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It was a hard-fought NFC South matchup between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Atlanta Falcons on Thursday night, and the latter wanted to play spoiler.
The Falcons, who were eliminated from the playoffs last week, made it harder for the Bucs to win the division after a walk-off field goal by Zane Gonzalez in a 29-28 victory.
Tampa Bay is now 7-7 on the year, having lost their last two games, while the Falcons are 5-9.
One of the big storylines coming into the game was the return of veteran receiver Mike Evans, who had been sidelined since Week 4 with a collarbone injury.
While many wondered if the Bucs would have him on a snap count, it didn’t seem that way as quarterback Baker Mayfield loved getting him the ball in this one. Evans finished with 132 yards on just six catches to lead the way for the Bucs in the pass game.
However, Evans’ impressive performance was nothing compared to Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts, who had a career game on “Thursday Night Football.” In the absence of star receiver Drake London, Pitts became Kirk Cousins’ favorite target on the night.
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The 6-foot-6 tight end had three touchdown catches and 166 yards on 11 catches, as he and Cousins found a quick connection early and it came in clutch late in the game.
After Mayfield was picked off by Dee Alford in a 28-20 game, Cousins and the Falcons’ offense had the opportunity to march down the field and tie the game, granted they scored a touchdown and had a successful two-point conversion.
Cousins, having found Pitts twice before, lofted a pass to his trusty tight end, who secured it and managed to stay in bounds for his third score of the night. Video review was needed to determine if he stayed in bounds, and while it appeared his elbow was out, his backside hit the turf in bounds at the same moment. With officials calling a touchdown initially, it was insufficient evidence to overturn the score.
But the Bucs were still up two, needing a big stop on the two-point play. They got just that, as Cousins was hurried and the pass went incomplete.
Mayfield, who had two touchdown passes in this game to Chris Godwin and Devin Culp, knew they could ice the game with a few first downs on the ensuing drive. But backed up on third-and-14, Mayfield was sacked at the two-minute warning.
Cousins didn’t have any timeouts to work with after getting the ball back, and it was an inauspicious start to the drive when he was strip-sacked and the game could’ve been over right then and there.
But the ruling was both the Bucs and Falcons had the ball, meaning the tie goes to the team who was on offense. That still set Cousins back to second-and-18, which turned into second-and-28 on a holding penalty that was accepted after an incompletion.
Cousins, though, used Pitts and David Sills V to get the yardage needed to keep the drive alive. The Falcons were in field goal range for Gonzalez, who eventually buried the 43-yarder for the win.
The Bucs were up 28-14 heading into the fourth quarter, but a defensive breakdown at the worst time cost them in the end.
In the box score, Cousins was phenomenal in primetime, passing for 373 yards with his three connections to Pitts.
And we can’t forget about Bijan Robinson, the league-leader in scrimmage yards who totaled 175 (93 rushing, 82 receiving) on 27 total touches for Atlanta.
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