The Falcons were on primetime for the third time in four weeks on Thursday night, facing the Bucs for early positioning as the first place team in the NFC South. Atlanta was 1-1 in their two primetime thrillers prior to this, beating the Eagles and then losing to the Chiefs in dramatic fashion — and walked off the Saints on a long field goal a week ago in the closing seconds.
Thursday night did not bring a reprieve from the drama for Falcons fans, but once again the dirty birds managed to pull out a wild win, this time in overtime. Kirk Cousins and Baker Mayfield had quite the passing duel on the night, with Mayfield going 19-of-24 for 180 yards and three touchdowns. On the other side, Cousins had the most prolific passing night of his career (and Falcons franchise history) throwing for 509 yards and four touchdowns (with one INT).
The last of those TDs was of the game-winning variety in OT, despite looking like it’d be a run of the mill short gain at first. Cousins hit KhaDarel Hodge on a 5-yard hitch, but a Bucs DB jumped over Hodge trying to make a play on the ball, allowing him to turn upfield and out run the entire Bucs defense for the winning score.
It’s truly insane for that pass to turn into a touchdown to win the game, but credit to Hodge for making a quick turn, seeing a lane, and turning on the burners to blow past every single Tampa defender on his way to the end zone. With the win, the Falcons moved to 3-2 on the season and first place in the division, and had Cousins doing his best to hit a swag surf after the win.
Cousins rather famously said he liked “the song about the swag, the surf” after the Falcons win over the Saints, and it appears he got a tutorial this week that paid off.
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