Patriots 25, Bucs 21
Patriots 25, Bucs 21
Two days after spraining his left knee, Tom Brady completed his first 11 passes before missing his last one and threw his first touchdown pass to new top wide receiver Danny Amendola in the New England Patriots’ 25-21 exhibition victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Friday night.
Brady played the first two series, then rested.
Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman also started and worked two possessions but had a much rougher time against the team they’ll face in the third game of the regular season. He was sacked three times and completed only two of three passes before rookie Mike Glennon took over.
Brady left Wednesday’s joint practice with Tampa Bay (0-2) after he was knocked down by his own left tackle, Nate Solder, who was shoved backward by defensive end Adrian Clayborn.
49ERS 15, CHIEFS 13
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City quarterback Alex Smith struggled against his former team, and backup San Francisco quarterback B.J. Daniels threw a late touchdown pass to lift the 49ers past the Chiefs.
Phil Dawson hit all three of his field-goal attempts for the 49ers (1-1), two of them 55-yarders, while the Chiefs’ Quintin Demps returned a kickoff 104 yards for a touchdown.
Smith was just 7 of 16 for 62 yards while playing the full first half, but he did help Kansas City to two field goals. The 49ers didn’t go easy on him, either: Tony Jerod-Eddie was flagged for delivering a helmet-to-helmet hit on Smith in the second quarter.
SAINTS 28, RAIDERS 20
NEW ORLEANS — Drew Brees passed for 202 yards and a touchdown while leading five scoring drives, and the New Orleans survived a sloppy second half to beat Oakland.
Brees’ scoring strike was a 16-yarder to rookie Kenny Stills, who made the most of his second straight game playing with the first-team offense. Brees completed 78 percent of his passes (14 of 18), including a 56-yarder to Nick Toon, setting up Mark Ingram’s touchdown run.
BILLS 20, VIKINGS 16
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Rookie EJ Manuel took another step toward securing Buffalo’s starting quarterback job, and the defense stuffed Minnesota.
Manuel went 10 of 12 for 92 yards and a touchdown through three series in the second half. Kevin Kolb was 13 of 21 for 111 yards and an interception in the first half.
Jerry Hughes had two sacks starting in place of defensive end Mario Williams, sidelined by soreness. Backup linebacker Jamie Blatnick recovered a fumble for a touchdown for Buffalo (2-0).