The joke will be that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers set back the modern-day NFL offense by decades on Sunday by failing to complete even one pass, something which had happened only one other time during the Super Bowl era.
But the Bucs get the last laugh.
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They came away from Sunday’s rain-drenched, mud-soaked meeting with the Atlanta Falcons with a 16-0 victory where they set a new club rushing mark of 324 yards. On top of that, they have renewed life in the NFC South.
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Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach and defensive coordinator Todd Bowles looks on before the game against the Atlanta Falcons at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla., on Dec. 11, 2025. (Kim Klement Neitzel/Imagn Images)
Afterward, coach Todd Bowles was asked if he informed his offensive coordinator or quarterback Baker Mayfield they weren’t going to throw the ball a lot.
“The conditions told him that,” Bowles said. “I mean, you could see it as a downpour down there and the wind’s blowing. You can kind of see the ball wasn’t going anywhere.”
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So much for the space-age passing inside an air conditioned dome.
This was three yards and a cloud of dust. Or rather, because this game at Raymond James Stadium was played in that unrelenting rain, it was three-yards-and-a-lot-of-slush.
So, a lot of running football. And, just to be accurate, for way more than three-yards a pop.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield speaks during a post game news conference following an NFL football game against the New York Jets Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O’Meara)
But no passing.
Quarterback Baker Mayfield attempted three passes without a completion.
“All right, let’s get this over with because you don’t want to talk to me,” Mayfield told reporters to open his postgame news conference.
This was some surreal stuff and that was obvious when Mayfield was asked questions about his lead blocking on one play.
“You know, if you’re not going to throw the ball, I got to get active somehow,” he said.
The last and only other time a team failed to complete a pass in a game since the NFL began playing Super Bowls was on Sept. 29, 1974 by the Buffalo Bills, according to the Associated Press.
O.J. Simpson is seen on Nov. 12, 2023, in Las Vegas. He died on April 10, 2024. (GC Images)
It was O.J. Simpson’s Bills that did it that time with quarterback Joe Ferguson attempting only two passes without a completion.
Simpson ran for 117 yards in that long-ago game.
Bucky Irving and Kenneth Gainwell went bonkers in this game. Irving gained 170 yards and averaged 6.3 yards per carry against the Falcons. Gainwell gained 140 rushing yards and averaged 5.6 yards per attempt.
Historic.
But Irving didn’t see it that way.
“I’m not going to lie to you. I don’t know the last time I checked the weather for a football game,” he said. “We’re going to have to play in it anyway. That’s how I think about it.
“Rain, snow, muddy, you’re going to have to play in it anyway.”
Michael Penix Jr. #9 of the Atlanta Falcons throws a pass during the joint practice against the Indianapolis Colts at Grand Park Sports Campus on August 19, 2026 in Westfield, Ind. (Justin Casterline/Getty Images)
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It could be argued the Bucs would have been more productive, if perhaps, they had tried a pass sometime in the second half. But the Falcons tried doing some of that.
Their quarterback, Michael Penix Jr. completed only eight of his 24 attempts, throwing four interceptions.
The Bucs, on the other hand, didn’t try to hit their heads against the proverbial wall like that. They were too busy running up and down the field.
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