Tom Brady conjured a last-gasp Houdini act to save the New England Patriots in a thrilling win over the Houston Texans on Sunday as the Atlanta Falcons preserved their unbeaten record.

The Carolina Panthers’ poor start to the season continued as they crashed to a third defeat in four matches after going down 48-33 to the Atlanta Falcons.

An emotional Peyton Manning signed off from his 18-year NFL career with the words “God bless football” — and one final “Omaha”.

Tom Brady threw for two fourth-quarter touchdowns and notched a career rushing first, leading New England to a 30-23 win over the New York Jets that kept the Patriots unbeaten this NFL season.

Miami Dolphins head coach Joe Philbin has been sacked in the aftermath of their Wembley loss to AFC East rivals the New York Jets on Sunday afternoon.

The Pittsburgh Steelers came on strong in the fourth quarter on Sunday night for a 42-21 NFL triumph over Cincinnati that blew open the AFC North division race.

Andrew Luck enjoyed a landmark day as the Indianapolis Colts beat the Washington Redskins 49-27 on Sunday.

A stunning comeback sent the Indianapolis Colts through to the next round of the NFL play-offs at the expense of the Kansas City Chiefs as the post-season got off to a thrilling start.

The NFL play-off picture was completed on Sunday with a dramatic final series of regular season games delivering big results for the Green Bay Packers, the Philadelphia Eagles and the San Diego Chargers.

After a rip-roaring start to the season, the Kansas City Chiefs finally fell to their first defeat in the NFL this year, losing an absorbing clash by ten points at the home of Peyton Manning’s Denver Broncos on Sunday.

Even weary fans of the Dallas Cowboys could not have imagined how they would succumb to their nightmare defeat by the Detroit Lions when apparently in control of their NFC clash in Motown on Sunday.

Just short of 100 points were scored in an incredible Texas shoot-out between the Denver Broncos and the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday which left Peyton Manning’s Broncos in control of one of the three unbeaten records in the NFL thanks to a 51-48 win.

The Patriots, Saints and Dolphins joined the Kansas Chiefs with their third straight victories of the new season while the New York Giants and Washington Redskins were left wondering where their first wins will come from after embarrassing defeats.

The New England Patriots claimed their 10th consecutive NFL season-opening win when Stephen Gostkowski hit a 35-yard field goal with five seconds left to beat the Buffalo Bills 23-21.

Multiple marital infidelities pitched him from the sports pages to front page headlines in 2009, but today Tiger Woods finds himself not only at the top of the world’s golf rankings but also at the pinnacle of the Forbes ‘World’s Highest Paid Athletes’.

Atlanta remained undefeated, Tom Brady won the battle of the marquee quarterbacks and Drew Brees had a record-setting day in week five of the National Football League season.

Late field goals kept the Atlanta Falcons and Arizona Cardinals undefeated while Houston won a rout to also stay perfect four weeks into the season.

Hours after his younger brother’s death in a motorcycle accident, Torrey Smith caught six passes for 127 yards and scored two touchdowns to spark Baltimore to a last-play 31-30 NFL win over New England.

ESPN would never dare ask any of the top college football teams in the US to switch their game forward from Saturday, no matter how lucrative the television contract.

THE New York Giants will travel to the Super Bowl champions, the Green Bay Packers, for next Sunday’s NFL Divisional Round play-off game after they blew the Atlanta Falcons away in New Jersey yesterday.

THE Pittsburgh Steelers will be hoping star quarterback Ben Roethlisberger can survive 60 minutes of football tomorrow as the NFL wild card round gets going this weekend.

THE New England Patriots secured the number one seed in the AFC and home advantage for the NFL play-offs as they came from three touchdowns down to hammer the Buffalo Bills.

IN A win that evoked their Superbowl triumph from the 2007 season, the New York Giants beat the New England Patriots in dramatic fashion on Sunday with a touchdown pass from Eli Manning in the final seconds.

THE New Orleans Saints suffered a shock 31-21 defeat to the previously winless St Louis Rams and the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the New England Patriots in NFL action on Sunday.

IN SPITE of the lockout cloud which overshadowed the off-season, the NFL machine cranks into gear this weekend, a little creaky but right on schedule.

New Orleans Saints clinched the Super Bowl XLIV today in a victory hailed as the most popular in the history of the competition.

SUPER Bowl champions The New York Giants shrugged off the latest publicity surrounding absent receiver Plaxico Burress to defeat Washington 23-7 on Sunday.

DEFENDING champions New York struggled to score on Sunday but they managed a touchdown when it mattered most to defeat Pittsburgh 21-14 in a showdown of division leaders.

SEASON-ENDING victories by the Washington Redskins and Tennessee Titans advanced both teams into the NFL playoffs, with reserve quarterbacks named Collins leading each triumph.

TOM BRADY threw for 269 yards and a touchdown, while Asante Samuel picked off three passes as the New England Patriots beat Chicago 17-13 in a showdown of American football division leaders on Sunday.

THE Indianapolis Colts, the only team in NFL history to start 9-0 in consecutive seasons, fell to the upstart Dallas Cowboys 21-14 on Sunday.

THE Miami Dolphins stunned the Chicago Bears on Sunday, leaving the Indianapolis Colts to emerge from the day’s action as the lone unbeaten team in the NFL.

INDIANAPOLIS Colts quarterback Peyton Manning provided the fourth-quarter heroics, Santana Moss’s overtime catch won it for the Washington Redskins and the Baltimore Ravens rallied to win the clash of unbeaten teams.

A BEAT UP Patriots defence and a supercharged San Diego offence was enough to hand Super Bowl champions New England their first home defeat in nearly three years during an exciting weekend of National Football League action.

ST LOUIS and Denver got the victories they needed, while Minnesota and the New York Jets didn’t have to win to book their play-off berths as the National Football League regular season ended on Sunday.

Rookie quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh Steelers ended the 21-game winning streak of the New England Patriots with a 34-20 victory.