Sunday, Jan 5, 2025. 4:06 p.m.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were crowned section champions for the fourth straight time and reached the playoffs for the fifth straight year after a hard-fought 27-19 victory over the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.
They thus improved the longest streak of consecutive playoff appearances in the National.
The Bucs were hot, never having the lead until the final quarter. Meanwhile, the Falcons were battling fiercely against the Carolina Panthers in an attempt to take their place at the top. But all’s well that ends well for Tampa.
With the victory clearly in hand, there was one last mission to accomplish and it came true on the very last play. Receiver Mike Evans tied Hall of Famer Jerry Rice’s record with an 11th consecutive season of 1000 yards by air. A statistic offering him a bonus of $3 million.
Evans, the only player in league history to begin his career with 10 consecutive 1,000-yard seasons, also broke a tie with Randy Moss for the second-most such seasons. Rice is first with 14.
Elsewhere, quarterback Baker Mayfield reversed a bad trend, going 0-43 when trailing by 10 or more points before today.
His team finally took the lead for the first time at 20-19 after a superb catch by Jalen McMillan on the edge of the end zone on a bomb from Mayfield. Bucky Irving then completed the score.
The Bucs, who have won five of their last six games to regain control of the South Division, had only five first plays in the first half, their lowest total of the season, to trail behind 16-6 at the half-time.
Dante Pettis got the only touchdown in the second quarter, accompanied by three field goals from Blake Grupe, including two of 39 yards.
The Bucs found their senses in the second half. Baker Mayfield cut the lead to 16-13 in the third quarter with his 40th touchdown pass of the season to Payne Durham despite limited room to maneuver. He is only the second franchise quarterback to do so; Tom Brady has reached this plateau twice, in 2020 and 2021.
However, he was intercepted by Jordan Howden afterwards. Then Grupe made his longest field goal of the afternoon, 49 yards, to make it 19-16 in favor of the Saints.
But the Bucs especially made a big mistake during a completely missed clearance by Jack Browning when the kicker juggled the delivery. The Saints were able to start their sequence in offensive territory, but the defense fortunately held up after a quarterback sack, a penalty and negative plays. Then the offense struck at just the right time for the victory.
The Saints ultimately lost a fourth straight game. They were taking the field for the first time since the Bourbon Street attack that killed 14 people on New Year’s Day and injured at least 30 others in New Orleans.
More details to come
