The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were defeated by the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, 30-17, in the final game of the regular season. The loss marks the first time the Falcons have defeated Tom Brady in his career after seven straight wins against them. Atlanta ended their season on a high note with two straight victories and a record of 7-10.
Atlanta’s Offensive Rookies Torch the Bucs Defense
Falcons running back Tyler Allgeier capped off his rookie season with 1,035 yards. It is the rookie rushing record for yards in a season by anyone in franchise history.
In Sunday’s game against Tampa Bay, Allgeier finished with 135 yards, averaging 5.6 yards per carry. His performance was the key to success for ATL. The Falcons out-rushed the Bucs with 174 total rushing yards compared to Tampa Bay’s 86 total rushing yards.
Rookie quarterback (and Cincinatti legend) Desmond Ridder also played well with 224 yards and two touchdowns, all while having a 63% completion rate.
Allgeier and Ridder were not the only two rookies to play well, though. The first round pick out of USC, Drake London, had arguably his best game of the year with six catches for 120 yards. It was the first 100+ yard game of his career and showed the potential connection between Ridder and London.
The Buccaneers did have defensive starters play well. Safety Antoine Winfield Jr. had 13 total tackles in the game. He also applied pressure from the secondary on Ridder often.
Winfield on Tampa Bay moving forward into the postseason: “They [the starters] did their thing when they were in. When the other guys come in, our standard is our standard. So, we just have to get better at rotating those guys in and out.”
Buccaneers Offense Featured Three Quarterbacks
Tom Brady got the go ahead to start against Atlanta and did very well. He finished with 84 yards and a touchdown pass to tight end Kyle Rudolph. It was Rudolph’s first touchdown of the season and the 50th of his career.
Backup Blaine Gabbert got time in the game late in the second quarterback as Brady would be rested for the remainder of the regular season. Gabbert threw a touchdown pass to Russell Gage. He went 6-of-8 (75%) through the air on the day.
The Bucs also put former Florida Gators quarterback Kyle Trask in to get some of his first career NFL snaps. He finished with 23 yards.
The Buccaneers had a new group of backs get most of the touches on runs. Giovanni Bernard and Ke’Shawn Vaughn had 28 and 26 yards respectively.
Mike Evans also did not play due to an illness.
Up Next
With the loss, the Buccaneers finished the season 8-9. It is Brady’s first ever losing season. However, they still have football to play next week in the wild card round. They face off against the Dallas Cowboys on Monday night at Raymond James Stadium. Kickoff is at 8:15 p.m. E.T.