The Bucs completed their regular season with a 11-5 mark as another stellar passing performance from Tom Brady sent them into the playoffs in style. Brady had 399 yards and four touchdowns and saw Mike Evans reach his milestone 7th straight 1,000-yard season before leaving the game with a knee injury. The Bucs were without two key defensive starters in Shaq Barrett and Devin White who missed the game due to Covid-19 protocols.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING BUCS: Jones 12-78, Fournette 5-13, Brady 5-3. FALCONS: Hill 9-94, Gurley 9-18, Gage 1-11, Smith 3-9, Ryan 3-1, Ridley 1-(-6). PASSING BUCS: Brady 41-26-399-1-4. FALCONS: Ryan 44-29-265-0-2. RECEIVING BUCS: Brown 11-138, Godwin 5-133, Evans 3-46, Gronkowski 2-29, Fournette 2-14, Johnson 1-16, Miller 1- 12, Brate 1-11. FALCONS: Gage 9-91, Ridley 8-52, Hurst 4-28, Hill 3-42, Treadwell 2-15, Gurley 1-17, Stocker 1-13, Smith 1-7. INTERCEPTIONS BUCS: none. FALCONS: Allen 1-10. KICK RETURNS BUCS: Mickens 2-51. FALCONS: Rowland 2-53. PUNT RETURNS BUCS: Mickens 1-0. FALCONS: none. SACKS BUCS: Suh 1-7. FALCONS: Fowler 1-8.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 44 Atlanta Falcons 27 Sunday 3 January 2021 at Raymond James Stadium
SCORING TB 11:06-1Q Godwin 29 pass from Brady (Succop kick) ATL 3:33-1Q Koo FG22 TB 0:07-1Q Succop FG29 TB 12:30-2Q Brown 25 pass from Brady (Succop kick) TB 8:44-2Q Succop FG38 ATL 1:56-2Q Ryan 1 run (Koo kick) TB 0:00-2Q Succop FG25 ATL 8:49-3Q Gage 19 pass from Ryan (Koo kick) ATL 0:30-3Q Koo FG21 TB 11:13-4Q Jones 3 run (Succop kick) ATL 8:19-4Q Hurst 1 pass from Ryan (Koo kick) TB 3:54-4Q Godwin 4 pass from Brady (Succop kick) TB 2:52-4Q Brown 30 pass from Brady (Succop kick)
GAME REPORTS Rick Stroud reports on the end of a successful regular season Yes, your Bucs are in the playoffs. The question is for how long? Bucs play NFC wild-card game Saturday night, without Devin White With Evans sidelined, Bucs' other receiving stars align and sparkle Short-handed Bucs defense shows vulnerability, valiance in win Joey Knight offers notes and anedcotes from the game Scott Smith’s official game report Click here for the play-by-play and the NFL gamebook
COMMENTARY CREW Chris Myers and Greg Jennings
GAME HIGHLIGHTS Click on the boxes below to view the big plays Chris Godwin got things started capping the opening drive of the game with a score Mike Evans went over 1,000 yards receiving on this catch Antonio Brown scored his second and Tom Brady’s fourth TD of the game late in the 4th quarter
STARTERS OFFENSE DEFENSE LT 76 Smith DE 93 Suh LG 74 Marpet DT 56 Nunez-Roches C 66 Jensen DE 92 Gholston RG 65 Cappa LOLB 90 Pierre-Paul RT 78 Wirfs LILB 51 Minter TE 87 Gronkowski RILB 54 David WR 14 Godwin ROLB 98 Nelson WR 13 Evans LCB 23 Murphy-Bunting WR 81 Brown RCB 35 Dean QB 12 Brady SS 31 Winfield RB 28 Fournette FS 33 Whitehead PLAYED 3 Succop, 8 Pinion, 10 Miller, 17 Watson, 18 Johnson, 26 Adams, 27 Jones, 29 Smith, 30 Vaughn, 32 Edwards, 36 Miller, 43 Cockrell, 48 Cichy, 49 Gill, 53 Russell, 64 Stinnie, 72 Wells, 73 Haeg, 79 O’Connor, 82 Auclair, 84 Brate, 85 Mickens, 91 Potoa’e, 94 Davis, 97 Triner DID NOT PLAY 11 Gabbert INACTIVES 4 Griffin, 24 Davis, 25 McCoy, 88 Hudson, 95 Ledbetter CovID List - 45 White, 58 Barrett, 96 McLendon.