NEW ORLEANS – Ryan Fitzpatrick backpedaled giddily for about 20 yards as he watched DeSean Jackson come down with a 36-yard touchdown pass over the middle. The journeyman quarterback then turned toward the Tampa Bay Buccaneers sideline and triumphantly thrust his arm in an upward arc.
Time will tell if the Bucs are on a similar trajectory this season, but there’s no denying they’re off to an encouraging start.
Fitzpatrick highlighted a 417-yard, four-touchdown performance with two scoring strikes of more than 50 yards, and the Buccaneers stunned the Saints, 48-40, on Sunday.
“I’m happy to announce: FitzMagic is alive and well,” Tampa Bay coach Dirk Koetter said of his 35-year-old reserve quarterback, who was starting for suspended 2015 first-overall draft choice Jameis Winston. “Quite a start, huh?”
Fitzpatrick completed 21 of 28 passes without an interception and also ran for a short touchdown, bowling over free safety Marcus Williams on his way into the end zone.
“I hope somebody had him in fantasy because he went crazy today,” Bucs receiver Mike Evans said of Fitzpatrick. “And he was running the ball – phenomenal game. One of the most complete games I’ve seen.”
Coming off a playoff appearance and hosting a team that won only five games last season, the Saints were among the more heavily favored teams in Week 1. But some of the Saints’ defensive players who were instrumental in New Orleans’ success a season earlier had a miserable start to 2018.
Saints cornerback Marshon Lattimore, the 2017 defensive rookie of the year, had trouble covering Evans, who caught seven passes for 147 yards, including a 50-yard touchdown that put the Bucs up 41-24 late in the third quarter.
“It isn’t going to get me down. Everybody gets beat,” Lattimore said. “We needed to get slapped in our face one good time to see we’re not on a level we think we’re on.”
Bengals 34, Colts 23
INDIANAPOLIS – Andy Dalton rallied the Bengals with three scores in the final 19 minutes and Clayton Fejedelem scored on an 83-yard fumble return with 24 seconds to go. Cincinnati snapped an eight-game losing streak in Indy.
The loss spoiled the Colts’ season opener – and the return of Andrew Luck, who made his first start in more than 20 months.
It looked as if Luck was up to his old tricks after staking the Colts to a 23-10 lead midway through the third quarter, and again late when he led the Colts 50 yards to the Bengals 25-yard line in the final minute.
But a completed pass on third down to Pro Bowl tight end Jack Doyle saw Fejedelem knock the ball out, scoop it up and sprint down the sideline, avoiding Luck on his way to the end zone for the sealing score.
Dalton was 21 of 38 with 243 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. Joe Mixon gave Cincinnati a 24-23 lead with a leaping 1-yard TD plunge with 11:07 to go and finished with 17 carries for 95 yards.
A.J. Green had six catches for 92 yards, including a 38-yard TD catch in the third quarter.
Luck looked rusty initially with his first official pass since Jan. 1, 2017, being underthrown to Doyle and picked off by linebacker Preston Brown. But he wound up 39 of 53 with 319 yards with two touchdowns.
Vikings 24, 49ers 16
MINNEAPOLIS – Kirk Cousins passed for two touchdowns in his much-anticipated Minnesota debut, and the Vikings forced four turnovers to stick 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo with his first loss in eight games as an NFL starter.
Cousins connected with Stefon Diggs in the second quarter and Kyle Rudolph in the third quarter for scores, and the defense finished the job with three sacks and three second-half interceptions of Garoppolo. Mike Hughes turned one pick into a 28-yard touchdown return, the first by a rookie in a Vikings season opener.
Harrison Smith, who sacked Garoppolo on a third-down safety blitz and had an interception late in the fourth quarter, recovered a fumble by Alfred Morris at the 2-yard line after Linval Joseph stripped the ball just in front of the goal line late in the first half.
Garoppolo finished 15 for 33 for 261 yards and a touchdown pass to rookie Dante Pettis. With an injury depleted offensive line in front of him and the absence of top wide receiver Marquise Goodwin, Garoppolo was unable to capitalize on the opportunity for a comeback after the 49ers’ defense forced three straight three-and-out possessions by the Vikings to start the fourth quarter.
Ravens 47, Bills 3
BALTIMORE –The Baltimore Ravens harassed and embarrassed Buffalo quarterback Nathan Peterman on a rainy afternoon, while Joe Flacco threw three touchdown passes, one to each of the new receivers.
Flacco went 25-for-34 for 236 yards before being replaced in the third quarter by rookie Lamar Jackson, who did little more than hand off after entering with a 40-0 lead.
Making its debut under defensive coordinator Don Martindale, the Ravens held Buffalo to 33 yards and no first downs in going up 26-0 at the half.
Baltimore added two touchdowns in the third quarter following Buffalo mistakes before Bills coach Sean McDermott had finally seen enough, replacing Peterman with rookie Josh Allen.
Making his third NFL start, Peterman went 5-for-18 for 24 yards and two interceptions for a quarterback rating of 0.0. Allen was 6-for-15 for 74 yards in Buffalo’s most lopsided defeat since a 56-10 loss to New England in November 2007.
