National Football League

NFL Week 15 Top Plays: Saints shut out Bucs, Lions stun Cardinals, more

Updated Dec. 19, 2021 11:29 p.m. ET

This weekend's NFL action started off early with a wild AFC matchup on Saturday night, when the Indianapolis Colts snapped New England's seven-game winning streak after stunning the Patriots, 27-17.

But that was just the appetizer, with things really heating up on Sunday.

In Sunday's early-window games, the Dallas Cowboys bested the New York Giants in a divisional clash, while the Pittsburgh Steelers preserved their playoff hopes in a heart-pounding thriller against the Tennessee Titans.

And perhaps most shocking, the Detroit Lions beat the (former) NFC West-leading Arizona Cardinals by double-digits.

In the afternoon slate, the Green Bay Packers narrowly escaped the Tyler Huntley-led Baltimore Ravens to clinch a playoff spot and become NFC North champions for a third straight year.

In Sunday's finale, Tom Brady — who is now 0-4 against the Saints in the regular season since joining Tampa Bay — and the Buccaneers came up short while trying to avenge their early-season loss to New Orleans.

Here are the top moments from Week 15.

New Orleans Saints 9, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 0

Here we go!

It was a star-studded event at Raymond James Stadium!

Dropping dimes

Taysom Hill lofted a beauty over the top to Marquez Callaway to move the sticks, which resulted in an early field goal for New Orleans to take a 3-0 lead.

Déjà Vu

The Hill-Callaway connection worked so well the first time, the duo recreated it later in the opening frame.

Saints roll

The Saints nailed another field goal to open the second frame and pushed their lead to 6-0. New Orleans was also clicking on defense, as DE Cameron Jordan notched his 100th career sack after taking down Brady twice.

Misfortune strikes

Midway through the third, Tampa Bay was without Leonard Fournette, Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, all of whom exited the game after sustaining various injuries during the contest.

Brady fumbled right outside the red zone, and the Bucs continued to be shut out as the final frame neared.

Sealing the deal

Brett Maher accounted for all the Saints' points as he booted his third field goal of the night to extend New Orleans' lead to 9-0. Then, Brady was picked off on the Bucs' side of the field to put a cap on the night.

Green Bay Packers 31, Baltimore Ravens 30

TE1

Mark Andrews was the star of the Ravens' opening quarter. He followed up a huge 45-yard gain on Baltimore's first drive by scoring the game's first TD.

Andrews is the first tight end in Ravens franchise history to have 1,000 receiving yards in a season.

GB strikes back

The Ravens' lead was short-lived, as A.J. Dillon punched it in on this short scamper to knot things up early in the second.

Double trouble!

Huntley found Andrews for the second time in the first half, this time on a nine-yard TD pass as the Ravens regained the lead.

Dynamic duo

Aaron Rodgers found Davante Adams on a short pass for six ahead of halftime to tie things up once again.

Back to back

Rodgers escaped the pressure and found a wide-open Aaron Jones to give Green Bay the edge, followed by a second consecutive TD drive to extend the Packers' lead late in the fourth.

Back in it!

The Ravens charged downfield and Huntley came up with back-to-back rushing TDs late in the fourth to make it a one-point game with 45 seconds to spare.

Down by one, the Ravens opted to go for the game-winning two-point conversion instead of kicking the extra point. It failed, and things ended there.

San Francisco 49ers 31, Atlanta Falcons 13

Back and forth

The 49ers fumbled on the opening kickoff, immediately giving Atlanta the ball in the red zone. Three plays later, Cordarrelle Patterson seemingly found the end zone, but the touchdown was taken back after a review.

Atlanta wasn’t able to capitalize on the turnover, and things remained scoreless after a wild first few minutes.

Fullback TD!

After trading field goals, 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk found the end zone to give San Francisco the lead.

Falcons answer

On the Falcons' ensuing drive, Matt Ryan hit Russell Gage on a dazzling 20-yard TD to knot things up at 10-10.

