TOM BRADY WON the battle of the Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks on Sunday, outduelling Aaron Rodgers as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers routed the previously unbeaten Green Bay Packers 38-10.
Brady completed 17 of 27 passes for 166 yards and two scores, and Ronald Jones rushed for 113 yards and two touchdowns as the Buccaneers handed the Packers their first loss of the season.
Brady’s sidekick Rob Gronkowski also got into the act as the dynamic duo connected for their 91st career touchdown pass, as the Bucs improved to 4-2 on the NFL season.
The 12-yard score with 62 seconds left in the second quarter capped a 28-point second quarter that set the tone for the rest of the contest at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.
“He played great today. We got to try and keep getting him and the tight ends the ball,” said Brady of Gronkowski.
Six-time-Super Bowl champion Brady joined the Buccaneers this season after spending two decades with the New England Patriots.
Rodgers finished 16 of 35 for 160 yards with two interceptions.
“I think we needed kind of a kick in the ass,” said Rodgers. “We needed a little bit of a wake-up call at some point this season because things have been so good.”
Elsewhere, Derrick Henry’s 5-yard overtime touchdown run kept the Tennessee Titans unbeaten, while the Pittsburgh Steelers routed Cleveland to join them at 5-0.
Ryan Tannehill threw for 364 yards and four touchdowns, and Henry ran 22 times for 212 yards and two touchdowns to lead Tennessee over Houston 42-36, while the Steelers ripped Cleveland 38-7.
The Titans improved to 5-0, matching their 2008 start for the best in club history, while the Texans sunk to 1-5.
Houston’s Deshaun Watson completed 28 of 37 passes for 335 yards and four touchdowns, including a one-yarder to Brandin Cooks that gave the Texans a 36-29 edge with 1:50 to play.
Tannehill marched the Titans 76 yards and hit A.J. Brown with a 7-yard touchdown pass with four seconds remaining in regulation to lift Tennessee level.
“It was wild,” Tannehill said. “Started out strong, had a lull in the third and fourth quarters. We just kept believing, kept fighting, and had the confidence to get it done.”
Tannehill drove the Titans 82 yards in six plays in overtime to set up Henry’s winning run.
“He’s unbelievable,” Tannehill said of Henry. “Every week he does the same thing. He’s out here grinding for us. He was great.”
Ben Roethlisberger completed 14 of 22 passes for 162 yards and a touchdown, and James Conner ran 20 times for 101 yards and a touchdown to lead the Steelers, who are 5-0 for the first time since 1978.
Pittsburgh jumped ahead 24-0 thanks to a 33-yard Minkah Fitzpatrick interception return touchdown, Roethlisberger’s 28-yard touchdown pass to James Washington, Conner’s three-yard touchdown run and a 35-yard Chris Boswell field goal.
Cleveland’s Baker Mayfield threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Rashard Higgins in the second quarter, but Chase Claypool scored on a three-yard run in the third and Benny Snell added a one-yard touchdown run in the fourth for the Steelers to seal the victory.
The NFL’s two other undefeated teams, Seattle (5-0) has a bye week.
No new positive Covid-19 tests were reported Sunday, allowing all games to be played as scheduled after a week that saw disrupted practices for multiple teams with at least one positive test.
Denver’s Brandon McManus kicked five field goals to lift the Broncos over host New England 18-12, the Patriots falling to 2-3, their worst five-game start since 2002.
Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson threw for 186 yards and a touchdown and ran for 108 yards and another score as the Ravens won 30-28 at Philadelphia.
Eagles star Carson Wentz threw for two touchdowns and ran one yard for another with 1:55 remaining but was stopped on a 2-point conversion attempt, and the Ravens (5-1) ran out the clock.
Matt Ryan threw for 371 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Atlanta Falcons to their first victory, 40-23 at Minnesota, while Philip Rivers threw for 371 yards and three touchdowns to power Indianapolis over visiting Cincinnati 31-27.
Nick Foles threw for one touchdown and ran for another to lead Chicago over host Carolina 23-16, while Detroit’s D’Andre Swift ran for 116 yards and two touchdowns to power the Lions over Jacksonville 34-16.
