Bucs use late surge to beat Falcons, 23-20
The Falcons put up a fight, but could not pull out the victory.
Behind the passing of Baker Mayfield, the Buccaneers defeated the Falcons 23-20 in the season opener Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
“Props to them,” Falcons All-Pro right guard Chris Lindstrom said. “They came in here and beat us.”
Mayfield completed 17 of 32 passes for 167 yards and three touchdowns. He finished with a passer rating of 99.3. Falcons quarterback Michael Penix Jr. went 27-of-42 for 298 yards and a touchdown, with a passer rating of 93.2.
The Falcons’ revamped pass rush had just one sack and two quarterback hits.
“They did a great job,” Lindstrom said. “We are not going to let this one loss define us and our season.”
The Falcons put together an 18-play, 91-yard touchdown drive that took 8:46 off the clock and regained a 20-17 lead with 2:17 to play. The Bucs helped out with roughing-the-passer calls on Vita Vea and Greg Gaines. Penix scored on a 4-yard run.
The Falcons’ defense needed to protect the lead but couldn’t. Defensive tackle Ruke Orhorhoro had an untimely roughing-the-passer call and Mayfield tossed a 25-yard touchdown pass to rookie wide receiver Emeka Egbuka with 59 seconds to play. The Bucs missed the point-after attempt to take a 23-20 lead.
“Just in that particular time, we’ve got to be better,” Falcons outside linebacker Arnold Ebiketie said. “We had a chance to close the game in that instance and we didn’t. That’s something that we have to continue to work on.”
The Falcons were not able to mount much of a pass rush all game.
“We didn’t have the amount of sacks that we wanted to have out there,” Ebiketie said. “It’s a matter of getting back to work and fixing some of the things that we can to try to rush as a unit a little bit better. I know and I believe we can fix it.”
What must the Falcons do better to close out games?
“We have to get sacks,” Ebiketie said. “It’s a simple thing to do.”
Penix was making his first season-opening start and his fourth NFL start overall.
“I feel like across the board, we want to be better in that aspect,” Penix said of the rushing attack. “But at the same time, it’s football. It’s not always going to be perfect. We have to be better in all aspects. Not just rushing.”
After the defense failed, the Falcons quickly drove down to the Bucs’ 26-yard line. They took two unsuccessful shots at the end zone before they sent kicker Younghoe Koo out with six seconds left on the clock.
After a timeout by Tampa Bay, he missed wide right, and the air went out of the stadium.
The Falcons couldn’t run the ball, rushing 28 times for a meager 69 yards. With the Falcons’ rushing attack grounded, the game was tied 10-10 at halftime.
On the third play of the game, Bijan Robinson caught a swing pass and took it 50 yards for a touchdown. He shook Bucs linebacker SirVocea Dennis in the open field and then picked up blocks downfield from tight end Kyle Pitts and wide receiver Casey Washington.
The Falcons’ defense opened with two three-and-outs, but the offense couldn’t build on the lead.
On Tampa Bay’s third possession, Mayfield put together a 16-play drive that carried into the second quarter and ended with a 48-yard field goal by Chase McLaughlin with 10:17 left before half.
The Falcons were stuffed on their next possession. On fourth-and-1, operating out of the shotgun, Bucs outside linebacker Yaya Diaby busted through and dropped Robinson for a 1-yard loss.
The Bucs answered with a 30-yard touchdown pass to Egbuka to make it 10-7 with 6:53 before half. Cornerback Mike Hughes was in coverage on the play.
The Falcons put together a 13-play scoring drive, which ended with Koo making a 41-yard field goal.
After an exchange of punts, Tampa Bay’s Kameron Johnson broke loose for 54 yards to set up the Bucs at the Falcons’ 32 in the third quarter.
It took them five plays to score. Mayfield tossed a 9-yard TD pass to Bucky Irving to make it 17-10.
The Falcons overcame two false starts by Elijah Wilkinson to get a 36-yard field goal by Koo to make it 17-13 with 20 seconds left in the third quarter. The Falcons forced a punt and the offense got the ball back with 11:03 left in the fourth quarter.
The Falcons started last season 0-1 before going to Philadelphia and beating the Eagles in Week Two.
Falcons coach Raheem Morris doesn’t want this loss to snowball into another one. However, because he didn’t play his starters in the exhibition season, this kind of disjointed effort was expected.
“We are not an emotional team that way,” Morris said. “We always go back and make decisions based on how we can play better...We have to find a way to get a win next week. We’ve got to clean up and correct some of the things that happened.”
The Falcons travel to Minneapolis to take on the Vikings next Sunday at 8:20 p.m. at U.S. Bank Stadium. On the last trip to Minnesota, the Vikings blasted the Falcons 42-21 on Dec. 8.
About the Author
Honored by the Pro Football Hall of Fame in recognition of his "long and distinguished reporting in the field of pro football," D. Orlando Ledbetter, Esq. has covered the NFL 28 seasons. A graduate of Howard University, he's a winner of Georgia Sportswriter of the Year and three Associated Press Sports Editor awards.
