Raymond James Stadium (Tampa Bay) – This was a strange game.
In today’s NFL, we can take things like passing for granted, assuming they are at least a small ingredient in the recipe for winning the football. Never again.
A week ago, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers ran the ball so well (258 yards!) in a lopsided win at Carolina that quarterback Baker Mayfield, in his first game back from a thumb injury, attempted just 11 passes, one more than the fewest ever in the franchise’s 51-year history.
And the Bucs clearly saw that play, stepped back and decided they needed to focus much, much more on running the ball.
The Buccaneers faced one of the NFL’s top five defenses in the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, but with a persistent downpour creating bad weather early on, they looked to protect themselves on the ground and run the ball behind Bucky Irving and Kenneth Gainwell, and something amazing happened.
They ran the ball and played defense at such a high level that Mayfield threw just three passes and didn’t complete one in a 16-0 victory. They became the first NFL team to win a game without completing a pass since the 1974 Buffalo Bills, who did so in a win over the New York Jets, two years before the Bucs existed.
“Listen,” Mayfield said after the game. “I’m going to do whatever it takes to win. That’s all that matters to me.”
Mayfield went 0-for-3 and easily had the best passing game Sunday, as Michael Penix Jr. of Atlanta had four interceptions, two in the first quarter, finishing 8-for-24. That 1974 Bills shutout was much the same way, as Joe Namath went 2-for-18 with three picks in the loss.
A 56-play, three-pass game is just about perfect for an offensive lineman, cussing out the guy in front of you, always on offense, just physically imposing your will on the opponent over and over for three hours.
“It’s been a blast, these last two weeks. It’s every offensive lineman’s dream,” Bucs guard Ben Bredeson said to a jubilant locker room. “That’s what we strive for, to be able to run it when everybody knows it’s coming. We were able to do that today. It was fun. It was a muddy game out there, a little ball in the backyard for sure.”
This was old school football, crushed, dirty uniforms and everything soaked, so you just embrace the wet discomfort.
“At halftime, people are like, ‘Oh, do I have to change my socks?'” Buccaneers guard Cody Mauch said. “I was like, ‘It’s not even worth it. You’re going to come right out and they’re just going to get wet again. Who cares?'”
Buccaneers offensive tackle Tristan Wirfs said there were puddles big enough that he would line up in position, put his hand in the ground and his hand would get stuck in the mud. “It feels like you’re a kid again,” he said.
There are 285 NFL games in a season these days, and yet I’m constantly amazed at how often you can cover one and see something that either never happened or recently happened to a team so old you barely knew it existed. The last time an NFL team rushed for 300 yards and didn’t complete a pass? That would be the 1933 Boston Redskins, who did it in a game at … Fenway Park. These are the random things that allow the game to still surprise you.
How good has the Buccaneers running game been lately? Until a month ago, they had rushed for 240 yards or more just once in a span of 173 games, dating back to 2016. When they did it Sunday, it was the third time they had done it in the last four weeks. Bucky Irving set his career high with 170 rushing yards, and then backup Kenneth Gainwell took over and did the same with 140 rushing yards. The last time an NFL team had two guys get 25 carries in the same game? It’s been 48 years, with Walter Payton and Roland Harper being the last to do so in 1978 with the Chicago Bears.
You’d think the poor conditions would make it easy for the Falcons — the NFL’s highest-scoring team over the past five weeks — to do the same, especially with Bijan Robinson leading the NFL in yards from scrimmage. Atlanta had 10 plays Sunday that were third or fourth down and needed 2 yards or less, turning them into 10. plays, gaining a total of 4 yards.
The novelty of zero pass completions in one game took away a dominant play from the Buccaneers defense, which had a 16-3 lead over the Pittsburgh Steelers in the fourth quarter two weeks ago but lost in overtime. There was no such shutout on Sunday, and the final score was just the 12th shutout in franchise history. The last time the Bucs had a shutout at home was Dec. 5, 2004, also against the Falcons, and four months before Buccaneers linebacker Josiah Trotter was born.
Mayfield couldn’t have asked for an easier day as any NFL quarterback in a win, but he found ways to stay busy. With seven minutes left in the third quarter, it was still a precarious 9-0 lead for the Bucs when Irving broke free for a 46-yard gain. Two plays later, Gainwell had a 28-yard run, and as he brought it down, Mayfield was motioning for him to run, and he blocked Falcons safety Jessie Bates’ return straight into the end zone, both of them landing in a puddle on the sideline, a testament to the harshness of the day.
“You know, if I’m not going to throw the ball, I’ve got to be active somehow,” Mayfield said. “Jessie and I were out there playing in the mud.”
Two weeks ago, the Bucs were 1-5 and tied for the worst record in the NFC, and with 64 total passing yards in two games, they beat their division rivals in Carolina and Atlanta and found themselves a half game out of first place. The Bucs now have the Bears on the road Sunday night. But the Panthers and Falcons are underdogs at home this week against the Bengals and Broncos, so the Buccaneers could lose and still be a half-game out when they reach their Week 10 bye.
The emphasis on the running game was clear from the Bucs’ opening drive, when Irving went 24 yards, setting the tone for a day so dominant they didn’t need to complete a single pass to win.
“It takes everybody. It takes all 11,” said Kevin Carberry, the team’s offensive line coach and game coordinator. “I’m so proud of them. It was exciting. I played aggressively, and they just played well. Both runners came off the bat.”
Buccaneers RB Bucky Irving had a career day on Sunday. (Photo by Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
No one enjoyed the win on Sunday more than Tampa Bay’s offensive line, but they have all week. On Wednesday, the folks at Nickelodeon honored Irving as their weekly “NVP,” which meant a box of goodies sent to the team. In the locker room, Wirfs wore a neon orange T-shirt that read, “My son won the MVP AND THIS SHIRT WAS ALL I MEAN,” and the linemen took jars of green slime to pour over Irving’s head as a trademark celebration of the award.
In the process of throwing dirt at Irving, Wirfs accidentally sent some toward Graham Barton’s center and it actually ended up in his mouth.
“You can’t swallow those things!” said grad Duka, all this on camera and posted on the team’s social media accounts. Barton was a late addition to the injury report due to illness and it was safe to wonder if the sludge had gotten to him.
“I said last week, ‘It doesn’t get any better than this,'” Barton said. “It got better. Super fun, mud bowl. I remember looking up at halftime and seeing zero passing yards and whatever rushing yards and I was like ‘Oh. Oh well.” You go through the second half and I don’t even know if we attempted one. You’re aware of it, but we were like, ‘Hey, if it keeps working, let’s keep hitting the rock.’
“It’s wonderful.”
