The New Orleans Saints overhauled a 21-point deficit for a superb comeback win against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, closing out the game 46-34 for their sixth consecutive victory of the season. Ricky Williams scored three touchdowns for Miami, who led 24-3 during the second quarter but then spectacularly collapsed after touchdowns by New Orleans either side of half-time.
"There were a lot of things we didn't do right in the first half but Miami did a lot of things very well," said the Saints' head coach, Sean Payton. "I was just proud of the way we just hung in there and we talked about playing a full game, four quarters and we did that. We had to come from behind and I'm proud of the way that they responded." The result was a severe blow to Miami's hopes of making the play-offs and left them 2-4 in the AFC East.
In other NFL action on Sunday, the Minnesota Vikings' six-game winning streak came to an end when LaMarr Woodley returned Brett Favre's fumble 77 yards for a touchdown and Keyaron Fox ran back an interception 82 yards for another as the Pittsburgh Steelers won 27-17. Across the Atlantic, in London, Tom Brady threw three touchdown passes as the New England Patriots beat the winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers 35-7 in the NFL's third regular-season game at Wembley Stadium. For the Bucs, who gave up a home game to play in London, the new surroundings did not help. They fell to 0-7 and saw their losing streak extended to 11 games overall.
In other NFL action, the Arizona Cardinals bewildered the quarterback Eli Manning with their blitzes, forced four turnovers and used timely plays by their veterans to beat the New York Giants 24-7. Arizona took over first place in the NFC West. The Dallas quarterback Tony Romo brought his offence to life as the Cowboys beat the Atlanta Falcons 37-21 in what was easily their most impressive win of the season.
Carson Palmer threw five touchdown passes and Cedric Benson ran for a career-high 189 yards and a touchdown as the Cincinnati Bengals beat the Chicago Bears 45-10. Meanwhile the Houston, running back Steve Slaton scored two touchdowns and the Texans built a big lead then held on to beat the San Francisco 49ers 24-21 The rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez ran for one touchdown and threw for another as the New York Jets overwhelmed the Oakland Raiders 38-0 to end a three-game losing streak.
Aaron Rodgers threw three touchdown passes and their running back Ryan Grant rushed for 148 yards as the Green Bay Packers beat the Cleveland Browns 31-3, while Philip Rivers threw three touchdowns passes as the San Diego Chargers won their third in a row, beating the Kansas City Chiefs 37-7. The Buffalo safety Jairus Byrd made two interceptions to set up touchdowns as the Bills beat the Carolina Panthers 20-9, winning road games in consecutive weeks for the first time since 2004, while Peyton Manning threw three touchdown passes as the Baltimore Colts overcame the St Louis Rams 42-6.
The victory was the Colt's 15th in a row in regular-season action and they also set a franchise record with their eighth consecutive win on the road. * With agencies
