Tampa Bay Buccaneers Overcome Falcons 44-27, Clinch No. 5 Seed in the Playoffs
Tampa Bay Buccaneers' quarterback Tom Brady threw four touchdowns in route to a 44-27 home win over the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday.
The Bucs scored 40 or more points in two consecutive games for the first time in team history. With the win, Tampa Bay clinches the No. 5 seed in the NFC and will travel to next week in the wild card round to face the winner of the NFC East.
Atlanta made it a three-point game with 8:19 left on the clock as Falcons' quarterback Matt Ryan found Hayden Hurst for a one-yard touchdown pass after Brian Hill broke free for a 62-yard run. The Bucs lead 30-27, but the game quickly got out of hand.
Brady was sacked for a loss of eight yards but on the following play hit wide receiver Chris Godwin for a gain of 47 yards. A few plays later, Brady found Godwin in the endzone giving Tampa Bay a 37-27 lead with less than four minutes left in the game.
On the following possession, Falcons' receiver Calvin Ridley fumbled the ball at the Atlanta 42-yard line. The Bucs took advantage of the fumble as Brady threw his fourth touchdown of the game finding Antonio Brown who flipped into the endzone on the 30-yard pass. Tampa Bay led 44-27 and Atlanta then turned the ball over on downs.
Brady finished with 399 yards completing 26-of-41 passes and only threw one interception. On the other side, Ryan tossed two touchdowns of his own and throwing for 265 yards.
The one negative from Sunday's game is, of course, Mike Evans' left knee injury, which he suffered in the first half. Stepping up was Brown who caught 11 passes for 138 yards and two touchdowns. Godwin wasn't far behind with 133 receiving yards on just five catches and two touchdowns as well.
In his first game back after missing two straight, running back Ronald Jones carried the ball 12 times and scored on a three-yard rush making the score 30-20 with 11:13 left in the game. Jones rushed for 78 yards and one touchdown.
Brady threw his first interception since Week 12 with 7:27 left in the third quarter and the Falcons pulled within three points as Younghoe Koo made a 21-yard field goal. As the third quarter came to a close, the Bucs only led 23-20.
The Falcons cut further into the Bucs' lead on their opening drive of the second half. Facing 3rd and 17, Ryan found Russell Gage for a 19-yard touchdown pass. On the drive, head coach Bruce Arians challenged an incomplete pass ruling which failed. Ryan tossed it to Hurst who appeared to fumble the ball, but it was not a catch. Following the challenge, the touchdown made it 23-17 with 8:49 left in the third quarter.
The Bucs struck first as Brady connected with Godwin for a 29-yard touchdown pass on second down. It marked the second week in a row that Tampa Bay scored on its opening drive. Brady was a perfect 3-3 throwing for 52 yards on the first drive.
Atlanta responded with a solid opening drive of their own but came up with only three points in the red zone. Running back Todd Gurley picked up five yards on 3rd and short and on the following play Ryan found Brian Hill for 26 yards setting the Falcons up at the Bucs’ four-yard line. Ryan’s first incomplete pass was costly as he missed Ito Smith on third and goal. Koo made a 22-yard field goal and the Bucs led 7-3 with 3:36 left in the first quarter.
Evans broke an NFL record on the Bucs’ second drive of the game. Brady found Evans deep down the field for 20 yards which put Evans over 1,000 receiving yards for the seventh straight season. However, on the next play, Evans appeared to injure his knee in the end zone. Following the injury, Tampa Bay’s drive sputtered as Brady threw three straight incomplete passes in the red zone. Ryan Succop’s 28-yard yard field gave the Bucs a 10-3 lead at the end of the first quarter.
As Evans was ruled out for the remainder of the game, wide receiver Antonio Brown stepped up catching four passes for 63 yards and a touchdown. Brady’s 25-yard touchdown pass to Brown gave the Bucs a 17-3 lead early in the second quarter. Succop nailed another field goal, this time from 38 yards out, and Tampa Bay led 20-3 midway through the quarter.
Ryan scored his first touchdown of the game, a one-yard rush up the middle, which capped off a 14-play 75-yard scoring drive making the score 20-10. Succop made his third goal of the game as time expired in the first half and the Bucs led 23-10 at halftime.
The field goal gave Succop 133 points on the season, which passed Matt Bryant for the most points scored in a single season in franchise history.
