Legendary head coach Bill Belichick faces serious questions about his New England Patriots future after his team’s latest loss against the Indianapolis Colts in Germany.
The Cleveland Browns produced a stunning comeback to beat the Baltimore Ravens in one of a record five games to be settled with the last kick of the match on the same day.
The Houston Texans, Arizona Cardinals, Seattle Seahawks and Detroit Lions also won via walk-off field goals in a thrilling set of fixtures on the 10th NFL Sunday of the season.
NFC big guns the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers got back to winning ways in some style while Joshua Dobbs’ incredible story continued as he engineered a fifth win on the spin for the Minnesota Vikings.
The New York Jets again showed how good their defence is but how much they’re struggling to put up points without Aaron Rodgers as they lost 16-12 to the Las Vegas Raiders – who have now won both games under interim coach Antonio Pierce.
Struggling Belichick faces future & Brady questions
Belichick has never missed Tom Brady more than he is right now, after a poor 10-6 loss to the Colts in Frankfurt saw the Patriots slip to 2-8 – their worst record since Belichick’s first season in charge in 2000 and the head coach’s joint-worst of his career.
It’s a career that will forever be entwined legendary quarterback with Brady after the pair won six Super Bowls together in two decades of dominance, but since they parted company Brady added another ring with Tampa Bay before retirement while Belichick’s Patriots have continually struggled.
So as well as many now crediting Brady for those Super Bowl wins, the almost unthinkable is being discussed as Belichick’s future comes under scrutiny after a 33rd loss in the fourth season without Brady – who only lost 66 games in 20 years as a Patriot.
“Obviously it was a disappointing game. Similar theme that we’ve had to other games this year. We just didn’t do a good enough job today,” said Belichick, who benched his current underperforming quarterback Mac Jones in the closing stages only to see replacement Bailey Zappe throw an interception to end the game.
Belichick has a long flight back from Germany and a bye week to stew over his team’s problems in what is the most difficult spell of his long, illustrious career.
Browns and Texans impress in walk-off wins
In a game between the top two defences in the league, it was a flurry of late attacking that saw the Cleveland Browns erase a 14-point deficit in the fourth quarter to stun the Baltimore Ravens 33-31 in what could be a statement success.
After taking an early lead, the Ravens led for all but 40 seconds of the game, the most a team has been in front but lost a game this century, as QB Deshaun Watson showed glimpses of why the Browns handed him such a big contract as he set up Dustin Hopkins’ 40-yard winning field goal.
The Ravens, one of the Super Bowl favourites, slip to 7-3 while the Browns are 6-3 for just the sixth time since 1986 and now have belief that they could make a rare challenge this season.
Houston Texans’ rookie quarterback CJ Stroud was at it again as he led a late drive in the final 93 seconds that Matt Ammendola finished off with a 38-yard kick to clinch an impressive 30-27 win over the Cincinnati Bengals.
“The thing about CJ is just the calmness in the chaos,” said Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans after ending Cincinnati’s four-game winning run. “He doesn’t waver. He’s confident he’s going to make plays.”
Lions and Cards add to record of late winners
Jared Goff enjoyed his return to LA as the former Rams quarterback led the Detroit Lions to a 41-38 victory in an attacking slugfest against the Los Angeles Chargers.
Detroit are one of the surprising success stories in the NFL this season and at 7-2 now have the joint second-best record in the league behind the Philadelphia Eagles – showing they are very much the real deal.
Like Goff, Kyler Murray is a former top pick in the NFL draft and he enjoyed his return from 335 days out following knee surgery by running in a touchdown and setting up Matt Prater to kick the Arizona Cardinals to a 25-23 win over the Atlanta Falcons.
A new NFL record for walk-off wins on a single day was set at five when Jason Myers booted a 43-yard winner for the Seattle Seahawks as the clock hit zero on a 29-26 victory over the Washington Commanders.
Cowboys and 49ers bounce back
The San Francisco 49ers hit the reset button after following five wins with three straight defeats, but they came flying out of a week off with a dominant 34-3 win at the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The Jags had only been behind for seven minutes during their five-game winning run, but trailed early and never got a blow in against a Niners side who returned to Super Bowl contender form.
“It’s terrible. It’s one of the worst games I’ve probably played in my career,” said deflated Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence. “We couldn’t do anything right.”
The Dallas Cowboys also enjoyed a bounce back from their tough loss in Philadelphia last week as they inflicted a heavy 49-17 defeat on divisional rivals the New York Giants.
Joshua Dobbs’ fairytale run continued as he led the Minnesota Vikings to a 27-19 win against the New Orleans Saints in his first start since joining the team just 12 days ago.
Dobbs had to be shown where the home locker room was in his first visit to his new stadium, but found the end zone easily enough with a TD run and pass as he continues to confound with his stellar play so soon after switching teams.
Elsewhere, the Pittsburgh Steelers edged the Green Bay Packers 23-19 and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers dominated the Tennessee Titans to win 20-6.
