TAMPA, Fla. — The Atlanta Falcons didn’t have much — if anything — to fight for.
With a loss to the Seattle Seahawks four days ago, they were completely out of playoff contention in a year expected to be the season they broke through a postseason drought.
With 13:29 left in the team’s Thursday night rematch with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, they were down by 14 points, 28-14. At that point, the Falcons had just a 4.8% chance to win, according to Next Gen Stats.
They were actively racking up a franchise-high 19 penalties for a loss of 125 yards. They gave the Buccaneers seven first downs by way of penalties. They lost explosive after explosive on offense because of penalties.
There were so much mounted against the Falcons in enemy territory on Thursday Night Football’ prime-time slot. And yet, despite having nothing to fight for, they fought anyways. They fought with — and for — each other.
“We knew that at this point,” tight end Kyle Pitts said, “we’re just playing for each other.”
That, and they fought for the team they should have been perhaps all along.
“These guys, they’re fighters, man,” head coach Raheem Morris said postgame. “… Went out there and was able to execute. Got down early. Watched the guys go out there and fight, overcome a couple dropped passes and overcome a couple things, overcome a couple touchdowns.”
The Falcons out-gained the Buccaneers 476 yards to 338 in their comeback win. They averaged 7.2 yards per play. They were a perfect 4-for-4 in the red zone.
The stars who needed to step up, did.
Pitts became just the fourth tight end in NFL history to finish a game with 10-plus catches, 150-plus receiving yards and 3-plus receiving touchdowns in a game. The last player to reach these numbers in a single performance was Shannon Sharpe in 1996.
Kirk Cousins continued his reign of terror over Tampa Bay. With 1,158 total passing yards accumulated against the Buccaneers over two years and three wins, that total ranks as the most by a quarterback versus any opponent over the last two seasons. His 11 touchdowns are tied for the most against any opponent over that span, too.
And, of course, there was Bijan Robinson, who recorded more than 100 scrimmage yards in his ninth consecutive divisional game. That is the longest such streak in Falcons’ history.