Doing it all

San Francisco had the last word before the break, as Deebo Samuel punched it in for a one-score lead.

He now has a rushing TD in five straight games — the longest streak by a receiver since the AFL–NFL merger.

San Fran shines

The 49ers started the second half the same way they closed out the first, this time thanks to Jeff Wilson Jr.

Jump Ball!

Meanwhile, Gage continued to show off his freakish athleticism with another jaw-dropping snag.

Goal-line snag

49ers wideout Jauan Jennings reeled in this short pass from Jimmy Garoppolo to extend San Francisco's lead, and things ended there.

Cincinnati Bengals 15, Denver Broncos 10

FG frenzy

After trading field goals early, the Bengals led the Broncos 6-3 at the half.

The first time either team had reached the red zone came midway through the third. How did it end? With none other than a field goal, as Cincinnati took a six-point lead.

For TB

Misfortune continued for the Broncos, as Teddy Bridgewater was carted off the field after an apparent head injury while leaping for a first down. Drew Lock then checked in for Denver.

The Broncos came up with their first touchdown of the day, courtesy of this 25-yard snag from Tim Patrick, though he drew a taunting penalty in the process.

Big Play Boyd

The Bengals didn't like that very much, and Joe Burrow hit Tyler Boyd for a 56-yard TD to quiet Denver and make it a five-point game heading into the final frame.

Chaos!

Two fumbles on one play is a pretty good representation of how things went in Denver on Sunday.

Dallas Cowboys 21, New York Giants 6

Stolen goods

Welcome back, Demarcus Lawrence!

Feed him!

And welcome back to the end zone, Ezekiel Elliott.

Just … How?

Saquon Barkley pulled off a Spidey-like grab as he reached back to make a play on this pass.

Tight windows

Nothing like a tight throw to your tight end in the red zone:

Double digits

After New York forced a fumble from Dak Prescott, Dallas' defense took possession right back with an INT. The man who collected the takeaway? The league's interception leader, Trevon Diggs.

Houston Texans 30, Jacksonville Jaguars 16

Not run-of-the-mill

This was a heck of a throw, Davis Mills.

He. Will. Go.

Just bob and weave, Tremon Smith, just bob and weave.

12 men on the field

James Robinson found pay dirt on a short run for Jacksonville's first touchdown of the game. The real story of the play: The fan who ran across the end zone to provide an invaluable jolt of energy.

Plays in space

Don't give Brandin Cooks room to maneuver. He took off on the screen to put Houston up 30-16.

Miami Dolphins 31, New York Jets 24

Berry Merry TD

Braxton Berrios put the Jets on top early with this dart towards the outside for six.

Sir Duke

Flex your royalty, Duke Johnson. His short rumble brought Miami within three, at 10-7.

Get creative!

In the second frame, the Jets were pulling out of all the stops in the playbook:

Regal royal

Johnson found the end zone for the second time of the day, knotting the tally at 17 for the Fins.

Doing it all

Christian Wilkins is generally in the headlines for sacking the QB, not making touchdown receptions. But he flipped the script with this lead-changing grab that put Miami up 24-17.

Pick for six!

Backed up in his own territory, Tua Tagovailoa targeted tight end Hunter Long in the flat. Long was his intended receiver, but the ball ended up in the hands of Jets corner Brandin Echols, who returned it for six.

Short memory

After the turnover, Tagovailoa calmly led his troupe downfield on a nine-play, 75-yard drive capped by this short dart to DeVante Parker.

Pittsburgh Steelers 19, Tennesee Titans 13

Gettin' sneaky

Cue up Ryan Tannehill's signature TD celebration! His QB sneak gave Tennessee its first score of the day.

Anything you can do

Big Ben can run for TDs, too. This sneak was his first rushing score of the year!

Changing the possession arrow

What a play, Joe Haden! His textbook tackle jarred the ball loose, and the Steelers recovered.

