Baker Mayfield, Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeat Atlanta Falcons despite failing to complete a single pass
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Baker Mayfield didn’t have to complete a single pass to quarterback a shutout victory on a wet, sloppy day in Tampa.
The former Oklahoma star quarterback became part of history because of that in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ 16-0 victory over the Atlanta Falcons, which gave the NFC South rivals the same 3-5 record as they trudged off that sloppy field at Raymond James Stadium.
According to ESPN insider Adam Schefter, the Bucs became the first NFL team since the 1974 Buffalo Bills to win a game without completing a single pass.
With a driving rain greeting both teams for most of Sunday afternoon, Mayfield finished 0-for-3 passing for, naturally, 0 yards, 0 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. It was all zeroes for Mayfield, who was happy to let his dominant running game take over all day while he played in his second game since missing 3 weeks with a broken thumb.
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Mayfield, who starred at Oklahoma from 2014-17, winning the Heisman Trophy in his final season in Norman, did get in the score sheet in the rushing department. He had 4 carries for 14 yards, which was only the tip of the iceberg for Tampa Bay on Sunday in that area.
The Bucs set a team record for yards rushing in a game with a whopping 324 yards on the ground, as Mayfield sat back and watched Bucky Irving (27 carries for 170 yards, 1 touchdown) and Kenny Gainwell (25 carries for 140 yards) do the heavy lifting.
While Mayfield only threw it 3 times, Tampa Bay ran it an incredible 56 times to get those 324 yards, and that was plenty good enough on Sunday as the other quarterback, Falcons’ signal-caller Michael Penix Jr., finished 8 of 24 for 125 yards with 4 interceptions as Atlanta could get nothing going in the horrible conditions.
Mayfield made his history, in a weird way, without having to use his right arm too much at all. Buffalo accomplished the same feat, to be exact, on Sept. 29, 1974, beating the New York Jets, 16-12, which had been the only time a team failed to complete a pass in the Super Bowl era.
Now those ’74 Bills have some company.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
