Saints 30 Cowboys 27
ARLINGTON, Texas — As Roy Williams ran toward the end zone, he realized the importance of his breakaway catch-and-run. Just hold onto it, he thought, and the Dallas Cowboys would pull off one of their greatest Thanksgiving comebacks. He even switched the ball from one hand to another to make sure he kept it from the defender in front of him.
The guy behind him changed everything.
Malcolm Jenkins snatched the ball from Williams at the 11, ripping it out so forcefully that it wound up against his own stomach. Drew Brees then quickly drove 89 yards for the touchdown that put New Orleans back ahead 30-27 with 1:55 left Thursday.
But the drama wasn’t done yet.
Having already overcome a pair of 17-point deficits, the Cowboys moved close enough for David Buehler to try a 59-yard field goal that would’ve tied it. His kick had plenty of leg, but fluttered just wide to the left with 25 seconds left. New Orleans coach Sean Payton started to call a timeout, which would’ve given Buehler another chance, but either Payton didn’t finish the gesture or the officials didn’t see it, so the play stood, and this wild, wacky, thriller was finished.
“The play that Malcolm Jenkins makes late is an effort play, a heart play and it’s one of those plays that really inspires everyone on the team,” Payton said. “It was a gut-check win.”
And a gut-wrenching loss for Dallas.
The Cowboys came in 2-0 under interim coach Jason Garrett, playing like the Super Bowl contenders they were supposed to be instead of the 1-7 cupcakes they turned into under coach Wade Phillips. They made plenty of Phillips-era mistakes to fall behind 17-0 in the first quarter and 20-3 before halftime, then showed the poise and toughness Garrett has instilled by fighting back.
Buehler kicked a 53-yard field goal as the first half ended, Miles Austin went 60 yards on an end around on the second play of the second half and Dallas was back in the game. The Cowboys went ahead 27-23 on Tashard Choice’s one-yard touchdown run with 5:51 left, then Williams caught a short pass and took it 47 yards, following a block from Miles Austin as he approached the end zone.
Williams switched the ball from one hand to another to avoid cornerback Tracy Porter, knowing the Cowboys could stretch the lead, kill some clock or both as long as he didn’t fumble. Then, Jenkins grabbed it.
“I lost the ball game,” Williams said. “I let my teammates down. I need to fall down. We run the clock down and win the game. I was trying to make a play and they did a good job. It’s late in the game. That’s the nail in the coffin. We had the momentum going our way. We were there. That was a W. I get tackled, we get in the end zone and we win. I fall down and we win.”
Jenkins said he chased the play with only one thought — “get the ball out.”
“He didn’t see me from the blind side,” Jenkins said. “A bad play turned good for us. Not only ripped it out, it just kind of fell in my stomach.”
The Saints (8-3) won their fourth straight and fifth in six games. This was their first time playing on the holiday, and it’s certainly one their fans will never forget.
Dallas (3-8) lost for the first time in three games since Garrett became interim coach. This plucky effort shows the impact he’s had in such a short time. But if things had gone only slightly different, he would’ve been the face of two of the greatest Thanksgiving rallies in club history. In 1994, he made a rare start in place of an injured Troy Aikman and took the Cowboys from a 17-3 deficit against Brett Favre and the Packers to a 42-31 victory.
Patriots 45 Lions 24
DETROIT — Tom Brady was perfect on the field and his exit was first class.
Brady threw a season-high four touchdown passes, all in the second half, and the New England Patriots routed the Detroit Lions 45-24 on Thursday after trailing by 11 late in the second quarter.
“We showed some resiliency, coming out in the second half and playing the way we did when the crowd was into it,” Brady said.
Following Brady’s brief news conference, the former Michigan star jogged out of Ford Field — limping slightly up a steep ramp — hugged Robert Kraft and got into an idling limo with the team owner behind a police escort.
New England (9-2) remained tied with the AFC East rival New York Jets — who beat Cincinnati 26-10 on Thursday night — for the NFL’s best record, setting up a showdown at home Dec. 6.
“I don’t think we’re at where we need to be at,” Brady said. “But this is a tough group.”
No one in the red, white and blue is tougher than Brady.
After taking a ton of shots early in the game, the three-time Super Bowl winner and two-time MVP bounced back to complete 21 of 27 passes for 341 yards with no interceptions, giving him a perfect quarterback rating of 158.3 for the second time in his career.
“He’s like a surgeon,” Detroit centre Dominic Raiola said.
Brady threw a go-ahead touchdown pass to Deion Branch early in the fourth quarter after connecting with him on a 79-yarder to tie it at 24. Wes Welker’s second TD reception sealed the victory with 6:42 left, putting the Patriots ahead by two TDs and making their double-digit deficit a distant memory.
“When you outscore a team 35-7 in the second half, a lot of things have to go right,” New England coach Bill Belichick said.
The Lions (2-9) are used to things going wrong, especially on Thanksgiving. Detroit has lost a franchise-record seven straight games — by an average of nearly 23 points — in its annual showcase.
Jets 26 Bengals 10
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — One shoe or two, Brad Smith was too much for the Bengals.
Smith, the Jets’ Mr. Everything, scored on an 89-yard kickoff return during which he lost his left shoe and also had a 53-yard touchdown run in New York’s 26-10 victory over Cincinnati on Thursday night.
Hours after New England beat Detroit to improve to 9-2, New York matched the Patriots and the Jets are off to the second-best start in team history — eclipsed only by the 1986 squad that won 10 of its first 11. And the Jets did it by overcoming a sluggish first half and sending the struggling Bengals (2-9) to their eighth straight loss.
The Jets and Patriots meet for the AFC East lead in their next game, a meaty Monday night matchup Dec. 6 at New England.
New York has beaten Cincinnati three times in less than a year, including the regular-season finale that got the Jets into the playoffs, then in the wild-card game the following week.
Santonio Holmes scored his fourth touchdown in three games on a 13-yard reception from Mark Sanchez after Cincinnati’s Andre Caldwell had a punt deflect off him while he was blocking. Sanchez was 16 for 28 for 166 yards with the TD and an interception.
It looked as though New York was headed for yet another frenzied finish after consecutive road overtime victories were followed by getting the winning touchdown Sunday with 10 seconds left against Houston.
But it took New York only two plays to go ahead after halftime. Sanchez hit Holmes for 16 yards, then utilityman Smith used superb blocks by Dustin Keller and D’Brickashaw Ferguson to speed down the left sideline untouched for a 53-yard TD run.