Suddenly scary Saints winning with just average Drew Brees

The quarterbacks in the Sunday night game put up these stat lines:

Quarterback A: 31-of-41 passes for 359 yards, 2 touchdowns and 1 pick

Quarterback B: 18-of-23 passes for 120 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 pick

Would you believe Quarterback A was Kirk Cousins? Would you believe Quarterback B was Drew Brees?

And would you believe the Saints won with Brees being held in check?

That was the case as New Orleans held off the Vikings 30-20. The Saints supported Brees on a rare night when he didn’t eclipse 200 passing yards. Rather, he watched one of his defenders return a pick-six 45 yards for one score, and running back Alvin Kamara put up another on the ground. Brees connected with Kamara on a shovel pass for a touchdown, too, for good measure. But most importantly, the Saints continued their march to 6-1 on the season, including 4-0 on the road.

“This one had a little extra special meaning,” Brees said, referring to the Saints’ last-second loss to the Vikings in last season’s playoffs.

Cousins committed the most costly mistake of the game. The Vikings trailed 20-13 in the third quarter when P.J. Williams pilfered a pass at midfield and ran it back for a touchdown. The two-touchdown difference proved too big to overcome.

“I was giving up a few plays,” Williams said, “but a turnover always turns the game around.”

The Saints have more than just Brees. The quarterback finally took a night off from breaking records, and his teammates picked up the slack. It might be that depth that takes New Orleans even deeper into the playoffs come January.

London Bridge

It isn’t every Sunday that a team flies across the Atlantic, suits up against the Jaguars at Wembley Stadium and walks out a winner.

But that is what the Eagles — the defending Super Bowl champions, who are now back to .500 this season — accomplished in winning, 24-18, Sunday.

Now 4-4 with half the season to play, quarterback Carson Wentz collected a hat trick of touchdowns, staved off a late Jacksonville rally and positioned his team for an eight-game pursuit of the Redskins down the stretch of the regular season.

“Great way to finish,” head coach Doug Pederson said. “Things haven’t really gone our way in the first half of the season, but it felt great to get this victory today, go into the break with positive thoughts, obviously.”

Pederson stopped short of allowing the “must win” label to be put on the victory, but with Washington out front in the NFC East at 5-2 after a win against the lowly Giants, he and his players knew that they could ill afford to lose with a bye week coming up and offensive tackle Lane Johnson dealing with injuries. Johnson already had an ankle injury before suggering a sprained MCL on the opening drive. He left the game and did not return.

The Eagles caught the Jaguars in all kinds of disarray. Four Jaguars failed to pay their tab in London, and then Philadelphia made Jacksonville pay the price on the field. Billed as Super Bowl contenders in the preseason, the Jaguars (3-5) are now in need of a reboot as the calendar turns to November.

The game also featured the Worst Call of the Day. The Eagles were up, 24-15, in the fourth quarter, when Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles, standing in the shotgun on first-and-10 from Philadelphia’s 21-yard line, took off on a run and slid on the grass at the 15-yard line when Eagles linebacker Nigel Bradham slid, as well. A flag was thrown and a 15-yard personal foul penalty was assessed for a hit to the head. It was just the latest example of a defender making an effort to be clean and an official throwing a flag anyway.

The Eagles have the bye week now to get back on the path to a possible repeat. What they do with that time will show just how quickly they can bounce back from a middling opening half of the season.

Pulled out of a hat

Did you really think FitzMagic was done?

Jameis Winston started the day at quarterback for the Buccaneers, but four interceptions later, it was Ryan Fitzpatrick slipping on his helmet once more.

Fitzpatrick came in, sprinkled his pixie dust on the ball and completed 11-of-15 passes for 194 yards and a pair of touchdowns to erase a 21-point deficit in the second half.

“It doesn’t take a whole lot to get this whole thing going,” Fitzpatrick said of his warm-ups. “Proud of the way we fought.”

On fourth down, Fitzpatrick threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to tight end O.J. Howard, and followed that with a two-point conversion connection with Chris Godwin to tie the game at 34-34 with 1:05 left in regulation.

The Bengals responded by driving 50 yards to kick a game-winning field goal to hand the Bucs another loss, 37-34. Tampa Bay fell to 3-4.

The strangest stat of all? Even with the quarterbacking change, the Bucs established a new franchise record with 576 yards on offense.

Ram, I am

It ended with a Ram battering a Packer to force a fumble.

