The Atlanta Falcons defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 36-30 in overtime on “Thursday Night Football” on Amazon Prime Video.
Unlike many Thursday night games, this battle of NFC South rivals was an entertaining, high-scoring affair. Both quarterbacks put on a clinic, with Kirk Cousins and Baker Mayfield doing whatever they wanted. Let’s break down the score and recap tonight’s game.
Buccaneers-Falcons Final Box Score
| Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | OT | F | |
| Buccaneers | 10 | 14 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 30 |
| Falcons | 7 | 10 | 3 | 10 | 6 | 36 |
Buccaneers-Falcons Game Match Player Stats
Leading Passers
Baker Mayfield: 19-of-24 for 180 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 0 interceptions
Kirk Cousins: 42-of-58 for 509 yards, 4 touchdowns, and 1 interception
Leading Rushers
Rachaad White: 10 carries for 72 yards
Bijan Robinson: 12 carries for 61 yards
Leading Receivers
Chris Godwin: 5 receptions for 64 yards
Mike Evans: 5 receptions for 62 yards and 2 touchdowns
Drake London: 12 receptions for 154 yards and 1 touchdown
Darnell Mooney: 9 receptions for 105 yards and 2 touchdowns
KhaDarel Hodge: 2 receptions for 67 yards and the game-winning touchdown
Buccaneers-Falcons Recap
While “Thursday Night Football” games have a reputation for being ugly, low-scoring contests, tonight’s game between the Falcons and Bucs was anything but that. The two teams combined for 66 points and 883 yards in this overtime thriller.
In his best game since signing with the Falcons over the offseason, Cousins threw for 509 yards and four touchdowns, getting his top three targets involved: London (12 catches for 154 yards and a touchdown), Mooney (9 catches for 105 yards and two touchdowns), and Kyle Pitts (seven catches for 88 yards). This was just the 27th 500-yard passing game in NFL history, and Cousins’ 509 yards tied for 15th-most in a single game all-time.
“Just confidence, going out there, and his game is getting better every single week,” head coach Raheem Morris said about what Cousins showed Thursday. “That’s what he’s been doing since he came back. He’s coming off a significant injury, and I’ve watched him get better every single week.
MORE: NFL World Reacts to Kirk Cousins Huge Game: “SWAG & SURF KIRKO!”
“Every single week it’s been better, whether it’s been explosive, execution, whether it’s just a rhythm and routine with him and Zac and our offensive staff. It’s just getting better and better. That is what happened today.”
“I think we spread it around,” Cousins said. “I think that’s how we’re built, is to get a lot of people involved. We have a lot of trust in several skill-position players. It was pretty heavy drop back, spread it around, and I was proud of the way guys fought, made plays, got open, caught difficult catches.
“We took another step tonight.”
However, it was Hodge who came through with the game-winning touchdown catch right after London exited the game. Younghoe Koo drilled a 52-yard field goal to force overtime, and then Hodge won Atlanta the game. Check out the game-winning touchdown below:
KHADAREL HODGE CALLED GAME#TNFonPrime | NFL+ pic.twitter.com/vtKobQt7gc
— Atlanta Falcons (@AtlantaFalcons) October 4, 2024
For the Bucs, Mayfield had a terrific game, throwing for 180 yards and three touchdowns with a 79.2% completion percentage. Evans and Godwin were outstanding, particularly in the first half.
Bucs fans were upset about a controversial missed facemask penalty that would’ve ended the game and allowed the Bucs to run out the clock, but Tampa Bay had multiple opportunities to close out this game, and they weren’t able to get it done.
This is a huge divisional win for the Falcons, who finally looked like the offense that everyone expected them to be when they signed Cousins and Mooney over the offseason.
From here, the Bucs will travel to New Orleans to take on the Saints next Sunday. Tampa Bay should get plenty of reinforcements, as S Antoine Winfield, DT Calijah Kancey, RT Luke Goedeke, WR Jalen McMillan, and WR Trey Palmer are expected to be back in the lineup.
Meanwhile, the Falcons will travel to Carolina to face the Panthers and look to build some momentum after this big divisional win.