NEW ORLEANS — Michael Thomas caught a late 72-yard touchdown reception and then celebrated with a cellphone in a throwback to another famous New Orleans play, and the streaking Saints handed the Los Angeles Rams their first loss of the season with a 45-35 win on Sunday.

Drew Brees passed for 346 yards and four touchdowns in New Orleans’ seventh straight win, and Thomas finished with a club-record 211 yards receiving. But what happened after their last connection of the day really stole the show in a wild shootout between two of the NFL’s best offenses.

Thomas’ long TD came on a pivotal third-down play with about four minutes to go, when the Rams seemed to expect the Saints to run a play closer to the first-down marker. Thomas ran free behind Marcus Peters, caught Brees’ long throw virtually in stride and ran straight to the goal post, where he got out an old-school flip phone — reminiscent of Joe Horn’s Sunday night TD celebration in 2003.

The Rams (8-1) very nearly pulled off an extraordinary comeback in the Superdome, where the crowd was revved up after New Orleans (7-1) raced to a three-touchdown lead late in the first half.

Patriots 31, Packers 17

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — James White scored on a 1-yard run and Tom Brady hit Josh Gordon on a 55-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter to break a 17-17 tie and lift New England past Green Bay.

Brady was 22 of 35 for 294 yards and Gordon had five catches for 130 yards.

Cordarelle Patterson, a receiver by trade, led the Patriots with 62 yards on 11 carries.

Aaron Rodgers was 24 of 43 for 259 yards for the Packers, but had to watch Brady rally New England in the fourth quarter.

Rodgers threw touchdown passes to Jimmy Graham and Davante Adams.

Texans 19, Broncos 17

DENVER — Brandon McManus missed a 51-yard field goal as time expired, leaving Demaryius Thomas a winner in his homecoming and Houston escaped Denver with a win.

The Texans (6-3) won their sixth straight and the Broncos (3-6) lost for the sixth time in seven games.

Thomas finished with three receptions for 61 yards, but two of them were back-to-back for 31 and 18 yards on the Texans’ opening touchdown drive.

Chargers 25, Seahawks 17

SEATTLE — Philip Rivers made his 200th consecutive start and kept Los Angeles surging at the midpoint of the season, surviving a late rally by Seattle’s Russell Wilson.

Rivers threw for 228 yards and two touchdowns, Melvin Gordon added 113 yards rushing and the Chargers won their fifth straight with a 25-17 win over the Seahawks on Sunday.

Rivers threw touchdown passes of 12 yards to Tyrell Williams and 30 yards to Mike Williams, and let the Chargers defense stymie Russell Wilson until the final minutes. Seattle had won four of five following a 0-2 start.

Chiefs 37, Browns 21

CLEVELAND — Patrick Mahomes passed for 375 yards, threw three touchdown passes — two to Travis Kelce — and continued the best start by an NFL quarterback in 68 years as Kansas City’s impossible-to-handle offense kept rolling with a win over the Browns, who played their first game since coach Hue Jackson’s firing.

Kareem Hunt had two scoring runs and one receiving for the Chiefs (8-1), who came in averaging 36.3 points per game with an offense overloaded with weapons for Mahomes.

Vikings 24, Lions 9

MINNEAPOLIS — Danielle Hunter had 3½ of Minnesota’s franchise-record 10 sacks and a fourth-quarter fumble return for a touchdown, making for a miserable afternoon for Matthew Stafford and the Lions.

Hunter, the fourth-year defensive end, also was credited with nine tackles and four quarterback hits as the Vikings (5-3-1) limited the Lions to 214 total yards.

Dolphins 13, Jets 6

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Rookie linebacker Jerome Baker intercepted Sam Darnold and scored the only touchdown on a 25-yard return with 11 minutes left, and a resilient defense helped the Dolphins beat the Jets.

Darnold threw four interceptions and took four sacks, and the Jets went 2 for 13 on third down.

The hobbled Dolphins (5-4) endured another wave of injuries, but their defense was much improved after three consecutive poor games, with the quality of the opposition certainly a factor.

Bears 41, Bills 9

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Jordan Howard scored two touchdowns and the Bears’ defense had two others in a win over the Bills in what proved to be another comedy of errors for Buffalo and its anemic offense.

Eddie Jackson scored on a 65-yard fumble return and Leonard Floyd returned a tipped pass 19 yards for another score some 3 1/2 minutes apart in the second quarter. Howard, set up by Tarik Cohen’s 38-yard punt return , then scored on an 18-yard scamper to cap a run in which the Bears scored four touchdowns over a span of 12 minutes, 20 seconds in the second quarter.

The Bears won their second in a row and improved to 5-3 to match their best start to a season through eight games since 2013. Chicago also matched its win total from last year.

Chicago’s defense forced four takeaways, and limited the Bills to 264 yards offense despite missing star linebacker Khalil Mack, who missed his second straight game with an injury to his right ankle.

Falcons 38, Redskins 14

LANDOVER, Md. — Julio Jones ended his 12-game touchdown drought, Matt Ryan threw for 350 yards and four scores and the Atlanta Falcons flexed their offensive muscles with a blowout of the Redskins that extended their winning streak to three games.

Jones caught seven passes for 121 yards with the biggest coming on a 35-yard screen pass with just under four minutes left that sealed the victory.

Panthers 42, Buccaneers 28

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Cam Newton completed 19 of 25 passes for 247 yards and two touchdowns, Christian McCaffrey racked up 157 yards from scrimmage and scored twice and the Panthers built an early lead and held on to beat the Buccaneers for their 10th straight home win.

Newton threw TD passes of 19 yards to Curtis Samuel and 17 yards to Greg Olsen, the seventh straight game he has thrown for at least two touchdowns. McCaffrey had 17 carries for 79 yards and five catches for 78 yards and turned in the play of the game when he leaped over a defender after a reception in the flat and kept going, turning it into a 32-yard gain.