The host New York Giants won their first game of the year 20-19 over Washington after the visitors went for a two-point conversion instead of a tying kick and misfired on a throw.
Giants receiver C.J. Board was immobilized and carted off the field with a neck injury after being hit by Washington’s Deshazor Everett in the third quarter.
NFL Week Six Results
Titans 42-36 Texans
Eagles 28-30 Ravens
Vikings 23-40 Falcons
Steelers 38-7 Browns
Colts 31-27 Bengals
Jaguars 16-34 Lions
Panthers 16-23 Bears
Giants 20-19 Washington
Patriots 12-18 Broncos
Dolphins 24-0 Jets
Buccaneers 38-10 Packers
49ers 24-16 Rams
Spot on.
I share the undercooked concern. Choose close to full team, rest anyone with a niggle or still jaded from last weeks heat. Warm ups are over, time to build momentum.
Murray; first of all, I have really enjoyed the podcasts so far from France, so thank you for that.
My amateur opinion is that they should go full strength and treat the SA game like a final. Even if it’s a narrow loss, they’ll know that they’re close to the standard required to win the competition. If they win, then the belief will become huge. You have to bear in mind that Ireland have had some less good performances last Autumn and in the 6N, but they’re kept winning and so surely they have that winning mindset. This is pretty rare and the winning run is worth fighting for.
One question for you would be about training. I’d be happy if they were having a few savage full contact sessions, as these may be tougher than a match against a tier 2 nation, but the squad size is restricted so this may not be possible. Would this be another argument for going full strength against Tonga? I’d really like to see the line out attack come back and to deny Tonga from scoring a try.
Maybe the answer to this in 4 years is to line up top opposition in friendlies leading into the world cup. I get they need to get the A team up to 100% preperation firing for the SA game but at the expense of picking up injuries again the minnows before then is a risky plan…
@Stuart: You are probably right… but I think the IRFU found it difficult to line up a game against other tier 1 nations. The England game was probably lined up from 4 years ago. Maybe they left it too late to arrange the others and it wouldn’t be extraordinary to think that they were disorganised or complacent.
@Stuart: apparently other top tier nations turned down playing against Ireland in the summer internationals. Not sure if they left it too late or if other teams felt it would show their hand too much.
In all likelihood yourself and the others on media duties are aware of the team (as normal) but cannot spell it out BUT you’re trying to slowly row your way back from the, way off, potential team you posted a few days ago…. Nice try. It’ll be about 12 from first 15 and Big Joe may be on his way to being first 15 with anyone carrying minor niggle sitting it out. Murray knew a few weeks ago Big Joe would get his shot
Are we not finding excuses to talk ourselves into the very same situation that killed us in previous world cups – ie no trust in the wider squad and thereby overloading the core group? What you are saying, Murray, is that should Ireland win the WC, they would play basically the same team for 6 matches in a row (with only minor alterations from the remaining 7th game). That’s a tough message to the squad and it does not fit the McCloskey inclusion.
@John Morris: nah, I dont think so. We played a weakened team vs Japan 4 yrs ago and look what happened. Plus we play our best team in 6 nations each game for most part with slight adjustments for Italy. Look at what southern hemisphere do – play their strongest team pretty much for rugby championship and some warm ups. And they win every world cup except 1. I think Murray’s article is very well put together and I would agree full strength is required. Its not equal game time for all, go games style. These are fully grown men playing professional sport so get on with it. They;; be called upon if injury strikes. Thats the idea of a squad of grown men
Gonna be an interesting call, they can probably win with a 2nd string side but agree we should put out close to our strongest . Only player I would definitely look to leave out from the 23 is Porter and keep him fresh for SA. We can bring in the likes of Baird , Henderson, Henshaw , McCloskey and Byrne (sub) and steam roll Tonga
@Owen ODonoghue: Spot on about Porter. He is the one player we cannot afford to lose to injury. Playing against SA without him would be scary.
@Owen ODonoghue: Getting hard to see Byrne in the mix, no doubt he’ll be thereabouts for this game tho.
We’re at risk of Eddie O’Sullivan 2007 territory here by playing the same team every weekend. Given the likely hard slog against Scotland and every weekend thereafter they need to rotate this weekend