The Atlanta Falcons are now 0-5.
They don’t care, and they don’t need to. For the third time this season, the Falcons braced themselves for a loss and managed to pull off a miraculous victory. This time it was against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday night. The Falcons had a big drive in the final two minutes of regulation and made a field goal to tie the game at the end of the fourth quarter. The overtime didn’t last long.
KhaDarel Hodge received a pass in overtime, broke a tackle and scored a 45-yard touchdown on the first drive of overtime, giving the Falcons a 36-30 victory in overtime. Kirk Cousins had a great performance, throwing for 509 yards. With the win, the Falcons improved to 3-2, tying them with the Buccaneers for first place in the NFC South.
Several times Thursday night, it looked like it was over for the Falcons. But they somehow pulled off an unlikely victory for the third time in five weeks.
explosive first half
The Falcons and Buccaneers had no trouble moving the ball in the first half. They started the night with a long drive and ended with a Drake London touchdown. The Buccaneers turned it around with a Mike Evans touchdown.
Both quarterbacks continued to throw uppercuts. In the first half alone, Cousins completed 21 of 28 passes for 253 yards and two touchdowns. Cousins hasn’t played anywhere close to that level through the first month of his career with the Falcons. Baker Mayfield, on the other hand, completed 12 of 15 for 131 yards and three touchdowns. Perhaps it all has to do with a short week and two tired defensemen — the Falcons were the first team all season without quarterback pressure in the first half of a game, according to NextGenestats. –Still, it was still an enjoyable first half.
Mayfield’s third touchdown was a great throw. He rolled to his right and punched the ball to Sterling Shepard, who was well covered in the end zone, for a touchdown. There was little separation, but Mayfield found a way to force it and score.
The Buccaneers finally stopped the Falcons’ final attack of the second half and entered halftime with a 24-17 lead. They scored on all four of their first-half possessions, except for a Tampa Bay knee down at the end of the first half, but the Falcons scored on all four of their first-half possessions, although missed field goals and punts kept their offense from being perfect before halftime, but they scored on five of their first half possessions. He scored on three of them.
The game was close until the end of the 4th quarter.
In the second half, the defense finally got a little tougher. Yards were even harder to come by. In the third and early fourth quarters, the only touchdown for either team was Cousins hitting Darnell Mooney for Mooney’s second touchdown of the game.
However, Mooney made a big mistake in the fourth quarter. On third-and-6, Cousins made a nice throw to an open Mooney, but Mooney dropped it near the 15-yard line. Younghoe Koo attempted a 54-yard field goal, but it was blocked.
The next few times it looked like the Buccaneers would win, but the Falcons never lost. Buccaneers rookie running back Bucky Irving was looking for a first down when safety Jesse Bates III reached out and hit the ball just before the two-minute warning. Atlanta recovered but was unable to move the ball and Cousins threw an interception on fourth down. But the Falcons still had a timeout and used it to force a punt.
Cousins then put together a great two-minute drill, similar to what he did against the Eagles in Week 2. He crossed the middle of London and the Falcons spiked it with one second left. It didn’t matter, although the penalty time was well delayed before Koo equalized. He hit it from 52 yards and the game went into overtime. Last week, Ku made a 58-yard field goal with seconds left to give the Falcons the win, and his clutch kick on Thursday night kept the game alive.
The Falcons won the coin toss to start overtime and quickly cruised to victory. Rondon left with an injury after an overtime catch, and Hodge was thrust into the spotlight, resulting in the winning score.
Atlanta has a close three-game winning streak, but the Falcons aren’t complaining.
