On Thursday Night Football at Raymond James Stadium, the Atlanta Falcons made a dramatic comeback to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 29-28. Zane Gonzalez’s 43-yard field goal as time ran out sealed the win. Even though they were down 28-14 in the fourth quarter and had a franchise-record 19 penalties, the Falcons came back thanks to great play from quarterback Kirk Cousins and tight end Kyle Pitts.
Kyle Pitts had an amazing night, catching three touchdown passes from Cousins for 166 yards. This was the first time a tight end had done this since 1996. This set off Atlanta’s late surge. Bijan Robinson’s important 6-yard touchdown run brought the score down to 28-20, and Dee Alford’s interception of Baker Mayfield set up the drive that won the game.
Tampa Bay took a strong 28-14 lead with a 3-yard touchdown pass from Mayfield to Chris Godwin, but they couldn’t finish the game after punting and giving up the ball on downs. The Buccaneers have lost five of their last six games and are now 7-7, half a game behind Carolina in the NFC South standings. Mike Evans caught six passes for 132 yards and drew a lot of penalties against Atlanta’s secondary.