Baltimore had six sacks and limited Buffalo to 153 yards.
Jaguars 20, Giants 15
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Linebacker Myles Jack scored on a 32-yard interception return early in the fourth quarter and the Jaguars spoiled the Giants debuts of coach Pat Shurmur and second-overall draft pick Saquon Barkley, and the return of Odell Beckham Jr.
Blake Bortles threw a short touchdown pass and led two other first-half field goal drives. The Jaguars dominated, with the exception a Barkley-induced hiccup, in opening a season by living up to the Super Bowl hype.
Held in check much of the game, Barkley brought the sellout crowd to its feet shortly after the Jack touchdown with a spectacular 68-yard run aided by a great block by receiver Sterling Shepard. It got New York within 20-15 with 10:39 to play.
New York went for the 2-point conversion and Barkley (18-rushes for 106 yards) was stopped.
It proved costly when passes of 19 and 21 yards to Beckham (11 catches for 111 yards in his first game since -October) got New York to the Jacksonville 34. Instead of attempting what could have been a tying fourth field goal from Aldrick Rosas, Eli Manning (23 of 37 for 224 yards) threw a fourth-down incompletion.
A muffed punt cost the Giants a final possession in the last minute.
Chiefs 38, Chargers 28
CARSON, Calif. – Tyreek Hill scored three touchdowns, Patrick Mahomes passed for his first four NFL scores and the Kansas City Chiefs opened the season with a 38-28 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday.
Hill had a 91-yard punt return for a score and a 58-yard TD reception during the first quarter before adding a 1-yard reception for a score in the fourth quarter to put the game out of reach.
Hill also had 169 yards on seven receptions, which is the second-most yards by a Chiefs receiver in an opener, according to Pro Football Reference. Carlos Carson had 173 yards receiving against New Orleans in 1985.
Mahomes, who moved into the starting spot after Alex Smith was traded to Washington in the offseason, was 15 of 27 for 256 yards as the Chiefs extended their winning streak over the Chargers to nine.
Broncos 27, Seattle 24
DENVER – Von Miller sacked Russell Wilson three times, forced two fumbles and recovered one in helping Case Keenum win his Denver debut Sunday when the Broncos held off the Seattle Seahawks 27-24.
Wilson threw for 298 yards and three TDs, but was picked off twice and sacked six times and ran just twice for 5 yards.
Keenum threw for 329 yards and three touchdowns, but was also intercepted three times.
Dolphins 27, Titans 20
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Jakeem Grant scored on a tiebreaking 102-yard kickoff return with 14 minutes to go, and Miami overcame two weather delays to win the longest game since the 1970 NFL-AFL merger.
Delays for lightning lasted a total of 3 hours, 59 minutes, and the game took 7 hours, 10 minutes to play. The previous longest game since 1970 was a Bears overtime victory against the Ravens in 2013 that took 5 hours, 16 minutes.
Grant’s touchdown triggered a late flurry of big plays in an opener that was lackluster for the first six hours.
After his score, Ryan Tannehill hit Kenny Stills deep for a 75-yard touchdown. Darius Jennings returned the ensuing kickoff 94 yards for a Titans score, and they were driving when Miami’s Reshad Jones helped to clinch the win with a 54-yard return after he intercepted Blaine Gabbert.
Titans starting quarterback Marcus Mariota threw two interceptions in the third quarter and then came out of the game with an elbow injury. Tight end Delanie Walker was carted off the field later in the period with a right leg injury, and tackle Taylor Lewan suffered a concussion, all of which meant a miserable start for Mike Vrabel in his head coaching debut.
Redskins 24, Cardinals 6
GLENDALE, Ariz. – Alex Smith carved up the Arizona defense for 255 yards and two touchdowns, Adrian Peterson rushed for 96 yards and a score and Washington spoiled the coaching debut of Steve Wilks.
Smith and Peterson were playing their first game as Redskins and the two veterans made an impact from the start.
Smith, acquired from Kansas City in the offseason to replace Kirk Cousins, completed 21 of 30 passes without an interception and had TD throws of 13 yards to Chris Thompson and 4 yards to Jordan Reed.
Peterson, who played for Arizona a year ago and signed with Washington as a free agent on Aug. 20, finished his day with a 52-yard reception, but fumbled at the end of the play.
Panthers 16, Cowboys 8
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Cam Newton ran for 58 yards and a touchdown, and Carolina’s defense turned in a dominant performance to beat Dallas.
Luke Kuechly had 13 tackles, Kawann Short sacked Dak Prescott twice and Mario Addison had a huge strip-sack of the Cowboys quarterback with 1:23 left to seal the victory.
Carolina’s defense had six sacks in all and limited the Cowboys to 232 yards.
The Cowboys, who are looking for answers on offense following the departures of Dez Bryant and Jason Witten, couldn’t do much against a stingy Carolina defense in the first half. The Panthers limited the Cowboys to 60 yards and four first downs to take a 10-0 lead into the locker room.
Prescott finished with just 170 yards passing and Ezekiel Elliott was held to 69 yards rushing and a touchdown. Dallas’ leading receiver was Cole Beasley, who had seven catches for 73 yards.