Buccaneers win 16-0 without a completed pass in Tampa downpour
Baker Mayfield finished 0-for-3 passing as Tampa Bay beat Atlanta 16-0, the first NFL game since 1974 without a single completed pass.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Atlanta Falcons 16-0 at Raymond James Stadium in a Week 8 fixture played through torrential rain. Quarterback Baker Mayfield finished the game 0-for-3 passing, the first time since 1974 that an NFL team has completed a match without a single completed pass, a milestone first reported by Guardian NFL.
Mayfield's numbers barely moved across four quarters. He was 0-for-2 at half-time with a 39.6 passer rating, and Tampa Bay ran the ball on 93% of first-half snaps as the Buccaneers built a 9-0 lead in the rain. He finished 0-for-3 with the Buccaneers up 16-0 and 7:25 left in the fourth quarter.
Atlanta's Michael Penix fared little better in the same conditions, going 2-for-10 for 24 yards with three interceptions. Two of those picks were taken by Buccaneers linebacker Alex Anzalone.
With passing effectively abandoned, Tampa Bay leaned entirely on the ground game. Bucky Irving ran for 170 yards and a touchdown and Kenneth Gainwell added 140 yards, the pair combining for 52 carries and 324 rushing yards, the most in a single game in franchise history.
ESPN researcher Ben Solak, quoted by Yahoo Sports, noted that the two teams combined for just 24 passing yards in the first half, tied for the fewest in any first half since 2011, with Tampa Bay's 93% first-half run rate the highest since the New England Patriots in a 2021 blizzard game against Buffalo.
Solak also pointed out that the Buccaneers were the first team since the 2011 Denver Broncos to lead at half-time by seven points or more despite registering no completions, a game in which Tim Tebow went 0-for-4 in the first half as Denver led 10-0. He added that Tampa Bay was the first side since the Broncos' pandemic-affected game with emergency quarterback Kendall Hinton to go into half-time with zero completions.
The only previous instance of an NFL team finishing a game with no passing yards at all came on 29 September 1974, when the Buffalo Bills beat the New York Jets 16-12, four years before the Buccaneers existed as a franchise.
The result stood in sharp contrast to Mayfield's recent form. He threw for 41 touchdowns and 4,500 yards in the 2024 season, underlining how unusual Sunday's weather-driven approach was for a quarterback capable of carrying a passing offence when conditions allow it.