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Brady’s back, Denver streak ends
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THE nine-game winning streak for the Super Bowl champions came to an end on Sunday when the Atlanta Falcons beat the Denver Broncos 23-16 on the same day that Tom Brady made his triumphant return to the National Football League.
A week after setting a franchise record with 503 yards passing in a runaway win over Super Bowl 50’s other participant, the Carolina Panthers, Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan threw for 267 yards as the Falcons handed the Broncos (4-1) their first loss since December last year, leaving the Minnesota Vikings (5-0) as the NFL’s last unbeaten team.
Ryan converted a fourth-and-1 with a QB sneak that set up a field goal before halftime while tailback Tevin Coleman had four catches for 132 yards and a touchdown after Devonta Freeman’s 1-yard TD on fourth down during the opening drive set the tone for the rest of the game in Denver, Colorado.
“That’s our mindset, to attack offensively,” Falcons coach Dan Quinn said. “We just wanted to keep attacking.”
Brady, looking razor-sharp at times and relatively rust-free after serving his four-game “Deflategate” ban, passed for 406 yards and three touchdowns to Martellus Bennett in his hyped return as the New England Patriots thumped the Browns 33-13 in Cleveland.
Brady was back following a ban for his role in the scandal in which an NFL investigation found the Patriots under-inflated footballs in the 2015 AFC championship game.
He threw two short TD passes in the first half to Bennett before hooking up with his new teammate again on a 37-yarder to give the Patriots a 30-7 lead in the third quarter. “It’s been a fun week getting ready to play and back to what I love to do,” Brady said. “And 4-1 is a pretty good place to be right now.”
Adam Thielen finished with a career-high 127 yards as the Vikings overran the Texans 31-13 to maintain their perfect start to the season.
Thielen scored a TD while Marcus Sherels returned a punt 79 yards for a TD and Cordarelle Patterson scored on another sharp throw by Sam Bradford, who had another turnover-free game and deftly guided Minnesota into its bye week. “When your offense comes out on all cylinders like that, it just juices us up even more and wants us to play harder,” defensive end Everson Griffen said.
Elsewhere on Sunday, it was: Packers 23, Giants 16; Lions 24, Eagles 23; Redskins 16, Ravens 10; Cowboys 28, Bengals 14; Steelers 31, Jets 13; Raiders 34, Chargers 31; Titans 30, Falcons 17; Colts 29, Bears 23; and Bills 30, Rams 19.
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