NFL legends Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers suffered another miserable Sunday as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Green Bay Packers lost to struggling teams with back-up quarterbacks.

The New York Giants won another late nail-biter to go 6-1 and the Kansas City Chiefs won their Super Bowl rematch with the San Francisco 49ers.

While two NFL greats start to look their age, future star Joe Burrow produced a record display in an emphatic victory over the Atlanta Falcons as the Cincinnati Bengals began to play more like the team that made last season’s Super Bowl.

Dak Prescott returned for the Dallas Cowboys but it was their defence that dominated the Detroit Lions, while the Baltimore Ravens edged out the Cleveland Browns and the New York Jets made it four wins in a row at the Denver Broncos.

Time running out for Brady and Rodgers?

The only other time Brady had a losing record after seven games was his first full season in 2002, but he matched that in what could be his last season in the NFL as the Buccaneers slipped to 3-4.

It is just the fifth time in Brady’s incredible career that his team scored three points or fewer as they lost as big favourites for a second week running.

This week it was even worse, though, with the Panthers going into the game with only one win, having sacked their head coach, trading away their best attacking player Christian McCaffrey and starting third-choice quarterback PJ Walker.

“No-one feels good about where we’re at,” said 45-year-old Brady. “No-one feels good about how we played or what we’re doing. We have to pull ourselves out of it.”

There was also some unwanted history for Rodgers. The back-to-back MVP had never had a losing record after seven games, yet the Packers are now 3-4 after three successive defeats.

Rodgers, 38, has struggled all season and again the Packers could not muster enough points to deal with Washington’s popular back-up Taylor Heinicke, whom some feel is a better option than regular starter Carson Wentz.

Heinicke, 29, was plucked from studying for an engineering degree to sign for Washington in 2020. He impressed in the play-offs, and again was lively as he led the Commanders to a huge upset.

Rodgers and Brady’s combined 6-8 record is their worst since Rodgers got the starting job in Green Bay in 2008.

Chiefs win Super Bowl rematch at 49ers

After losing to the Buffalo Bills last week, Patrick Mahomes showed why the Chiefs are still big Super Bowl contenders as he ripped through the league’s top defence during a 44-23 victory at the 49ers.

Mecole Hardman became the first receiver in the Super Bowl era to score two rushing touchdowns and one receiving score in the same game, while Mahomes threw for 423 yards and three touchdowns.

The 49ers opened up a 10-point lead early in the game but, just as they did in the 2020 Super Bowl, the Chiefs came back strongly to move to 5-2 for the season and remain among the leading contenders this year.

New York, New York as Jets and Giants roll on

Big things are happening in the ‘Big Apple’ as both New York teams won again, with the Jets defence grinding out a 16-9 success at the Broncos while the Giants won another close game 23-17 at the Jacksonville Jaguars.

The Giants are the first team in NFL history to start 6-1 with every game settled by one score (eight points) or less – and their six wins have come by a combined 27 points.

Running back Saquon Barkley and quarterback Daniel Jones ran for 100 yards, but the defence had the final say as they stopped Jags receiver Christian Kirk one yard short of a possible winning touchdown on the last play of the game.

The Jets are 5-2 after a fourth win in a row courtesy of a blazing 62-yard touchdown run from rookie Breece Hall and behind a defensive effort that kept the stuttering Broncos, without the injured Russell Wilson, to single figures.

The Jets may have lost Hall for the season, though, as he was carted off with a knee injury.

Burrow leads Bengals blitz and Baltimore don’t blow it this time

Burrow had 345 yards passing and three touchdown throws in the first half alone as the Bengals beat the Falcons 35-17 to improve to 4-3 for the season.

The 25-year-old finished with 481 yards to become the first player in NFL history to have five games of 400 or more in the first three years of his career.

After losing a few close matches early on, the Bengals are now looking a lot more like Super Bowl contenders, with Burrow and his dangerous set of receivers in great form.

The Ravens, who had blown three double-digit leads this season, survived another comeback to hold off the Browns 23-20 in another brutal AFC North battle.

Andrew Adams returned an interception 76 yards for a touchdown as the Tennessee Titans claimed their fifth win – a tough 19-10 victory over the Indianapolis Colts – while the Las Vegas Raiders beat the Houston Texans 38-20 and the Seattle Seahawks saw off the Los Angeles Chargers 37-23.