Oct 21, 2018 5 min read

Justin Tucker missed the first conversion of his career after the Ravens scored the potential tying touchdown with 24 seconds left, enabling Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints to escape with a 24-23 victory Sunday.

Brees threw two touchdown passes, locked up two more milestones and engineered a comeback that enabled the Saints (5-1) to wipe out a 10-point deficit.

It was 24-17 before Joe Flacco directed a beat-the-clock drive covering 81 yards and ending with a 14-yard touchdown pass to John Brown. That seemingly set up overtime, given that Tucker had connected on 112 straight extra points and was the only NFL kicker without a miss since the placement of the ball was moved back in 2015. He made the first 222 tries of his career.

This attempt, however, went wide right – the deciding moment in a matchup between the NFL’s highest-scoring offense and top-ranked defense.

Brees brought back the Saints from a 10-point deficit against a unit that allowed only 12 second-half points all season. The 39-year-old quarterback threw a 5-yard TD pass to Michael Thomas with 4:58 remaining to put New Orleans ahead 21-17, and the Saints tacked on a field goal just before the two-minute warning.

Carolina 21, Philadelphia 17: Cam Newton tossed a 1-yard touchdown pass to Greg Olsen with 1:22 left and the Carolina Panthers overcame a 17-point deficit in the fourth quarter to beat the Philadelphia Eagles 21-17.

Julius Peppers sacked Carson Wentz, forcing a fumble on fourth down from the Panthers 14, to seal the victory.

The Panthers improved to 4-2 with the biggest comeback in franchise history. The defending Super Bowl champion Eagles fell to 3-4.

Tampa Bay 26, Cleveland 23, OT: Chandler Catanzaro kicked a 59-yard field goal, the longest ever in overtime, with 1:50 remaining.

Redeeming himself after missing an extra point, as well as a 40-yard field goal on the final play of regulation, Catanzaro’s kick barely made it over the crossbar to end Tampa Bay’s three-game skid and hand the Browns (2-4-1) a NFL record-tying 24th consecutive road loss.

New England 38, Chicago 31: Tom Brady threw for three touchdowns and the Patriots hung on when Kevin White got stopped at the 1 on a 54-yard pass from Mitchell Trubisky.

About four or five defenders swarmed White after he leaped to haul in that long heave, preventing him from crossing the goal line while preserving the fourth straight win for New England.

Houston 20, Jacksonville 7: Blake Bortles fumbled on Jacksonville’s third play of each half, leading to 10 points and his benching. The Texans (4-3) won their fourth consecutive game thanks to those two turnovers and took a one-game lead in the AFC South.

Detroit 32, Miami 31: Kerryon Johnson rushed for 158 yards and the Lions repeatedly mounted long scoring drives.

San Diego 20, Tennessee 19: Adrian Phillips broke up Marcus Mariota’s pass attempt, the Titans’ second try for a 2-point conversion after a defensive penalty on the first attempt, and the Chargers held on.

It was the fourth consecutive victory for the Chargers (5-2), who weathered the absence of running back Melvin Gordon and relied upon their defense to pull out the win.

The Titans (3-4) drove 89 yards over the final 4:55 before Mariota’s 1-yard pass to tight end Luke Stocker pulled them within one point. Mariota, who went 24 for 32 for 237 yards with an interception, thought he had scored the touchdown himself. With 40 seconds left, he ran 3 yards on a draw and stretched for the end zone, but replay showed he was down inches shy of the goal line.

After Stocker scored, Mariota’s first attempt was a pass intended for Tajae Sharp, an incompletion negated by a defensive holding call on Casey Hayward, and his second, toward Taywan Taylor, was tipped by Phillips.

Washington 20, Dallas 17: Redskins linebacker Ryan Kerrigan’s strip-sack of Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott was recovered for a touchdown by Preston Smith with just under five minutes left and Washington held on when a last-second field-goal attempt by Brett Maher went off the left upright.

L.A. Rams 39, San Francisco 10: Todd Gurley scored three touchdowns and Jared Goff threw two TD passes as the Rams took advantage of four takeaways and a blocked punt.

Minnesota 37, N.Y. Jets 17: Kirk Cousins threw two touchdown passes, Latavius Murray ran for two scores, and the Vikings pulled away in the second half for their third straight victory.

Indianapolis 37, Buffalo 5: Andrew Luck threw four touchdown passes and Marlon Mack had his first rushing scores of the season. The Colts (2-5) snapped a four-game losing streak and finally won their 300th game since moving to Indianapolis from Baltimore in 1984. Adam Vinatieri scored five points to move within five of breaking Morten Andersen’s NFL career record (2,544).