Buccaneers Beat Falcons 16-0 Without Completing a Pass
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Atlanta Falcons 16-0 on Sunday without completing a single pass. It was a rainy Week 8 game, and the win came on the ground.
Quarterback Baker Mayfield threw three passes, and all three fell incomplete. The Guardian reported that the Buccaneers finished with no passing yards at all, and that it was the first NFL game with no passing offense since the Buffalo Bills beat the New York Jets 16-12 in September 1974. Mayfield threw for 41 touchdowns and 4,500 yards in 2024, so this was a sharp turn for a quarterback who usually lives in the air.
The running game did all the work. Bucky Irving carried 27 times for 170 yards and a touchdown, and Kenneth Gainwell carried 25 times for 140 yards, according to the Guardian's account. ESPN listed the same carry totals, 52 combined, in its game recap. Chase McLaughlin added three field goals, and those six points on kicks were the rest of Tampa Bay's scoring.
Think of it this way. Most teams try to keep a defense guessing by mixing runs and throws. Tampa Bay chose to hand the ball off again and again, and in heavy rain, the Falcons could not stop it. Running the ball in wet conditions is harder for the offense too, since a slick ball and soggy turf make every handoff riskier. Still, the Buccaneers kept the ball moving on the ground and kept their own mistakes to a minimum.
Atlanta's passing game had its own rough day. Falcons quarterback Michael Penix Jr. completed 8 of 24 attempts and threw four interceptions, which are passes caught by a defender. Those turnovers gave Tampa Bay chances to protect its lead without needing a big play through the air.
Head coach Todd Bowles summed up the strangeness of the afternoon in a few words. He said, "there's a first time for everything," in comments published by the NFL. Bowles has seen plenty of football, and he sounded like a coach who was happy with the result and not particularly interested in the stat line.
Across the league, the Cincinnati Bengals had a far different kind of Sunday. Joe Burrow threw five touchdown passes, ran for another score, and finished with 462 passing yards in a 43-36 overtime win over the Tennessee Titans. He also threw three interceptions, which kept the game close enough to need extra time.
For fans, the lesson of this one is simple. A team can win without a passing game if it can run the ball, stay clean with the football, and make its kicks. It rarely happens, and it is worth remembering next time someone says a game cannot be won on the ground. Tampa Bay just did it, in the rain, on a Sunday in November.
