Falcons 29, Buccaneers 28
December 11th, 2025
Losing to a crap team at home in back-to-back weeks.
That’s our beloved Buccaneers.
Firepower returned to the Bucs offense tonight against the Falcons. How refreshing! The Bucs scored 28 points and still left a load of points on the field.
And it didn’t matter.
Mike Evans sure looked like a guy who wants to play next year — and a guy the Bucs will beg to play his 13th season. Evans was dominant, drawing penalties and ripping off 132 yards on 6 catches. His surgically-repaired collarbone held up to big hits. And man, did Evans show the world how much he was missed.
And it didn’t matter.
The Bucs’ run game was solid and diverse, and Baker Mayfield was just ok, eating too many snaps and throwing a horrible interception. Mayfield did throw his share of darts but his accuracy was shaky. At least the offense looked in rhythm for a short stretch of time.
Jalen McMillan? Joe was glad to see him get the start and the Bucs threw to him over the middle, which was the tell to Joe that McMillan really is considered healthy and fearless after breaking his neck in August.
And it didn’t matter.
So the Bucs are now 7-7 and on a horrible skid after a 5-1 start. Tampa Bay now has 10 days rest to take on Carolina (7-6) in Charlotte.
The Bucs defense? It remains ugly. Again, the Bucs delievered broken down Kirk Cousins’ his best game of the season — 373 yards passing and 3 touchdowns.
Major love for Christian Izien’s forced fumble in the second half. What a huge play. A late strip-sack by Haason Reddick was key to the Bucs almost closing out the game. But those plays couldn’t overcome the leaky defense that simply does not work.
The Bucs led by 14 points against a bad Falcons team in the fourth quarter. Rather then close the game out, they played with fire and got burned against a sloppy 19-penalty opponent that tried all night to give the game away.
Rock bottom? It’s not far off.