On an afternoon when Tom Brady took the Patriots to 6-0, Kirk Cousins led a huge comeback in Washington and Andrew Luck continued to struggle, the biggest quarterback story of Sunday was a player who is often overlooked when talking about the NFL’s best young passers. Miami’s Ryan Tannehill set a league record for consecutive pass completions in the Dolphins’ 44-26 trampling of Houston.
Starting late in last week’s victory at Tennessee, Tannehill completed 25 consecutive passes before missing a throw in the second half on Sunday. The previous record was 24 set by Philadelphia’s Donovan McNabb in 2004.
Tannehill started Sunday’s game over the hapless Texans with 18 straight completions. He also became the first player in 15 years to throw three touchdowns for more than 50 yards in a half. This is how sharp he was and also how hopeless Houston looked. In addition to Tannehill’s accuracy, the Dolphins got an 85-yard touchdown run from Lamar Miller that made the score 41-0 at halftime.
For three and a half quarters the great matchup between the New England Patriots and New York Jets was indeed great. The Jets’ defense swarmed around New England quarterback Tom Brady, knocking him to the ground a few times. New York quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick even matched him with two touchdown passes.
But midway through the fourth quarter Brady took over. He led the Patriots on touchdown drives of 80 and 68 yards throwing touchdowns to Danny Amendola and Rob Gronkowski as New England remained undefeated with a 30-20 victory.
Washington quarterback Kirk Cousins had his first signature win as the team’s quarterback when he led them back from a 24-0 first-half deficit to throw a game-winning touchdown pass to Jordan Reed with 21 seconds left in a 31-30 victory over Tampa Bay.
The comeback was the biggest in team history and served as a redemption for Cousins, who has been criticized for poor decision-making. He threw for 317 yards and three touchdowns without being intercepted once.
Something is definitely wrong with the Indianapolis Colts. After playing in the AFC championship game last January it seemed certain they would at least win the AFC South this season. Instead they have limped to a 3-4 start after a 27-21 loss at home to New Orleans.
Particularly distressing for the Colts has been the quarterback Luck, who has struggled in his fourth NFL season while battling shoulder injuries. He has lost four of his five starts this season and has been intercepted nine times.
Another tormented team is Detroit. The Lions have lost close games this year in a 1-6 start and Sunday was another one of those. This time, they were done in by 98 rushing yards from Adrian Peterson and 305 Teddy Bridgewater passing yards. Minnesota is now 4-2 and in second place in the NFC North.
Johnny Manziel appeared in a game for the first time since the season’s second week when he took over for an injured Josh McCown in Cleveland’s 24-6 loss in St Louis.
Kansas City Chiefs safety Eric Berry had his first interception since he was diagnosed with cancer and left the team last December. It was one of two interceptions from Steelers fill-in quarterback Landry Jones in Kansas City’s 23-13 victory over Pittsburgh.
Atlanta went to 6-1 with an ugly 10-7 win over Tennessee that was sealed on a late interception by Robinson Therezie.
