Detroit Lions and Buffalo Bills now 3-0

DETROIT 26 MINNESOTA 23 F/OT

The Detroit Lions erased a 20 point deficit on Sunday and rallied to a 26-23 overtime win against the Minnesota Vikings. The Lions are 3-0 for the first time since 1980. Minnesota carried a 20-0 lead into halftime but they were outscored 26-3 in the 2nd half and overtime. The win puts Detroit in a tie with the Green Bay Packers (3-0) in the division.

Matthew Stafford led the Lions to their 3rd straight win this season and 7th regular season win dating back to last year. Stafford was 32-46 with 378 passing yards and 2 touchdowns. Calvin Johnson caught 7 passes for 108 yards and snagged both touchdown passes. B. Pettigrew also caught 11 passes for 112 yards. Jason Hanson was 4-4 on fieldgoals, including the game winning kick in overtime.

This is the second straight week that Minnesota gave up a second half lead. Although the Vikings played better as a team, they completely feel apart in the 2nd half. Donovan McNabb finsished the game 22-36 with 211 yards passing and a touchdown. Adrian Peterson was contained the last half of the game and finished with 78 yards rushing and a touchdown. Jared Allen did have a breakout game, sacking Matthew Stafford 3 times and finishing with 5 tackles.

The Detroit defense stepped up big in the 2nd half and applied constant pressure to McNabb. The Lions offense finally got started and controlled the rest of the game. The big difference in this game was the Lions defense in the redzone. The Vikings were only 2-5 in redzone scoring. The Lions will be tested once again as they travel to Texas to play the Dallas Cowboys next weekend.

BUFFALO 34 NEW ENGLAND 31 F

The Buffalo Bills have finally ended their 15 game losing streak against the New England Patriots with a 34-31 win on Sunday. In doing so, the Bills are off to their best start since 1999. Last season, the Bills lost their first 8 games before going 4-4 in the final half of last season. Once again, the Bills had to come back from a double digit deficit. The Patriots jumped out to a 21-0 lead and the game seemed to already be over. Wrong, the Bills outscored New England 34-10 after that and won on a last second field goal. This was only the second time that the Bills have beaten Tom Brady.

Tom Brady led the Patriot offense, throwing for 387 yards and 4 touchdowns. Buffalo was able to pick off Brady 4 times on Sunday and the Bills took advantage of the turnovers. All of last season, Brady only threw 4 interceptions. New England managed 495 yards of total offense, but Buffalo was able to pull off a remarkable win at home. Wes Welker had a record setting day with 217 yards on 16 catches for the Patriots. He caught 2 touchdowns in the process.

Ryan Fitzpatrick finished the game 27-40 with 369 passing yards. He threw for 2 touchdowns and he was intercepted twice also. Fred Jackson sparked the Buffalo running game with 74 yards on the ground on 12 carries with a touchdown. Donald Jones was the Bills' leading receiver on Sunday catching 5 passes for 101 yards. The Bills managed 448 yards of total offense.

The Buffalo Bills became the first N.F.L. team to comeback and win two straight games after trailing by 18 points or more. The Bills trailed 21-0 against New England and 21-3 against the Oakland Raiders before winning both games. It was truly great to see that stadium packed. That was the loudest it has been there in years. Congrats to the Buffalo Bills and Detroit Lions.

With New England and the New York Jets both losing, Buffalo now leads the division with a 3-0 record. New England and New York are both 2-1 and the Miami Dolphins are now 0-3 after a one point loss to Cleveland. The Bills travel to Cincinnati next Sunday to play the 1-2 Bengals.