The Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Atlanta Falcons 16-0 on Sunday in a Week 8 divisional game played in a downpour at Raymond James Stadium, and they did it without completing a single pass. Tampa Bay attempted just three passes, completing none, and ran the ball 56 times on a day when water stood on the field and throwing the ball was close to impossible.
The Buccaneers were the first team to win without a completed pass since Buffalo in 1974, according to the league. The last time an NFL team had more rushing attempts than Tampa Bay’s 56 was in 2010, and an NFL researcher noted that a team had not won by double digits without completing a pass since 1945. Tampa Bay won by 16 points, so the win cleared that mark as well.
Rain shapes the game plan
The conditions set the terms for the whole game. Almost an inch of rain had fallen over Tampa by kickoff, and the rain did not stop when the game started. The field at Raymond James Stadium was left with water standing on it, and the Buccaneers chose a game plan that kept the ball on the ground for almost every snap.
Quarterback Baker Mayfield finished 0 of 3 passing, and the Buccaneers ran 56 times against three pass attempts. The balance of the offense was as one-sided as a game plan can be, and it worked because Atlanta could not stop the run often enough to force Tampa Bay to throw in conditions that punished any team that tried to pass.
The Buccaneers had reason to trust the run before Sunday. The team was forced to rely on a ground-heavy offense the week before as well, when Mayfield carried the ball 11 times in his first game back from a thumb injury. Tampa Bay rushed for 258 yards in that win against Carolina, and the team went back to a similar plan on Sunday when the forecast showed a storm rolling across Florida.
Buccaneers stick with the run all game
The decision to run 56 times was a response to the weather and to what had worked the week before. Tampa Bay had already shown against Carolina that it could win by running the ball, and the rain on Sunday gave the team one more reason to keep the ball on the ground. The Buccaneers ran the ball on snap after snap, and the Falcons could not find an answer that made Tampa Bay change course.
Atlanta faced an offense that gave almost nothing away about what was coming next, because the next play was almost always a run. The Falcons still had to defend the whole field, and Tampa Bay kept moving the ball on the ground until the scoreboard read 16-0. The shutout was part of the same story as the run total, since a team that holds the ball and runs it well can keep the other team off the field.
Buccaneers end the home drought
The rarity of the result is what sets it apart from an ordinary win in bad weather. Teams throw the ball far more often than they run it in the modern NFL, and a team that attempts three passes in a game is rare on its own. A team that wins such a game is rarer still, and Tampa Bay’s win was the first of its kind in more than 50 years, since Buffalo in 1974.
Mayfield was all smiles after the game, and the result gave Tampa Bay its first home win this season after an 0-4 start at home. Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles summed up the day after the game with four words: “First time for everything.”
The win was unusual in more than one way. Tampa Bay won a divisional game in Week 8 without completing a pass, and it did so in weather that left water standing on the field. Tampa Bay ran 56 times, attempted three passes, and kept Atlanta scoreless, and the 16-0 result was the first win of its kind in the NFL since Buffalo in 1974.