The Early NFL Games: Favre Executes Last-Second Miracle Against 49ers

Gore left today’s game in the first quarter and did not return. He finished with just four yards on a single carry.

Before a home crowd, with 1:17 remaining and no timeouts, the Vikings were down by four to the 49ers.Enter Brett Favre, who turns 40 on October 10th. Favre led Minnesota down to the Niners’ 32. With 11 seconds remaining, he snapped, scrambled, and found Greg Lewis in the end zone. Lewis barely got both feet inbounds, as was validated by official review.

A last-gasp hail mary on San Francisco’s part fell short with two seconds left, and the Vikings won, 27-24. Wow.

In a game that was not really as close as the final score would indicate, the Patriots took care of the Falcons in a rainy Foxboro, 26-10. New England had more first downs (18 to 8), total yards (445 to 257) and rushing yards (168 to 58). Tom Brady “only” threw the ball 42 times (his fewest number of attempts in a game this season) and had a touchdown late in the game that all but put the game away. The Pats seemingly made more of an effort to run the ball, and it paid off, as they totaled the 168 yards on 36 carries, with Fred Taylor’s 105 yards leading the way.

Dec. 23, 2007: that is the last time the Detroit Lions have won a football game. Their streak of 19-straight losses may come to a merciful end today, as they currently lead the Redskins, 19-14, with just 2:36 left in the game.

Of course, since it’s Detroit, it’s never all good news: running back Kevin Smith (101 yards today) had to leave the game after injuring his shoulder.

Meanwhile, the Giants offense was its typically balanced self. Brandon Jacobs ran for 94 yards and a touchdown, and Eli Manning threw for two of his own. Another win for the Giants, this one considerably more ho-hum than last week’s turnover fest at Dallas. But still: three weeks, three wins. Giants fans have to be pretty pleased at this point, right?

The Niners’ Frank Gore left the game with an ankle injury after one carry and hasn’t returned, and the team trails the Vikings in total offensive yardage, but they’re on top despite Vikings return man Percy Harvin’s best efforts.

Harvin ran a kickoff 101 yards for a touchdown. Check it:

The Ravens are thumping the Browns, 34-3, as Joe Flacco just found Derrick Mason for a 72-yard touchdown pass. Flacco is now 25 for 35 with 342 yards on the day.Meanwhile, the Browns’ 181 total offensive yards have been all but muted by four interceptions (three from Derek Anderson and one from Brady Quinn).

One week after their thrilling 34-31 win over the Titans, the Texans find themselves in another back-and-forth, high-scoring game, this time, with the Jaguars.

The Jets had allowed the Titans to score 17 unanswered points after completely dominating early in the game, but found new life when Ryan Mouton muffed another kick and gave the ball right back to the Jets, again.

Mark Sanchez threw his second touchdown of the day a few plays later to give the Jets the lead, 21-17.

Big passing numbers so far: Kevin Kolb has racked up 211 halftime yards against the Chiefs, Joe Flacco is 19 for 26 with 221 yards, and Matt Schaub is ripping apart the Jaguars’ defense with 200 yards and three touchdowns.

Here are your halftime scores from Week 3’s early set:

Lendale White stormed in from the five yard line to cut the Jets lead in half to 14-7. The Titans decided that running the ball was the best option as they ran the ball between Chris Johnson and Lendale White eight out of the ten plays on the drive.

Mark Sanchez and the New York Jets marched right down the field on their opening drive, aided by the surprisingly awful Tennessee Titans defense. Sanchez capped the drive with with an inspiring run up the middle, as he sidestepped a few linebackers before lowering his shoulder at the goal line and bouncing off a safety as he extended the ball for a touchdown.

The Titans woes continued when the ensuing kickoff was fumbled, leading to another slick Sanchez touchdown. This time it was an Oscar-worthy playfake and toss to a wide open Ben Hartsock in the end zone.

Some of you, though, may be more interested in games that don’t feature a tabloid star as its selling point. For you, there eight other games that start at 1:00. Be sure to check out the SB Nation game threads for ribald discussion and lively debate. Never visited an SB Nation game thread? This is exactly what they’re like: