Falcons Survive Flag-Fest to Edge Bucs in Wild Thursday Night Finish
Sometimes, a win is a win - even if it comes wrapped in yellow laundry.
The Atlanta Falcons pulled off a chaotic 29-28 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday night, but it wasn’t exactly a textbook performance. In fact, it was historic - and not in the way teams typically hope for.
Atlanta was flagged for a staggering 19 accepted penalties, totaling 125 yards. That’s the most accepted penalties in a single NFL game in nearly a decade.
To find a more penalty-laden performance, you’d have to go back to Halloween weekend in 2016, when the Raiders were hit with 23 accepted penalties. Ironically, that game also came against the Buccaneers - who, incredibly, found a way to lose that one too, despite their opponent’s self-inflicted wounds.
Fast forward to Thursday night, and the Bucs once again found themselves on the wrong end of a game they probably should’ve won on paper. Tampa Bay only committed four accepted penalties for 25 yards, a clean sheet by NFL standards.
But the scoreboard told a different story. Despite holding a massive edge in discipline and yardage given away, the Bucs couldn’t close the deal.
And that’s where the Falcons deserve some credit. Head coach Raheem Morris, whose team has already been mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, saw something in his group that went beyond the flags.
“We’ll clean up the penalties and do what we have to do, whatever that is,” Morris said after the game - a nod to the obvious issue, but also a reminder that his team kept swinging.
Morris was visibly fired up at the end of the game, caught yelling into a TV camera - and no, it wasn’t a celebration. He later clarified he was venting about the penalties, which clearly frustrated him.
But frustration aside, his team showed resilience. They overcame a mountain of mistakes and still found a way to win a one-point game.
It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t clean.
But it was gritty. And for a Falcons team with nothing left to play for in the standings, that still matters.
In a league where discipline is often the difference between wins and losses, this game was an outlier. The Falcons didn’t just flirt with disaster - they invited it to dinner. But somehow, they left the table with a win.