history with each team having played at least 10 games to that point in the season. Oddly, only two of the 12 teams in those games scored as many as 30 points, and none met or exceeded its season average.
Panthers steal a victory with two quick return TDs
Luke Kuechly and Kaelin Clay scored on a 34-yard fumble return and a 60-yard punt return, respectively, to turn a 20–18 fourth-quarter deficit to a 32–20 lead, and the Panthers held on for a 35–27 victory over the Jets. The touchdowns were scored 2 minutes, 11 seconds apart—by far the fastest return TDs in team history.
Aging Dawson kicks record-breaking field goal
Phil Dawson kicked a 57-yard tie-breaking field goal with 1 second remaining to give the Cardinals a 27–24 victory over the Jaguars. That was the longest fourth-quarter game-winning field goal in NFL history by a kicker in his 40s. (Dawson is 42 years old.) The most recent holders of that record were George Blanda (52 yards), Jan Stenerud (53), Gary Anderson (53), and Adam Vinatieri (55).
Raiders build big lead before Broncos get on the board
The Raiders opened a 21–0 lead at Denver and held on for a 21–14 victory. From 1979 to 2009, the Broncos went 31 seasons without allowing any opponent to score the first 21 points in a home game. But there have been three such games in the current decade; besides Sunday’s loss it also happened in a 59–14 loss to Oakland in 2010 (Raiders scored the first 38 points) and in a 29–13 loss to Kansas City in 2015 (Chiefs scored the first 29 points).
On a positive note for Denver, Trevor Siemian rallied the Broncos with a pair of touchdown passes in the fourth quarter in relief of Paxton Lynch. Of Siemian’s 29 TD passes for Denver, he has thrown 13 in the fourth quarter.
Oakland’s first INT of the season
The Raiders made their first interception of the season on Sunday. Oakland was the first team in NFL history to play its first 10 games of a season without intercepting a pass. The Raiders’ first INT was made by NaVorro Bowman, who wasn’t even with the team when the season began. It was only the fifth interception of Bowman’s NFL career that began in 2010. (One of his four previous interceptions came against the player with the lowest career interception rate in NFL history, Aaron Rodgers.)
The interception was thrown by Paxton Lynch, playing his first game of the season, and, of all things, it came on a play that started at the Raiders’ 1-yard line. That was the first INT this season on a play run from the opponents’ 1-yard line.
Bills go wire-to-wire with win over struggling Chiefs
Buffalo opened the scoring with an 11-yard touchdown pass from Tyrod Taylor to Zay Jones late in the first quarter and led the rest of the way in a 16–10 victory at Kansas City. It was the Bills’ first wire-to-wire win in a road game outside their division since a 24–14 win at Cleveland in 2012.
With Sunday’s loss, the Chiefs slid to a 6–5 record after starting the season with five straight wins. Kansas City is the third team in the last three seasons to lose five of six games immediately after a 5–0 start; Atlanta did it in 2015 and Minnesota did it last season. You might wonder, “So what?” That happened only twice in NFL history prior to 2015: the 49ers in 1952 and the Giants in 2009.
Titans sweep Colts with a pair of second-half comebacks
The Titans rallied from a 16–6 deficit in the third quarter for a 20–16 victory over the Colts. Tennessee trailed, 19–9, in the third quarter of its 36–22 win over Indianapolis on a Monday night in Week 6. Over the last 15 years, only one other team swept a season series with a pair of second-half, double-digit comebacks: New Orleans over Tampa Bay in 2014.
A breakthrough game by Bengals’ Mixon
Joe Mixon gained 114 yards on 23 carries and caught three passes for 51 yards in the Bengals’ 30–16 win over the Browns. Mixon’s total of 165 yards from scrimmage matched the highest in one game by any Cincinnati rookie in the last two decades. Jeremy Hill had a 165-yard game against the Saints in 2014. The last Bengals rookie with a higher single-game total than Hill and Mixon was Corey Dillon, whose 276-yard performance in a 1997 game against Tennessee included 246 rushing yards.
