The Tampa Bay Buccaneers set a lot of records this season, but the most important one might have come today when they defeated the Atlanta Falcons 44-27 to secure the no. 5 seed and a potential matchup with either Washington or the Giants (depending on the result of the Washington-Philly game Sunday night, following New York’s victory over the Cowboys this afternoon).
Tom Brady—Tampa Bay’s most popular man of 2020—threw four touchdowns, making for a franchise record 40 on the year, TB12’s second-highest total for a season in his historic career (he threw 49 in 2007, the same year the Patriots went undefeated before losing to the Giants in Super Bowl XLII). Bucs wide receiver Chris Godwin racked up his first 100-yard receiving day of the year and hauled in a pair of TDs, while Antonio Brown hauled in the other two along with 127 yards receiving. Tampa Bay running back Ronald Jones III had a TD of his own, a welcome sight after the former second-round pick missed the past two games while being on the COVID-19 list and dealing with a pinky injury. My man placekicker Ryan Succop set a Buccaneer record for most points in a season by converting all five extra points and going three-for-three on field goals for the day, increasing his point total to 136, breaking Matt Bryant’s record of 131, set in 2008. The Bucs also set a team record for most points in a season, shattering their previous record of 458 set last season by scoring 492 this season.
Sure, the Falcons managed to come back with some energy after being outscored 23-10 in the first half, but it wasn’t enough to overcome TB12’s monster of a game. I mean, I’ve been harsh on the G.O.A.T. this season, but he absolutely earned his game check this week.
Now that we’ve covered all the fun stuff, it’s time for some bad news. Mike Evans did reach 1,000 yards for his NFL-record seventh consecutive season to begin his career, but he injured his left knee on the very next play. He went in for an MRI, and the results thankfully showed no structural damage, but his status for next week’s wild card playoff game is very much in the air.
The Bucs still managed to score 44 points without their top wide receiver, but they won’t be playing the Falcons’ awful secondary next week; Washington and New York’s defenses are both much, much better than Atlanta’s. Offensively both Washington and the Giants are a little… less than stellar, but the Bucs looked awful on defense Sunday. Hopefully they can manage to hold their own against either quarterbacks Daniel Jones or Alex Smith. We’ll see.
For now, let’s celebrate. The Bucs are not only headed to the playoffs, they’re headed there with some huge momentum, having won their last four games of the season, outscoring their opponents 148-75 in that span. Sure, they were playing some subpar teams, but how many times have the Bucs lost to some awful teams in the past decade? A lot. Now they’re blowing them out.
Until we know more, we can only hope Evans is good to go for next week, because the Bucs will most certainly need all the help they can get in the playoffs. But again, the important thing is, the Bucs are going to the playoffs as the no. 5 seed and have their best regular season record since they last made the playoffs in 2005.
That’s a pretty good start to 2021.
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This article appears in Jan 7-13, 2021.