National Football League

The Latest: Cooks, Ware fantasy stars of early games

Published Sep. 11, 2016 6:28 p.m. ET

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The Latest on Week 1 of the NFL season (all times Eastern):

5:25 p.m.

Fantasy owners are celebrating Brandin Cooks right now. They have the steady Drew Brees to thank.

Cooks emerged as the top wideout in fantasy for early games on Sunday, scoring 27 points on 143 yards and two touchdowns. It's a great sign for fantasy players who drafted him despite a somewhat down year last season for Cooks and Brees.

Brees was the top quarterback, posting 32 points on 437 passing yards and four touchdowns.

Fantasy players who plugged in Kansas City running back Spencer Ware for the ailing Jamaal Charles were rewarded with a big surprise - 129 receiving yards on seven catches to go along with a touchdown and 70 yards rushing for 25 total fantasy points.

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4:50 p.m.

Former President George W. Bush, who was in office on 9/11, did the coin toss before the New York Giants-Dallas Cowboys game near his Dallas home.

Bush took the field to chants of ''USA, USA'' as he walked to midfield with former first lady Laura Bush next to him. After tossing the coin, Bush grabbed the FDNY cap off the head of New York linebacker Zak DeOssie.

The crowd roared when the giant video board over the center of the field showed Bush saluting the crowd with the hat and putting it back on. Then he whistled at DeOssie to get his attention and give him the hat back.

It's the third time the Giants have played on the anniversary of 9/11. They lost at Washington on the 10th anniversary five years ago.

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4:45 p.m.

Alex Smith dived for a touchdown on the first possession of overtime, completing the Kansas City Chiefs' frantic rally from a 17-point fourth-quarter deficit to beat the San Diego Chargers 33-27 in their season opener Sunday.

Smith threw for 363 yards and two touchdowns, the second a back-shoulder fade to Jeremy Maclin with just over nine minutes left in the fourth quarter that trimmed the Chiefs' deficit to 27-17.

Cairo Santos kicked a 33-yard field goal a few minutes later, and after forcing a three-and-out, Spencer Ware finished off a four-play drive with a touchdown plunge to knot it at 27.

Kansas City needed 10 plays to march 75 yards in overtime, and Smith finished off one of the biggest comebacks in franchise history with his keeper from the 2-yard line on third-and-goal.

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4:25 p.m.

Eagles fans are notoriously tough, but they found plenty to like about the new coach-and-QB combo unveiled at home Sunday in a 29-10 season-opening win over the Browns.

New sideline boss Doug Pederson arrived there unheralded and Cleveland let the Eagles grab quarterback Carson Wentz by trading away the No. 2 pick. Bad move. Wentz completed 22-of-37 passes for 278 yards and two touchdowns in his debut.

In other early games, Baltimore outlasted Buffalo 13-7; Tampa Bay slipped past Atlanta 31-24; Houston beat Chicago 23-14; Green Bay handled Jacksonville 27-23; Cincinnati nudged past the New York Jets 23-22; and Minnesota overpowered Tennessee 29-16.

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4:20 p.m.

The Chiefs and Chargers are headed to overtime tied at 27.

San Diego built a 21-3 halftime lead on the strength of Melvin Gordon's first two NFL touchdowns and a pass from Philip Rivers to Danny Woodhead on blown coverage by the Kansas City defense.

In fact, the Chargers still led 27-10 in the fourth quarter when Josh Lambo missed a 54-yard field goal, and the momentum swung to Kansas City. Alex Smith led the Chiefs to a pair of touchdowns around a field goal by Cairo Santos, the tying score coming on a touchdown run by Spencer Ware.

- Dave Skretta in Kansas City, Missouri.

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4:15 p.m.

Four Miami Dolphins players kneeled during the national anthem before kickoff against Seattle.

Arian Foster, Michael Thomas, Jelani Jenkins and Kenny Stills took a knee just before the anthem began. The four held their hands over their hearts as the anthem played and stood immediately at its conclusion.

The Dolphins released a statement saying they encourage players and staff to stand during the anthem but recognize an ''individual's right to reflect during the anthem in different ways.''

On the opposite sideline, Seahawks players and coaches locked arm-in-arm. That included defensive back Jeremy Lane, who sat during the national anthem in the preseason finale in Oakland in a sign of support for San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

Lane indicated earlier in the week a plan to continue sitting during the anthem but changed after the Seahawks decided to stand together as a team.

Lane stood next to Richard Sherman and near coach Pete Carroll.

- Tim Booth in Seattle.

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3:25 p.m.

Drew Brees knows a mismatch when he sees one and the Raiders paid spectacularly. On first down from his own 2, the Saints quarterback saw the Raiders defense lined up to stop the run, leaving small, speedy receiver Brandin Cooks in single coverage out wide against the taller, but slower, Sean Smith.

Brees decisively floated a long pass down the left sideline, hitting Cooks in stride for the longest pass play and scoring play in Saints history. The Saints don't hesitate to acknowledge Cooks is their fastest player, and anyone watching the play saw it. He not only raced away from Smith, but also safety Reggie Nelson, who initially appeared to have an angle, only to be left in the dust.

The 98-yard touchdown put New Orleans ahead 24-10 in the middle of the third quarter.

The play was Brees' longest career completion. It also gave Brees 309 yards and three TDs passing to that point.