At 21 years old, Mixon became the youngest Bengals player to run for 100 yards in a game.
Will an auspicious start become the “Garoppolo Era” in San Francisco?
The Seahawks earned a 24–13 victory at San Francisco that might be remembered less for Seattle staying within one game of the division-leading Rams as for the debut of Jimmy Garoppolo at quarterback for the 49ers. Garoppolo came on late in the fourth quarter after C.J. Beathard was injured and completed his only two passes, including a 10-yard touchdown to Louis Murphy as time expired.
Garoppolo is the first Niners quarterback to throw a touchdown on one of his first two passes for the team since Mark Stevens, a replacement player, did it during the players’ strike in 1987. Jeff Kemp also did it in 1986. Note that several other players, none of them QBs, did it since Stevens: running backs Harry Sydney (1988) and Terry Kirby (1996), and kicker David Akers (2012).
Heat start slow, turn things around quickly
The Heat scored seven points in the first quarter, the lowest-scoring opening period in team history, but poured in 38 points in the second quarter, setting up a 100–93 win at Chicago. That was the highest-scoring second quarter by a team held below 10 points in the first period in the shot-clock era. Looking for a similar game? How about the Knickerbockers in a 104–103 overtime loss to the Fort Wayne Pistons at Boston Garden on November 21, 1956. The Knicks’ line score was 5–36–23–31–8.
Suns’ former dominance is a distant memory for T’wolves
The Timberwolves’ 119–108 victory over the Suns was Phoenix’s fifth straight loss at the Target Center. That’s not noteworthy in itself, but it’s a reminder of how things have changed. The Suns won their first 25 games against the T’wolves—an NBA record for the start of any team-vs.team series—including their first 14 games at Minnesota. (The first two of those were played at the Metrodome in 1989–90.) Since that 0–14 start at home against Phoenix, Minnesota has a 23–15 record when hosting the Suns.
Carroll leads all scorers in Nets’ win
DeMarre Carroll led all players with 24 points in the Nets’ 98–88 win at Memphis. Carroll has played 432 regular-season games over nine seasons in the NBA. This was only the fourth in which he outscored all other players. The first three were during the 2014–15 when Carroll played for Atlanta and recorded the highest scoring average of his career (12.6 points per game).
Maroon is Oilers’ weapon vs. Bruins
Patrick Maroon scored the Oilers’ first goal in their 4–2 win at Boston. Maroon has scored six goals in three games versus the Bruins since he was traded to Edmonton by Anaheim in February 2016. The only players who have scored more regular-season goals for the Oilers against the Bruins than Maroon are Glenn Anderson (17, in 34 games), Wayne Gretzky (12, in 27 games), Jari Kurri (10, in 29 games), and Petr Klima (8 in 7 games). Maroon has scored as many goals versus the Bruins for Edmonton as Mark Messier did in 11 times as many games (6 goals in 33 games).
Veteran Williams stays busy
Justin Williams scored on one of his game-high seven shots on goal in the Hurricanes’s shootout win against the Predators. Williams’ seven shots on goal match the season high by a Carolina player in a game this season; Elias Lindholm had seven shots (and one goal) in the Hurricanes’ loss at Colorado on November 2. Williams, who turned 36 years old last month, is the oldest player to rack up at least seven shots on goal in an NHL game this season. The oldest player with seven or more shots in an NHL game last season was Jaromir Jagr.
Vesey sends game to OT, then wins it in shootout
Jimmy Vesey scored the final goal of the third period and the deciding goal in the seven-round shootout, leading the Rangers a 4–3 win over the Canucks at Madison Square Garden. Vesey is the first NHL player to score a shootout-deciding goal after scoring the game’s last goal in the third period this season. The last Rangers player to pull off that feat was Wojtek Wolski against the Hurricanes on Feb. 22, 2011.