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 participations in the National playoffs.
The Bucs were hot, never taking 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 is well, it ends well for Tampa.
With 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 1,000 air yards . A statistic offering him a bonus of 3 million dollars.
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 for 43 while trailing by 10 points or more before today.
His team finally took the advantage for the first time at 20-19 after a superb reception from Jalen McMillan near 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 16-6 in 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 regained 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 headroom. He is only the second franchise quarterback to do so; Tom Brady has reached this plateau twice, in 2020 and 2021.
However, he was then intercepted by Jordan Howden. Then, Grupe made his longest field goal of the afternoon, 49 yards, to make the score 19-16 in favor of the Saints.
But the Bucs especially made a big mistake during a completely missed clearance by Jack Browning while the kicker was juggling the delivery. The Saints were able to start their sequence in offensive territory, but the defense fortunately held on 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
