The Atlanta Falcons don’t let the race for the playoffs stop. In the Monday Night Game there was a 27:24 victory against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Devonta Freeman was able to celebrate a big day against a weak defensive of the Bucs. Without a chance of a playoff and with a rarely seen military hospital, Tampa Bay was surprisingly able to stand up to the Division rival until the bitter end and missed overtime by a hair’s breadth.
Freeman benefited not only from the matchup against one of the league’s weakest defenses, but also from their decimated squads. The Bucs lost their best defenders in Gerald McCoy and Lavonte David. Correspondingly, the disorder in the backfield of the hosts was correspondingly large, who also had numerous Missed Tackles in addition to the usual coverage problems.
An example of this disorder and at the same time a play that is somewhat symptomatic of Tampa Bay’s screwed-up season was the first touchdown pass by Matt Ryan (17/31,212 YDS, TD) on Justin Hardy. The Bucs had only ten defenders on the field in the play. Head coach Dirk Koetter wanted to run on the field to take a timeout, but was not noticed by the referees. Hardy beat Ryan Smith in Man Coverage and was allowed to celebrate a touchdown on his birthday.
Julio Jones, who delivered a dominant performance in the first encounter of the season with 253 receiving yards and two touchdowns, had surprisingly few parts of the game. Atlanta tried to keep the game on the ground or to bring his running backs – Terron Ward replaced the injured Tevin Coleman – with short passes to yards after the catch. Tampa Bay, in which players also injured themselves during the game in unmanageable crowd, had no answer except for a strong Kwon Alexander.
And yet they stayed in the game for a long time. One reason for this was probably the best game in Jameis Winston’s career (27/39,299 YDS, 3TD). The much criticized Bucs’s Playcaller played almost flawlessly on the night Tampa Bay’s head coach of the 2002 Super Bowl Champion 2002 season, Jon Gruden, was admitted to the Ring of Honor and showed great accuracy in his passes. Behind the protection of backup backups, he rarely took risks and found his receivers, which didn’t even help his great 130.5 Passer rating with annoying drops. The overtime missed the bucs in an exciting final phase due to a 54-yard field goal attempt by Patrick Murray.
Due to the Falcons’ victory, the Green Bay Packers have no chance of making the playoffs and miss them for the first time since 2008. Atlanta has the opportunity to win against the Panthers and Saints and win the division on their own.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-10) – Atlanta Falcons (9-5)24:27 (7:7,0:10,7:0,7:7) BOXSCORE
Matt Ryan (Atlanta Falcons):
“Devonta’s influence on the game was huge. The offensive line did a great job. I am very proud of the team because we have worked hard. It was a difficult game for us, but luckily we managed to win.”
Jameis Winston (Tampa Bay Buccaneers) about the course of the season:
“It’s been an unhappy year, but there’s no point in complaining about it. We need to grab our shovels and just keep digging.”
… about the team’s relationship with coach Koetter:
“We love the coach. He always wants us to fight and works so hard. It’s up to us players, not him.”
Patrick Murray (Kicker, Tampa Bay Buccaneers) about the kicker:
“I have abandoned my teammates. I usually hit these kicks. 54 yards are normally not too far away for me. Now we have to look ahead. I want to be there for my teammates, like they are for me.”
The Falcons continued to be successful on the ground in the second half, but failed to extend their lead. The only chance remained for a long time a finally blocked field goal attempt by Matt Bryant. It took the man of the evening to finally bring the Bucs back to a two-possession distance. Freeman broke through the line from 32 yards as untouched as he later ran into the final zone. The Falcons increased their lead to 10 points.
Freeman missed his first match against the Bucs this season. This time it was Mr Coleman. It was a demonstration of power against a linebacker and defensive back group that, with the exception of Alexander, was completely overwhelmed. Freeman broke through a variety of tackles and left rushing safeties like T. J. Ward and Chris Conte sometimes look like schoolboys. The decimated lineback corps of the Bucs wasn’t physically enough to stop Freeman that day. This was a decisive factor especially for 3rd downs.
Freeman was often mentioned as the man of the evening. He ran for 126 yards at 22 carries and had three runs of over 15 yards. Freeman caught five passes for 68 yards and was also Atlanta’s best receiver. There are also six forced Missed Tackles and a touchdown. The only downside is two fumbles that fortunately were picked up by fellow players.
This decision can probably be justified by expectations. Jones was up against the Bucs at an average of 123.5 receiving yards per game. No other player in the history of the league has a near-good score against a team. That night he was held at 3 receptions for a meager 54 yards. This is not enough against the decimated Buccaneers backfield.