Kirk Cousins threw two second-half touchdown passes, including the go-ahead score to Drake London with 34 seconds remaining, to earn his first win as an Atlanta Falcon with a 22-21 comeback victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday.
With his new team down 21-15 with under two minutes left, Cousins completed 5 of 6 passes on a six-play, 70-yard drive he capped with a 7-yard strike to London in the final minute. Younghoe Kim then converted a lengthy extra-point try from 48 yards out, with the distance increased due to a 15-yard penalty called on London after the touchdown, to break a 21-21 tie.
Jessie Bates sealed the win for Atlanta (1-1) by intercepting Jalen Hurts with 19 seconds left to send the partisan crowd at Philadelphia's Lincoln Financial Field home stunned.
Cousins finished with 241 yards on 20-of-29 passing in his second start since signing a four-year, $180 million contract with the Falcons in March. Darnell Mooney, another of Atlanta's offseason additions, caught a 41-yard touchdown pass from Cousins in the third quarter and ended with 88 yards on three catches.
Hurts threw for 183 yards and a touchdown and added another TD on the ground while recording 85 rushing yards. His 1-yard touchdown run on the Eagles' patented "Tush Push" quarterback sneak play gave Philadelphia (1-1) an 18-15 lead with 6:47 remaining after Saquon Barkley successfully ran in the ensuing 2-point conversion.
The Eagles appeared headed for a third straight 2-0 start after stuffing Atlanta's Bijon Robinson on a 4th-and-1 run on the following possession to get the ball back at the Falcons' 39-yard line with 5:38 to go.
Philadelphia then moved to the Atlanta 10, but Barkley dropped a short pass from Hurts on third down and the Eagles settled for Jake Elliott's 28-yard field goal and a six-point lead with 1:39 left.
Cousins responded by quickly driving the Falcons inside the Eagles' 10 with four consecutive completions, including gains of 21 and 26 yards to Mooney.
Mooney had given the Falcons a 15-10 edge late in the third quarter when he got behind Philadelphia's defence and hauled in a deep pass from Cousins for a 41-yard score. Atlanta failed to convert the resulting 2-point attempt.
The Eagles also came up empty in the red zone early in the contest, passing up a short field goal try from the Atlanta 9-yard line and throwing an incomplete pass on 4th-and-4 that kept the game scoreless after one quarter.
Atlanta opened the scoring on Koo's 39-yard field goal with 11:22 left in the second, but the Eagles answered with an 11-play, 70-yard drive culminating in Hurts' 7-yard touchdown pass to Devonta Smith.
The Falcons pulled within 7-6 at half-time after Koo's 22-yard field goal ended a 15-play series. Another Koo field goal, a 34-yard kick, put Atlanta in front early in the third quarter before Philadelphia took a 10-9 lead on Elliott's 29-yard field goal with 4:28 left in the period.
Barkley rushed for 95 yards on 22 attempts in his first home game since leaving the NFC East-rival New York Giants for the Eagles in the offseason. Robinson had 97 rushing yards for Atlanta on 14 carries.
Browns score late touchdown to end Steelers' streak in snowy contest
Nick Chubb ran for a 2-yard touchdown in heavy snow with 57 seconds left, and the Cleveland Browns stunned division rival Pittsburgh 24-19 on Thursday night, ending the Steelers' five-game winning streak.
Chubb's score came in his first game against the AFC North-leading Steelers (8-3) since the running back sustained a season-ending left knee injury on a carry last year at Pittsburgh.
The Browns (3-8) had blown a 12-point lead in the fourth quarter and were down 19-18 before getting the ball back with 3:22 remaining after Pittsburgh punter Corliss Waitman shanked a 16-yarder.
With snow piling up and covering the yard lines on the field, Cleveland's Jameis Winston completed a third-down pass to Jerry Jeudy to the Pittsburgh 9. Two plays later, Chubb barrelled into the end zone.