In a game that saw both teams rally from 10-point deficits, the final swing in the Rams’ 29-27 victory over the Packers included Los Angeles kicker Greg Zuerlein hitting a 34-yard field goal with just over two minutes remaining in the game. On the subsequent kickoff return, Green Bay’s Ty Montgomery lost the ball before reaching the 20-yard line after being hit by Ramik Wilson.

In the end, it was one more win for the unbeaten Rams, who are now 8-0.

“While there’s a long way to go, there’s a variety of ways we can win,” Rams coach Sean McVay said.

Aaron Rodgers kept the Packers apace until the end. He threw for 286 yards as Rams quarterback Jared Goff went for 295 yards and three TDs.

Yes, he Cam!

Carolina didn’t look ready for Baltimore’s one-two punch on the opening drive.

First, it was Joe Flacco flinging the ball. Then it was Lamar Jackson flashing his speed on a 17-yard sprint for a first down. By the time Alex Collins ran a touchdown in, Flacco was 5-of-6, and the Panthers knew they’d be in for a tough day.

The Panthers countered with Cam Newton, a player capable of throwing or running right ahead, and never looked back as the Panthers proved to be a complete team in winning, 36-21.

Newton finished with 219 passing yards and two touchdowns; he also rushed for 52 yards.

“We played great complementary football,” Newton said. “Our offensive line is playing as confident as they ever have. They sure are doing a great job.”

Play of the Day

Seattle wideout David Moore had the ball hit him in the left arm, ricochet up and bounce off his helmet before he secured it as he crossed the goal line and reached back for a touchdown in the second quarter of a 28-14 win at Detroit. It was second-and-8 from the 15-yard line with the score knotted at 7-7 when Russell Wilson took the snap and targeted Moore, who was covered by rookie cornerback Teez Tabor. Tabor looked up and finally realized the ball was landing in Moore’s hands. Tabor expressed frustration as Moore celebrated.

Post Patterns

Chalk up another historic moment for Adam Vinatieri. The Colts kicker moved past Morten Andersen to become the NFL’s all-time leading scorer when he kicked a 25-yard field goal with 29 seconds left in the first half. The game was stopped briefly in Oakland to acknowledge the mark. Andersen had held the record since he retired in 2007. … It was one more week without Le’Veon Bell for the Steelers, and tailback James Conner continued to carry the load, putting up 146 yards and a pair of touchdowns on the ground and 66 receiving yards in leveling the Browns, 33-18, at Heinz Field. … The Best Celebration Award goes to Seattle’s battery of Tyler Lockett and Doug Baldwin. After Lockett scored against the Lions, he wound up and pitched the ball at Baldwin, who posed as a batter. Baldwin pretended that the pitch hit him, and charged the make-believe mound, and allowed Lockett to deck him, sending him flying.

Three Stars

1. Patrick Mahomes: The young Chief continued to chuck it all over the field, completing 24-of-34 passes for 303 yards and four touchdowns.

2. Mike Evans: It didn’t matter who was throwing him the ball, Evans hauled in six catches for 179 yards and a touchdown. His longest went for 72 yards.

3. Joe Mixon: The tailback served up 123 yards on the ground and a pair of touchdowns as the Bengals held on to win.

Quote of the Day

“I’m a member of the Squirrel Hill community, personally, and words cannot express how we feel as members of this community. We’re prayerful, and you know, and I appreciate the efforts of the guys today.”

— Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin after the Steelers beat the Browns, 33-18, a day after a mass shooting at Tree of Life Synagogue left 11 people dead and several others injured. Tomlin noted that he lives “probably 800 yards from the church.”

Fantasy Insanity

• What are the chances the worst performance by the Giants’ run defense comes the same week they traded away their primary run stopper (as well as a starting cornerback)? Adrian Peterson racked up 126 yards on 26 carries with a touchdown, and also got a 7-yard TD reception. Coming up after the Giants’ bye are games against the 49ers and Buccaneers. Between injury and subpar production in those backfields, you might be able to find some cheap RB points on waivers by targeting the Big Blue run defense.
• Don’t wait for an official proclamation by the Buccaneers. If you need a QB, go ahead and pick up Ryan Fitzpatrick under the assumption that common sense prevails in Tampa. Jameis Winston, though occasionally fantasy-friendly, is a real-world QB disaster. And Fitzpatrick was again explosive as soon as he hit the field.
• If feeling the RB pinch of bye weeks, adding Josh Adams to the back of your bench is fine. But don’t put him in future lineups unless desperate.

— Drew Loftis