Putting up curtains

The Steelers' defense struck again, this time hurrying Tannehill on a bull rush, tipping his throw into the air, and collecting an INT for another turnover.

Buffalo Bills 31, Carolina Panthers 14

One-piece special

This mindset on Buffalo's initial scoring play of the day: Hand the ball to Devin Singletary and get out the way.

Two peas in a pod

Josh Allen likes to throw passes to Stefon Diggs. This one just happened to go for a TD.

Don't get too comfortable

Message above from Jeremy Chinn to Allen.

Super-Cam

Cam Newton made good on the takeaway by plowing a path for six.

And the ensuing two-point play may have been better than the touchdown.

Comeback attempt

Did we mention that Newton may have superpowers?

Unfortunately for the Panthers, it was not nearly enough to pull off the comeback, however.

Detroit Lions 30, Arizona Cardinals 12

Over the top

Welp, this is why they play the games. Detroit opened with the game's first TD to take a 10-0 lead, as Jared Goff floated one to Amon-Ra St. Brown.

Upset alert!

After Detroit's defense forced a turnover on downs in their own territory, Goff uncorked another dime for six to prompt a 17-0 halftime advantage.

Lay out for it!

It was not Kyler Murray's day, and Detroit's defense had a lot to do with that. Amani Oruwariye used his entire body to stretch out for this pick. The ensuing return brought the Lions back in the red zone.

Trifecta

Goff took care of the rest, dialing up his third score of the day to give the Lions a 24-3 lead, and the rest was history.

Indianapolis Colts 27, New England Patriots 17

For The Shoe

The Colts were first to strike on this trick play, as Carson Wentz shoveled the ball to running back Nyheim Hines, who scampered into the end zone for six.

Need for Speed!

On New England's ensuing drive, Indianapolis blocked the punt on fourth down, and Colts linebacker E.J. Speed recovered the ball in the end zone for a touchdown.

It was Speed's second TD off a blocked kick this season. He is the first player with multiple punt block return TDs in a season since Hall of Famer Ed Reed did it with the Baltimore Ravens in 2003.

With that score, the Colts jumped out to a 14-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.

New England allowed fewer than 14 points in each of its previous five games (all wins). The only other time the Patriots trailed by 14-plus points this season was a 28-13 loss to the New Orleans Saints in Week 3.

Lights out

The Colts continued to dominate as the first half wound down. With 1:43 to play before the break, Mac Jones was picked off by Colts linebacker Darius Leonard in the red zone.

At the half, Indianapolis was shutting out New England 17-0 — the first scoreless half for the Patriots since 2016. It was also just the fourth time in the Bill Belichick era that New England trailed by 17-plus points at the half in a primetime game.

The third time's the charm

It was more of the same in the second half, as the Patriots opened the third with another Jones interception.

This time, Bobby Okereke — the third Colts linebacker to make a huge play — came away with the ball on New England's side of the field. Just like that, Indianapolis extended its lead to 20-0 with a short field goal.

Momentum swing

Misfortune struck the Colts for the first time in the third when Michael Pittman Jr. was ejected after getting into a feisty skirmish with Patriots defensive back Kyle Dugger, who was also disqualified. Then, later on that same drive, Indianapolis missed a field goal.

The Patriots proceeded to charge downfield and avoid the shutout, thanks to this snag from Hunter Henry:

The momentum shift continued, as Wentz's pass was tipped and picked by the Patriots' defense at midfield.

The interception resulted in a field goal to make it a 10-point game midway through the final quarter.

Pats come knocking

A 43-yard bomb from Jones to N'Keal Harry — plus a roughing the passer penalty — put the Patriots deep in Colts territory. Then, the rookie QB hit Henry for their second TD connection of the night to cut Indy's lead to 20-17.

JT takes off!

Just as quickly as New England made it a three-point game, Jonathan Taylor exploded for a 67-yard rush to give the Colts a 27-17 edge at the two-minute warning.

On the Patriots' following drive, New England turned the ball over on downs, and things ended there.