Jefferson's record-setting day helps Vikings past Patriots in U.S. Thanksgiving victory

Kirk Cousins threw for 299 yards and three touchdowns, the last a go-ahead score to Adam Thielen in the fourth quarter to push the Minnesota Vikings past the New England Patriots 33-26 on Thursday night.

Justin Jefferson had 139 yards and one of the touchdown passes from Cousins, who delivered precisely the clutch performance against a formidable defence the Vikings (9-2) needed to bounce back from a blowout loss to Dallas. That gave rookie coach Kevin O'Connell a win over Bill Belichick, who drafted him with the Patriots in 2008.

Mac Jones passed for a career-high 382 yards and two scores to snap a lagging offenceto life for the Patriots (6-5), but they ran out of steam down the stretch. Their fourth quarter included two three-and-out punts, a turnover on downs at the Minnesota 39 and a desperation last drive that went nowhere.

Jones — who went 23 for 27 last week for a career-high completion rate — appeared to hit his tight end for a second score with a twisting catch at the goal line that was ruled a touchdown on the field. The replay reversal — Henry's bottom hand appeared to be under the ball as it bobbled briefly — forced the Patriots to settle for Nick Folk's fourth field goal of the game late in the third quarter.

Another vital call went the Vikings way a few minutes later when Pierre Strong Jr. was called for running into punter Ryan Wright. With a fresh set of downs, Cousins and the Vikings cruised up the field for the go-ahead touchdown.

The Patriots allowed just three points in each of their last two games and brought the NFL sack leader Matt Judon to the stadium where the Vikings were decimated by Dallas just four days earlier while Cousins took a career-high seven sacks.

With standout left tackle Christian Darrisaw sidelined by a concussion, the Vikings gave backup Blake Brandel plenty of extra help and put Cousins in far more favourable situations with shorter drops and quicker throws. The Vikings had 231 yards in the first half, more than the Patriots allowed in the previous two games combined.

Jefferson had his footprints all over this game from the start, when his 3-yard reception on a crossing route in the end zone capped the opening drive. He made catch after improbable catch in tight coverage, including a 36-yard grab on a go route right before he was sandwiched by Jones and Devin McCourty to set up Thielen's touchdown.

Jefferson set the NFL record for most receiving yards in a player's first three seasons to pass Randy Moss. Jefferson has hit the 100-yard mark in 21 of 44 career games.

Prescott, tight ends help Cowboys to win over Giants

Dak Prescott threw two touchdown passes to tight end Dalton Schultz, Ezekiel Elliott ran for a score and the Dallas Cowboys beat the New York Giants 28-20 on Thanksgiving Day.

Rookie Peyton Hendershot ran for a 2-yard TD before directing all three of his fellow tight ends into a giant Salvation Army red kettle for a Whack-A-Mole celebration.

The victory ended a three-game losing streak on the holiday for the Cowboys (8-3), who moved a game ahead of the Giants in the NFC East while sweeping the season series.

The Dallas quarterback has 10 consecutive victories over the Giants since losing to them twice when the Cowboys went 13-3 his rookie year in 2016.

Saquon Barkley was held to 39 yards rushing with a 1-yard TD behind a makeshift offensive line missing three starters because of injury in the third loss in the past four games for the Giants (7-4).

Dallas, the NFL leader in sacks coming in, dropped Daniel Jones three times while limiting him to 14 yards rushing after he ran for first downs seven times in the first meeting, a 23-16 Dallas win.

Jones' TD pass to Richie James in the final seconds was too late for the Giants to take advantage of a 2-0 takeaway edge in the second Thanksgiving meeting out of 122 overall in the storied rivalry.

CeeDee Lamb had six catches for 106 yards and set up three Dallas touchdowns, starting with a 25-yard catch before Elliott's 6-yard run.

Lamb's one-handed grab for 15 yards came before Schultz's second TD. A 23-yarder put Dallas at the 2, and Lamb thought he made another one-handed catch in the back of the end zone.

Mike McCarthy challenged the ruling that the toe-tapping catch was out of bounds. It was upheld on review, despite the Cowboys being so confident they sent the PAT unit out after seeing the replay.

Graham Gano tied the New York record for longest field goal with a 57-yarder in the first quarter. The kick came on fourth-and-32 after the Giants had a touchdown wiped out by a penalty for an ineligible receiver downfield and Jones was flagged for intentional grounding.

Bills reclaim division lead with victory over Lions

Tyler Bass made a tiebreaking, 45-yard field goal with two seconds left, lifting the Buffalo Bills to a 28-25 win over the Detroit Lions on Thursday for their second victory in five days at Ford Field in Detroit.

Josh Allen set up the game-winning kick by starting the drive with a 36-yard pass to Stefon Diggs and running twice for 12 yards.

The Bills were back in Detroit after the NFL shifted their previous home game against Cleveland to Ford Field because of a winter storm dumping several feet of snow in western New York. They had to work harder for the win on Thursday than they did against the Browns. Bass was six for six on field goals in the 31-23 win over Cleveland.

Allen threw a go-ahead, five-yard touchdown pass to Diggs with 2:40 left, but Bass missed the extra point to make it 25-22.

The Lions converted fourth-and-one from midfield with Amon-Ra St. Brown's seven-yard end-around to set up Michael Badgley's game-tying, 51-yard field goal with 23 seconds to go. Badgley missed a 29-yard field goal late in the third and Jared Goff took a sack for a safety in the same quarter and those mistakes proved to be costly.

Allen had a passing and rushing touchdown in the first half, finishing 24 of 42 for 253 yards to more than make up for throwing his 11th interception of the season.

Detroit (4-7) missed an opportunity to win four straight games for the first time since 2016 and lost a franchise-record sixth straight game on Thanksgiving.

Goff was 23 of 37 for 240 yards with one-yard touchdown pass to St. Brown that made it 14-all late in the first half, and a one-yard touchdown to DJ Chark that pulled the Lions within three points early in third quarter at 22-19.

Miller suffers knee injury

Bills edge rusher Von Miller injured his right knee in the second quarter and was ruled out for the rest of the game.

Coach Sean McDermott said he didn't have any injury updates following the win.

Miller had his right leg stepped on inadvertently by Detroit centre Frank Ragnow while he was blocking another player. He was evaluated on the sideline and was taken on a cart from the sideline to the locker room. Miller had one tackle and was credited with hurrying Goff before leaving the game.

The 33-year-old Miller entered the game tied for 10th in the NFL with eight sacks.