NFC Sunday Week 15: Brady blows lead as Raiders win on final play
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Dallas Cowboys both blew a 17-point lead to the Cincinnati Bengals and Jacksonville Jaguars respectively, as a big run of comeback victories continued across the NFL.
In a classic game of two halves, the Buccaneers led 17-3 at half-time, with Brady passing touchdowns to Chris Godwin and Russell Gage before the break.
Brady was 89-0 when holding a 17-point lead in home games over his career before this weekend. Tampa Bay’s implosion, coined with a late resurgence of Bengal offensive form, helped Cincinnati to a 34-23 win.
The win pushes the Bengals to the top of the AFC North, while the Buccaneers’ lead in the NFC South was cut to just one win, with the New Orleans Saints moving to 5-9 after beating divisional rivals Atlanta Falcons.
For the Cowboys, they too could not hold on as a Rayshawn Jenkins overtime interception TD gave the Jaguars a 40-34 win in overtime.
It was another brilliant day for Trevor Lawrence, who threw four touchdown passes to help Jacksonville move to 6-8. They stay in with a shot of the playoffs in the AFC South, with the Tennessee Titans losing once again, this time to the Los Angeles Chargers.
Meanwhile, the Kansas City Chiefs escaped another potential comeback upset as a Jerick McKinnon score in overtime helped them to a 30-24 success over the Houston Texans.
With the win, the Chiefs claimed a seventh straight AFC West title, now the second longest streak of divisional wins. The New England Patriots have the longest, with 11 straight AFC East wins between 2009 and 2019.
Zach Wilson return unconvincing, Eagles nearing top seed
Zach Wilson’s eagerly anticipated return at quarterback for the New York Jets ended in disappointed, as he failed to help Gang Green to victory as they lost 20-17 to the Detroit Lions.
Wilson, who came in to replace of the injured Mike White, had been benched in Week 11 after defeat to the New England Patriots. He completed 18 of 35 pass attempts for 317 yards, two scores and an interception. The numbers were good, but some poor decision making and accuracy hindered the Jets offense at times.
Nonetheless, there were some moments where the talent and potential of Wilson was on show for all to see. On the final drive of the game, he made a spectacular play to find Elijah Moore and set up a last second field goal. However, Greg Zuerlein couldn’t connect, and the Jets slip to 7-7. The Lions hold the same record, having started the season 1-6.
Elsewhere in the AFC East, the New England Patriots collapsed dramatically to lose against the Las Vegas, with one of the craziest plays of the year to end the game.
With the game tied 24-24 with second remaining, Jakobi Meyers tried a wild backwards pass to keep the last play alive, only to throw it to Vegas’ Chandler Jones, a former Patriot, who ran it back 48 yards to give the Raiders an unexpected victory.
Elsewhere, there were wins for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Denver Broncos, New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles, with the latter now on course to seal the NFC one seed for the playoffs.
Full results of Sunday 18th December games:
Chicago Bears 20 – 25 Philadelphia Eagles
New York Jets 17 – 20 Detroit Lions
Carolina Panthers 16 – 24 Pittsburgh Steelers
Houston Texans 24 – 30 Kansas City Chiefs
New Orleans Saints 21 – 18 Atlanta Falcons
Jacksonville Jaguars 40 – 34 Dallas Cowboys
Denver Broncos 24 – 15 Arizona Cardinals
Las Vegas Raiders 30 – 24 New England Patriots
Los Angeles Chargers 17 – 14 Tennessee Titans
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 23 – 34 Cincinnati Bengals
Washington Commanders 12 – 20 New York Giants
