Brady leads Patriots past Miami

Tom Brady was flawless at the start and off the bench, too.

With his team winning easily, Brady came out of the game early in the fourth quarter Sunday, then re-entered to throw a team-record sixth touchdown pass, capping unbeaten New England’s 49-28 rout of the winless Miami Dolphins in Miami.

Brady’s TD total exceeded his career high of five, set last week against Dallas. Brady now has 27 TD passes after seven games. The NFL record is 49 set by Peyton Manning in 2004. If Brady maintains his current pace over 16 games, he would finish with 61.

Brady completed his first 11 passes for 220 yards and four scores, including throws of 35 and 50 yards to Randy Moss. His other touchdown passes covered 14 and 16 yards to Wes Welker, 30 to Donte Stallworth and 2 to Kyle Brady.

Giants 33, 49ers 15: At East Rutherford, N.J., Osi Umenyiora scored on a 75-yard fumble return and the New York defense helped account for 24 points as the Giants won their fifth straight.

Eli Manning threw touchdown passes to Amani Toomer and Jeremy Shockey, and Brandon Jacobs ran for 107 yards and a touchdown for the Giants.

Michael Strahan had his biggest sack performance since 2003 with 2 1/2 for New York.

Redskins 21, Cardinals 19: At Landover, Md., Washington finished the day with only 160 total yards but survived a 55-yard field goal attempt by Neil Rackers that was barely wide left with 2 seconds remaining to defeat Arizona.

Rackers’ attempt was set up when the Cardinals recovered an onside kick following a touchdown and a failed 2-point conversion.

Clinton Portis had a pair of short touchdown runs for the Redskins.

Cowboys 24, Vikings 14: At Irving, Texas, Chris Canty swatted a potential go-ahead field goal by Minnesota and Pat Watkins returned it 68 yards for a go-ahead touchdown to lead Dallas to the victory.

Minnesota lost for the third time in four games. Rookie Adrian Peterson followed his record-setting, 224-yard performance last week with 63 this time.

Lions 23, Buccaneers 16: At Detroit, the Lions scored touchdowns after Jeff Garcia’s two fumbles, including wide receiver Calvin Johnson’s 32-yard run midway through the fourth quarter to earn the victory over Tampa Bay.

Garcia finished 37 of 45 for a season-high 316 yards with two TDs but committed his first turnovers of the season.

Saints 22, Falcons 16: At New Orleans, Reggie Bush’s power running with a short pass gave New Orleans a 4-yard touchdown and a victory over Atlanta. Bush spun free and overpowered three Falcons and dived across the goal line on a crucial third-and-goal screen pass.

The Falcons’ newest starting quarterback, Byron Leftwich, left with an injured right ankle in the third quarter.

Bills 19, Ravens 14: At Orchard Park, N.Y., making good on an opportunity to secure the starting job, rookie quarterback Trent Edwards went 11 of 21 for 153 yards and engineered five scoring drives to lead Buffalo past Baltimore.

Rian Lindell hit four field goals, including a 41-yarder, and Marshawn Lynch scored on a 1-yard plunge.

Willis McGahee made his mark, overcoming a slow start and a booing crowd, by scoring on a 46-yard run in his first game back since the Bills traded him to Baltimore in March.

Bengals 38, Jets 31: At Cincinnati, Kenny Watson ran for 130 yards and three touchdowns in the best performance of his career, and the Bengals turned the Jets’ second-half meltdown into their first victory in five games.

Chad Pennington put the Jets ahead with touchdown passes of 57 and 36 yards to Laveranues Coles. He couldn’t make any meaningful ones in a horrid second half though, as the Jets were done in by two costly pass interference penalties, a shanked punt, a personal foul, a botched snap and Johnathan Joseph’s 42-yard interception return for a touchdown that made it 38-23 with 37 seconds left.

Chiefs 12, Raiders 10: At Oakland, Calif., Larry Johnson scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 1-yard run early in the fourth quarter and Kansas City beat the Raiders for the ninth straight time, winning in Priest Holmes’ return from a two-year absence.

It was another nail-biting finish for Kansas City against Oakland. Eight of the wins during the Chiefs’ streak have been by seven points or fewer. It’s the longest streak a team has had against the Raiders, who have also lost 17 straight division games.