The previous longest scoring play in Saints history was a 90-yard pass play from Billy Joe Hobert to Eddie Kennison against Atlanta on Oct. 10, 1999.

-Brett Martel in New Orleans.

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3:20 p.m.

What a turnaround in Atlanta.

The Falcons were leading until Tampa Bay scored a touchdown in the closing seconds of the first half. The Buccaneers quickly tacked on two more scores in the third period to build a 31-13 lead.

Jameis Winston is putting on quite a show.

Bouncing back from an early interception, the Buccaneers quarterback is 21 of 30 for 268 yards and four touchdowns.

- Paul Newberry in Atlanta.

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3 p.m.

Jimmy Graham is active for the season opener as he recovers from a knee injury.

The game Sunday against Miami comes 9+ months after the Seattle Seahawks tight end tore the patellar tendon in his right knee. Graham went through an extensive pregame workout about two hours before kickoff and his name was not on the inactive list.

Graham had 48 catches but only two touchdowns in 2015, his first season with the Seahawks. He was injured in late November in a game against Pittsburgh, just when he was finding more of a role in the offense.

The Seahawks will be without rookie guard Germain Ifedi after suffering an ankle injury in practice this week. Ifedi was wearing a walking boot on his left foot prior to the game.

Miami was without standout center Mike Pouncey (hip) and wide receiver DeVante Parker (hamstring).

- Tim Booth reporting from Seattle.

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2:30 p.m.

Green Bay Packers Jordy Nelson is looking good in his comeback from injury.

Playing a meaningful game for the first time since the 2014 NFC championship, Nelson had a 6-yard touchdown reception late in the second quarter in the team's season opener at Jacksonville. It was his third catch in four plays, hauling in previous completions of 8 and 6 yards. Nelson, who injured a knee in the 2015 preseason and missed the entire season, hasn't shown his usual explosiveness but just being back on the field is huge for the Packers.

- Mark Long in Jacksonville, Florida.

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2:25 p.m.

Chargers wide receiver Keenan Allen has been carted off the field late in the second quarter of their game against the Chiefs with what appears to be a serious right knee injury.

Allen was making a cut toward the sideline on a passing route when he went down. He ripped off his helmet as trainers began tending to him, and was helped into the back of a cart and taken off the field.

There was no immediate word on the extent of the injury.

Allen, who missed the last eight games a year ago with a lacerated kidney, had six catches for 63 yards before he was hurt. The Chargers led 21-3.

- Dave Skretta in Kansas City, Missouri.

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2:20 p.m.

Tempers are starting to flare in the Chiefs-Chargers game.

Late in the first half, with the Chargers already leading 21-3, Chiefs cornerback Marcus Peters and San Diego offensive lineman Orlando Franklin began jawing with each other.

Eventually, the two teams got into a shoving match on the field.

When play resumed, Chiefs coach Andy Reid had brought Peters to the sideline for a play.

- Dave Skretta in Kansas City, Missouri.

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2:15 p.m.

Tampa Bay backup linebacker Jacquies Smith has been carted to the locker room in Atlanta with a right knee injury.

A third-year player, Smith was injured while covering a punt in the first quarter. The seriousness of the injury isn't yet known, but the Buccaneers say he's done for the game.

Falcons defensive end Brooks Reed also left the field after sustaining a shoulder injury, but was able to return before halftime.

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2:10 p.m.

Jets kicker Nick Folk missed the first extra point of his career, booting it wide right and appearing to hit the upright after a 15-yard touchdown catch by Eric Decker with 9:38 left in the first half - ending a streak of 312 straight made PATS.

Folk had set the NFL record for most extra points without a miss with 322 overall, including the playoffs.

The reliable veteran, who held off Duke rookie Ross Martin in training camp, also had a 22-yard attempt blocked in the first quarter against Cincinnati when Bengals defensive end Margus Hunt tipped Folk's low kick.

Folk, in his seventh season with New York, missed the last eight games of last year with a quadriceps injury.

- Dennis Waszak in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

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2:10 p.m.

In the early going of his Falcons career, Mohamed Sanu is providing quite a complement to Julio Jones in the Atlanta passing game.

Sanu's first catch with the Falcons was a 59-yarder in Sunday's season opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That set up a field goal by Matt Bryant that tied the game at 3.

Then, Sanu hauled in a 5-yard touchdown pass from Matt Ryan to give Atlanta a 10-3 lead at the end of the first quarter. The receiver finished the period with three catches for 68 yards, while Jones was still looking for his first catch of the year.

Sanu was a free-agent signee during the offseason. He had 33 catches for the Bengals in 2015.

- Paul Newberry in Atlanta.

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1:40 p.m.

Saints rookie kicker Wil Lutz is making coach Sean Payton look smart early on. He hit his first regular season field goal opportunity from 42 yards out.

Payton made a surprising move this past week when he cut incumbent veteran place kicker Kai Forbath - who had held off Connor Barth throughout preseason to keep his job. The reason? Payton had given Lutz a tryout and thought it was one of the best kicker workouts he'd ever seen.

Lutz, who was undrafted out of Georgia State, had spent preseason with Baltimore and was cut in favor of veteran Justin Tucker.

Lutz' first field goal tied the Saints' season opener with the Raiders at 3 in the first quarter.

- Brett Martel in New Orleans.

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AP NFL websites: http://pro32.ap.org and http://twitter.com/AP-NFL

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