Tom Brady has been setting records nearly all season. Rob Bironas need one wild day to get into the history books.
Brady threw for a career-high and team-record six touchdowns, giving him an astonishing 27 this season, as the New England Patriots routed Miami 49-28. Brady is more than halfway to Peyton Manning’s NFL mark of 49 TD passes, and the Patriots (7-0) appear unstoppable.
Brady completed his first 11 passes for 220 yards and four scores, including throws of 35 and 50 yards to Randy Moss. His other touchdown passes covered 14 and 16 yards to Wes Welker, 30 to Donte Stallworth and 2 to Kyle Brady.
“Those guys are making the plays,” Brady said. “I’m just throwing it. They’re making my job awful easy.”
The Tennessee Titans made things very difficult on themselves, but had Bironas to bail them out. Having already tied the league record of seven field goals, he was called on after Tennessee blew a big lead, and Bironas delivered: a 29-yarder as time expired that lifted the Titans past the Houston Texans 38-36.
Bironas also connected from 52, 43, 25, 21, 30, 29 and 28 yards to break the previous record held by four players. His 26 points also established a mark for a kicker in one game.
“I knew we’d hit quite a few, but I try not to count,” Bironas said. “I try not to know the distances when I go out there, so I’m always concentrating on making the same kick. I’ve never really counted. I’ll remember this one, though.”
Elsewhere, it was Chicago 19, Philadelphia 16; Dallas 24, Minnesota 14; Denver 31, Pittsburgh 28; the New York Giants 33, San Francisco 15; Detroit 23, Tampa Bay 16; Washington 21, Arizona 19; Kansas City 12, Oakland 10; Seattle 33, St. Louis 6; New Orleans 22, Atlanta 16; Cincinnati 38, the New York Jets 31; and Buffalo 19, Baltimore 14.
On Monday night, Indianapolis (5-0) takes its perfect record to Jacksonville.
Idle this week were San Diego, Green Bay, Carolina and Cleveland were idle.
Patriots 49, Dolphins 28
At Miami, the Patriots improved to 7-0 for the first time in their 48-year history, while the drubbing was the biggest downer yet for the Dolphins, who fell to 0-7 for the first time in their 41 seasons. Miami lost its 10th consecutive game, extending a franchise record, and lost running back Ronnie Brown to a knee injury in the third quarter. He came in leading the NFL in yards from scrimmage.
Willie Andrews returned a kickoff 77 yards for a touchdown to help the Patriots lead 42-7 at the half.
“Our goals are bigger than winning seven games this year,” Brady noted.
Titans 38, Texans 36
At Houston, the Texans (3-4) scored 29 points in the fourth quarter, capped by a 53-yard touchdown pass from Sage Rosenfels to Andre’ Davis to take a 36-35 lead with 57 seconds remaining.
The Titans (4-2) faced a third-and-10 at their 37 when Kerry Collins found Roydell Williams on a 46-yard pass that set up the winning kick.
Rosenfels tied an NFL record with four TD passes in the fourth quarter, but also accounted for four of Houston’s six turnovers, throwing three interceptions and losing a fumble. Houston starter Matt Schaub missed big chunks of the first half and the entire second half with ankle and hip injuries.
Bears 19, Eagles 16
At Philadelphia, Brian Griese connected with Muhsin Muhammad for a 15-yard touchdown pass with 9 seconds left.
The Bears (3-4) were pinned on the 3-yard line with 1:57 left. Griese completed a series of short passes over the middle. And Devin Hester, the dynamic kick returner shut down on special teams by the Eagles (2-4), had a 21-yard catch that brought Chicago to the 15.
Before that, Robbie Gould kicked four field goals for the Bears and David Akers made three for Philadelphia.
Cowboys 24, Vikings 14
Chris Canty blocked a potential go-ahead field goal and Pat Watkins returned it 68 yards for the tiebreaking touchdown. Dallas bounced back from a lopsided home loss to New England and guaranteed itself at least two more weeks atop the NFC because of an upcoming bye. The host Cowboys can savor being 6-1 for the first time since 1995, their last Super Bowl season.
Tony Romo was 31-of-39 for 277 yards, with a touchdown and a fumble.
Minnesota (2-4) lost for the third time in four games and fell to the Cowboys for the first time since 1996. Rookie Adrian Peterson followed his record-setting, 224-yard performance last week with only 63 this time.
Broncos 31, Steelers 28
At Denver, Jason Elam’s 49-yard field goal as time expired won it. Elam has the game-winner in all three Broncos wins so far.
Rookie Tim Crowder had a 50-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown and Jay Cutler threw three TD passes for the Broncos (3-3), coming off their worst home loss in 41 years. Even without star cornerback Champ Bailey (thigh), Denver forced three turnovers and sacked Ben Roethlisberger four times.
The Steelers (4-2) had allowed just five touchdowns all season and surrendered four to the Broncos, including Cutler’s throws of 15 yards to Brandon Stokley and 1 yard each to Tony Scheffler and Cecil Sapp.
