Unbelievable Clutch Moments: Five Games Decided by Stunning Special Teams Plays in Final Seconds

For all the superstar names in the NFL, an extraordinary Sunday of week three was dominated by the more unheralded kickers and back-up quarterbacks.

Incredibly, five games were settled on the last play – four thanks to field goals, including a huge upset win for the Cleveland Browns against the Green Bay Packers.

The Los Angeles Rams had a last-gasp field goal blocked by the Philadelphia Eagles and returned for a touchdown as the Super Bowl champions produced a huge comeback victory to remain unbeaten.

Back-up quarterbacks had a day too, with Mac Jones steering the San Francisco 49ers to a 3-0 start, while familiar faces Carson Wentz and Marcus Mariota led blowout wins for the Minnesota Vikings and the Washington Commanders respectively.

The Rams dominated and led 26-7 in Philadelphia before the Eagles engineered their biggest home comeback since 1988, with Jalen Hurts finally being let off the leash in the second half as he threw his first touchdown passes of the season.

Special teams made the difference, though, as the Eagles blocked two fourth-quarter field goal attempts.

The second was a heartbreaker on the last kick of the game to win it for the Rams, as Jordan Davis not only blocked it but returned it 61 yards for a touchdown.

At 336lb, he is the heaviest player to do so, and was clocked at 18.59mph by the NFL’s Next Gen Stats.

However unlikely it seemed at stages, the Eagles moved to 3-0 and have won 19 of their past 20 games.

Green Bay led 10-0 with less than four minutes left in Cleveland before another wild ending helped the Browns win their first game of the season and end an eight-game losing run.

Jordan Love threw his first interception for 10 regular-season games but looked to have redeemed himself by setting up Brandon McManus for a field goal to win it.

The Browns blocked it before Joe Flacco got Andre Szmyt in range to boot a 55-yard kick for an improbable victory against one of the leading Super Bowl contenders.

Patrick Mahomes celebrated his recent 30th birthday by leading the Kansas City Chiefs to a first win of the campaign at the New York Giants.

It was a tough task against a fierce pass rush in New York, but some vintage gunslinging throws from Mahomes helped the Chiefs pull away in the second half and claim a 22-9 win.

Tyquan Thornton is emerging as Mahomes’ top deep option as he caught a touchdown and set up the other with a brilliant deep diving grab.

The Chiefs offence is still not the force of old, but there are signs of life, and they will need to improve again with the Baltimore Ravens up next.

When Will McDonald returned a blocked field goal for a touchdown, the New York Jets had erased a 17-point fourth-quarter deficit to lead by one in Tampa Bay.

Baker Mayfield is perhaps the most underrated quarterback in the league, though, and led yet another late winner for the Buccaneers thanks to Chase McLaughlin’s walk-off field goal.

The Bucs moved to 3-0 for the first time in 20 years and are the first team in the Super Bowl era to win their first three games in the final minute of the match.

It is 23 years since the Los Angeles Chargers last started 3-0 and, like the Bucs, they did it with the last kick of the game against the Denver Broncos.

The Indianapolis Colts are a slightly more surprising 3-0 side, but the historic form of Daniel ‘Indiana’ Jones is even more of a shock as he is the first quarterback in the Super Bowl era to record three passing and three rushing touchdowns and no interceptions in his opening three games of a season.

After hammering the Tennessee Titans 41-20, the Colts have six touchdowns and 10 field goals against only one punt in 26 possessions. It is time to take Jones and the Colts seriously.

Another game and another last-kick winner as Mac Jones led the 49ers on a game-winning drive against Arizona to show he could still be an NFL starter as he stood in for Brock Purdy.

Wentz started for a record sixth different team in six straight seasons as he helped Minnesota to their biggest win since 1998.

Their 48-10 victory had more to do with the Cincinnati Bengals’ ineptitude and the brilliance of Vikings cornerback Isaiah Rodgers, who scored touchdowns with an 87-yard interception return and 66-yard fumble return.

Mariota was another back-up who tasted a big win on his first start for three years, with the Commanders 41-24 winners over the Las Vegas Raiders.

The big results and landmarks kept on coming as Aaron Rodgers passed Brett Favre with 510 regular-season touchdown passes. He is now fourth in the all-time list, and his 63,538 passing yards puts him in sixth.

Even more importantly, Rodgers’ Pittsburgh Steelers beat the error-strewn New England Patriots.

Caleb Williams is the first player with 225 passing yards and three touchdowns in one half of a game this season, and he is looking more like a number one pick of the Draft.

Williams gave new Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson his first win and the Dallas Cowboys plenty more questions to answer given the dominant nature of their 31-14 defeat.

The Houston Texans dropped to a 0-3 start after a comedy of errors in the fourth quarter meant they lost at the Jacksonville Jaguars for the first time in eight years.

The Seattle Seahawks were 44-13 winners against the New Orleans Saints, while, in another big surprise, the Carolina Panthers earned their first win of the season with a 30-0 shutout of the Atlanta Falcons.