The Steelers had one last chance, but quarterback Russell Wilson's Hail Mary on the final play was knocked down by Browns safety Grant Delpit in the end zone, touching off a wild celebration at Huntington Bank Field.
NFL: Texans bounce back, extend Cowboys' woes
Joe Mixon's 109 rushing yards and three touchdowns helped get the Houston Texans back on track with Monday's 34-10 win over the floundering Dallas Cowboys.
Houston (7-4) snapped a two-game losing streak behind Mixon's powerful running and a defence that sacked Cowboys' fill-in quarterback Cooper Rush five times and forced two turnovers, including a fumble Derek Barnett returned 28 yards for a touchdown that gave the Texans a 27-10 lead in the fourth quarter.
Dallas (3-7) has now lost five straight, its longest skid since dropping seven in a row in 2015, and fell to 0-5 at home. The Cowboys have been outscored by 118 points (187-69) at AT&T Stadium, the third-largest negative differential through five home games in a season in NFL history.
Rush did throw a 64-yard touchdown pass to KaVontae Turpin in his second straight start subbing for an injured Dak Prescott, and finished with a career-high 354 passing yards with one interception while completing 32 of 55 attempts.
C.J. Stroud threw for 257 yards with an interception for Houston, which extended its lead over the second-place Indianapolis Colts to two games in the AFC South.
The Texans never trailed after Mixon ripped off a 45-yard touchdown run on the game's opening drive, and the veteran running back added a 1-yard scoring plunge late in the first quarter to give Houston a 14-0 lead.
Turpin got Dallas on the board by taking a short pass from Rush and breaking free from the Houston defence nine seconds into the second quarter, but the Cowboys were shut out in the second half after pulling to within 17-10 on Brandon Aubrey's 53-yard field goal with just under six minutes left before half-time.
Burnett's strip sack of Rush and return of the resulting fumble helped put the game away with 12:31 left, and Mixon tacked on his final touchdown of the night with 3:16 remaining to cap a 35-yard drive that began after the Texans stopped the Cowboys on downs.
Mahomes to use Chiefs' first loss of 2024 as 'spark'
Patrick Mahomes said the Kansas City Chiefs will use their first loss since Christmas Day 2023 as fuel after the Buffalo Bills halted their unbeaten start to the season.
Josh Allen scrambled for a stunning 26-yard touchdown with just over two minutes to play as the Bills improved to 9-2 with a 30-21 win over the reigning Super Bowl champions.
The result ended the Chiefs' 15-game winning streak, a run that began after they lost to the Los Vegas Raiders on Christmas Day last year and included their dramatic triumph over the San Francisco 49ers at Super Bowl LVIII.
The Chiefs had started this season 9-0 to take control of the race for the AFC's top seed, but they could have few complaints about Sunday's result.
The Bills outgained the Chiefs by 366 yards to 259, also recording 24 first downs to Kansas City's 19 and enjoying almost nine more minutes in possession.
Mahomes, however, was relaxed about the end of his team's winning streak, saying: "The undefeated thing was cool, but that's not our ultimate goal.
"It's a good football team, so there's nothing to hang your head about. We feel like we can play better, so we will get back to work and try to use this as a spark so that we can be a better football team in the end."
The Chiefs rank just 16th in the NFL for yards per game (337.9) and 11th for points per game (24) in 2024, with many of their victories – including against the Denver Broncos in Week 10 and the Baltimore Ravens in Week 1 – coming via last-gasp defensive or special teams plays.
Mahomes actually feels the team could benefit from a reality check, adding: "I'm hoping that [losing] is a benefit.
"I'm not going to say I or we are relaxed, but at the same time I feel like we were just coming away with these wins at the end of the games.
"I think it's going to spark us to have more urgency, especially at the start of football games, especially with the offense, and that comes from me and turning the ball over on the first drive. It's something you can't do in big games like this."
No quarterback has thrown more interceptions than Mahomes' 11 (level with Geno Smith and Jordan Love) this season, while a passer rating of 90.3 ranks him a lowly 20th among all players at the position.
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