Miami (AFP) - The Philadelphia Eagles returned to winning ways with a thrilling 17-16 NFL late comeback win at the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday.
But another of the league's form teams, the Minnesota Vikings, suffered a crushing 40-3 defeat at home to a rampant Dallas Cowboys.
The Eagles, whose perfect start to the season ended after eight games with a defeat to Washington last week, were staring at the prospect of another loss as they began the fourth quarter 14-3 down.
But quarterback Jalen Hurts found Quez Watkins with a 22 yard touchdown pass and after a Colts field goal, Philadelphia (9-1) snatched victory with 1:20, as Hurts rushed in for an eight yard touchdown.
Hurts ended with 190 passing yards, 86 rushing yards and two total touchdowns
"That was a great win, it wasn't what you draw up but in this league it rarely is," said Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni, who was offensive coordinator with the Colts before joining Philadelphia.
"You keep seeing it, when we need a drive, when need some points, we can always lean on our offensive line and Jalen is always special with the ball in his hands," he said.
The Vikings went into the day tied with the Eagles for best record in the league at 8-1, the meeting with the Cowboys billed as a clash of two of the best teams in the NFC.
But it was an utterly one-sided encounter.
Dallas, quickly putting aside the disappointment of last week's loss to the Green Bay Packers, put up points on each of its first seven drives.
"We just played a complete game, offense, defense.We knew we had to respond after last week and this was big for us," said quarterback Dak Prescott.
Prescott threw for 276 yards and two touchdowns - both thrown to the outstanding Tony Pollard, while running back Ezekiel Elliott rushed for two touchdowns.
Pollard rushed for 80 yards on 15 carries and also gained 109 yards on six receptions, using his running power to burst from deep to great effect.
The combination of Elliott and Pollard proved too much for Minnesota.
"They are dynamic, when we have them both out there, the defense doesn't know what is coming at them," said Prescott, whose Cowboys improved to 7-3 -- tied with the New York Giants behind the 9-1 Eagles in the NFC East.
The 37-point margin was the biggest the Cowboys have enjoyed in 54 years and was a bitter blow to a Vikings team that last week enjoyed a win at Buffalo.
The loss also saw Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins snap a streak of 39 consecutive games with a touchdown -- the fourth best record since the NFL-AFL merger.
The Buffalo Bills had been forced to move their home game with the Cleveland Browns to Detroit due to a snow storm and left with a 31-23 win to move to 7-3.
Browns quarterback Jacoby Brisett threw for 324 yards and three touchdowns but three field goals in the fourth quarter were enough to secure the win for the Bills who snapped a two game losing streak.
Patterson return record
Atlanta running back Cordarrelle Patterson set an NFL record Sunday with his ninth career kick return touchdown, breaking the old mark he shared with Josh Cribbs and Leon Washington.
Patterson raced up the middle of the field with a 103-yard touchdown in the second quarter for the record-shattering runback in the Falcons' 27-24 triumph over Chicago.
It was his seventh touchdown return of more than 100 yards, with no one else in NFL history managing more than three, and his first kick return touchdown since 2020.
Lamar Jackson scored on a 1-yard touchdown run after the first of three late Carolina turnovers in the fourth quarter to give AFC North division leader Baltimore a 13-3 victory over visiting Carolina.
Kendall Fuller returned an interception 37 yards for a touchdown and Curtis Samuel scored on a 10-yard run to spark Washington's 23-10 victory at Houston, the Commanders' fifth triumph in six games.
The Cincinnati Bengals kept themselves in contention in the AFC North moving to 6-4 with a 37-30 win over divisional rivals the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow threw for 355 yards and four touchdowns - three of them with passes to receiver Samaje Perine.
