The Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the Atlanta Falcons by a final score of 16-0 to improve to 3-5 on the season and enter the battle atop the NFC South.
But along the way, the Buccaneers have accomplished something NFL fans haven’t seen since Gerald Ford was president of the United States in 1974.
Tampa Bay knocked off the Falcons despite not completing a single pass in the game. Baker Mayfield attempted three passes in the game — all of which came in the first half — and all three fell incomplete. The game started in inclement weather, with the rain making football extremely difficult and Tampa Bay went into the running game with a late finish in the second half. Buccaneers running backs Bucky Irving and Kenny Gainswell combined for over 300 yards on the ground, with Irving gaining 170 yards and Gainswell rushing for 133.
That’s the Buccaneers Sixth team in league history Pass before you finish to win. The first team to do that was the Pittsburgh Steelers. On November 16, 1941, he hit a home run in a 14-7 win over the Brooklyn Dodgers. The following season, Pittsburgh beat Brooklyn 7-0, despite the passes by Bill Dudley and Andy Tomasic. combining to go 0-for-7 to pass
The next time a team won a game without a touchdown, it was the Pittsburgh Steelers, who beat the Chicago Cardinals 23-0 on November 11, 1945. Dudley and teammate Bass Warren combined to go 0-for-8, but the Steelers won behind Dudley’s TD runs from Warren and TD run.
In the year In 1950, the Cleveland Browns became the next team to not complete a pass when they beat the Eagles 13-7 on December 3, 1950.
When was the last time a team won an NFL game without completing a pass? That came back in 1974, when the Buffalo Bills defeated the New York Jets 16-12 on September 29 of that year. Heavy rain and wind that day limited the passing game, and Bills QB Joe Ferguson went 0-for-2 passing while Jets quarterback Joe Namath finished the game 2-for-18 for 33 yards and three interceptions.
Similar to Namath in that game, Falcons quarterback Michael Penix Jr. threw four touchdowns against Tampa Bay on Sunday.
Meaning the Buccaneers caught more passes from Atlanta’s quarterbacks in the win than they did themselves.
