The Tampa Bay Buccaneers didn’t need much from Baker Mayfield on Sunday. In a rain-soaked, turnover-heavy 16-0 win over the Atlanta Falcons at Raymond James Stadium, Tampa Bay leaned on its defense and a thunderous ground game to grab its second straight victory and move into first place in the NFC South.
The Bucs forced four turnovers, shut Atlanta out, and piled up 310 rushing yards between Bucky Irving and Kenny Gainwell. Irving delivered the biggest day of his career, going for 170 yards on 27 carries and scoring the game’s only touchdown in the third quarter. Gainwell wasn’t far behind, setting a career high of his own with 140 yards on 25 carries.
The win also gave Tampa Bay a 2-0 mark in the division after Carolina’s loss on Thursday pushed the Bucs to the top spot.
The game opened in ugly conditions, and the first half belonged to the teams that handled the ball least poorly. Nick Folk missed a 53-yard field goal on Atlanta’s opening drive, and Chase McLaughlin answered with a 46-yarder to put Tampa Bay up 3-0 with 7:47 left in the first quarter.
From there, the turnovers started flying.
On Atlanta’s next possession, Alex Anzalone jumped a Michael Penix Jr. pass intended for London for the first takeaway of the afternoon. Tampa Bay got the ball at the Atlanta 16 after a personal foul, but the drive nearly unraveled when Mayfield fumbled the snap on second-and-7.
He recovered, scrambled, and then lateralled to Irving, who appeared headed for the end zone before Jessie Bates punched the ball loose at the 1-yard line. The ball rolled out of the end zone for a Falcons touchback.
The Bucs weren’t done cashing in on Atlanta mistakes. Three plays later, Anzalone picked off another pass, this one intended for Jahan Dotson, and Tampa Bay turned that into a 34-yard McLaughlin field goal to make it 6-0 with 4:06 left in the first quarter.
Jacob Parrish added the third interception for Tampa Bay early in the second quarter, snagging a Penix pass at the Buccaneers’ 17. That set up a long, clock-chewing drive built around Irving’s running. The possession lasted nearly nine minutes and ended with McLaughlin’s second 46-yard field goal, stretching the lead to 9-0 with 4:04 left in the half.
The numbers at intermission told the story. Mayfield had not completed a pass on two attempts.
Penix was 2-of-10 with three interceptions. Irving had already piled up 107 of Tampa Bay’s 146 rushing yards.
The rain eased after halftime, but the football didn’t get much cleaner. The first four possessions of the second half ended in punts before Irving finally finished off the Falcons with a 4-yard touchdown run with 3:47 left in the third quarter.
Tampa Bay’s defense kept the pressure on until the end, too. Zyon McCollum intercepted Penix at the Tampa Bay 14 with 13:29 remaining to complete the four-turnover day.
The Falcons never found a rhythm. They went 0-for-12 on third down, and Bijan Robinson was held to 76 rushing yards on 19 carries.
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