Giants 33, 49ers 15
The New York defense helped account for 24 points as the Giants (5-2) won their fifth straight. Osi Umenyiora scored on a 75-yard fumble return and the Giants forced four turnovers by the visiting 49ers (2-4), sacking Trent Dilfer six times. Michael Strahan had his biggest sacks performance since 2003 with 2 1/2.
Eli Manning threw touchdown passes to Amani Toomer and Jeremy Shockey, and Brandon Jacobs ran for 107 yards and a touchdown for the Giants.
Lions 23, Buccaneers 16
At Detroit, the Lions scored touchdowns after Jeff Garcia’s two fumbles, including wide receiver Calvin Johnson’s 32-yard run. Garcia, who played in Detroit for one forgettable season two years ago, didn’t have a turnover in his first six games with the Bucs.
Garcia finished 37-of-45 for a season-high 316 yards with two TDs and kept his streak alive without an interception, dating to last season when he was with Philadelphia.
Detroit (4-2) pulled within a game of idle Green Bay in the NFC North, while Tampa Bay (4-3) lost a chance to move past idle Carolina in the NFC South.
Redskins 21, Cardinals 19
In a sloppy game, the host Redskins (4-2) finished with only 160 total yards and survived a 55-yard field goal attempt by Neil Rackers that was barely wide left with 2 seconds remaining. Clinton Portis had a pair of short touchdown runs for the Redskins.
Rackers’ attempt was set up when the Cardinals (3-4) recovered an onside kick following a touchdown and a failed 2-point conversion.
Kurt Warner, who started despite a torn elbow ligament, wasn’t behind center when the Cardinals got within 21-19. Tim Rattay entered for the play and threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to Leonard Pope.
Needing a 2-point conversion to tie, the Cardinals snapped the ball directly to receiver Anquan Boldin in shotgun formation. Boldin scrambled to the right, and with nowhere to run, his feeble pass toward Larry Fitzgerald was broken up by safety LaRon Landry.
Chiefs 12, Raiders 10
Larry Johnson scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 1-yard run early in the fourth quarter as visiting Kansas City (4-3) beat the Raiders (2-4) for the ninth straight time, winning in Priest Holmes’ return from a two-year absence.
Holmes, Kansas City’s career leader in yards rushing and touchdowns, was activated this week for the first time since suffering a neck injury on a vicious hit from San Diego’s Shawne Merriman on Oct. 30, 2005.
Holmes rushed four times for 9 yards, gaining a key first down with under 3 minutes left and Kansas City (4-3) protecting the 12-10 lead.
Seahawks 33, Rams 6
At Seattle, Nate Burleson returned the second-half kickoff 91 yards for a game-changing touchdown and the sputtering Seahawks (4-3) sent St. Louis (0-7) to the worst start in its 70 years in the NFL.
Seattle led 10-3 at the half, even though St. Louis had just 41 total yards. Then Burleson took the second-half kickoff, ran through a tackle near midfield and shook off Jonathan Wade at about the 20 for his first career kickoff score.
Pro Bowl quarterback Marc Bulger, playing for the first time in three weeks with sore ribs, was sacked seven times, four by Darryl Tapp. Bulger fumbled three times, lost two, and finished 21-of-40 for 225 yards passing with three interceptions.
Saints 22, Falcons 16
At New Orleans, Reggie Bush scored on a screen pass from the 4 to win it. Bush spun free and overpowered three Falcons and dived across the goal line on third down. Then Bush took a handoff on a 2-point conversion, raced to the sideline and dived past the pylon.
Bush finished with only 54 yards rushing and 19 yards receiving on a difficult day during which New Orleans (2-4) often sputtered. He also had several good gains called back on holding penalties.
Atlanta (1-6) also lost new starting quarterback, Byron Leftwich, who left with an injured right ankle after Saints defensive end Will Smith brought him down on a long incompletion early in the third quarter.
Bengals 38, Jets 31
At Cincinnati, Kenny Watson ran for 130 yards and three touchdowns in the best performance of his career, and the Bengals (2-4) turned the Jets’ second-half meltdown into their first victory in five games.
Watson, filling in for the injured Rudi Johnson, scored on runs of 1 and 2 yards in the second half, finishing off a Jets team that couldn’t hold a 13-point lead or get out of its own way.
New York (1-6) has already matched its loss total from last season.
Bills 19, Ravens 14
Rookie QB Trent Edwards went 11-of-21 for 153 yards and engineered five scoring drives for host Buffalo (2-4). Rian Lindell hit four field goals, including a 41-yarder, and Marshawn Lynch scored on a 1-yard plunge.
Willis McGahee made his mark, overcoming a slow start and a booing crowd, by scoring on a 46-yard run in his first game back since the Bills traded him to Baltimore (4-3) in March. But it wasn’t enough for a popgun Ravens attack that featured three rookie offensive linemen and was minus starting QB Steve McNair and tight end Todd Heap.
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