Kirk Cousins ​​tops 500 passing yards, leading Falcons past Bucs

ATLANTA — The Atlanta Falcons and Tampa Bay Buccaneers set up Thursday night's game as an offensive slugfest with both teams scoring touchdowns on their first possessions, so it looks like the NFC South showdown will be decided by a long TD pass.

Kirk Cousins ​​threw his fourth touchdown of the game, a 45-yard score to Khaderel Hodge, who ran into the contest after Drake London was hit, to give the Falcons a 36-30 overtime win.

Yongho Ku's 52-yard field goal forced overtime as time expired, and Cousins ​​took care of the rest as he set a franchise record with 509 passing yards to lead Atlanta (3-2) to a tie atop the division.

Atlanta Falcons

The difference between making the playoffs and not, winning the division and not, lies in games like these, and Atlanta has already had its share of them.

The Falcons have trailed in the final minutes of the fourth quarter in all three of their wins this season. They are the first team in NFL history to win three of their first five games of a season in which they trailed in the final minutes of the fourth quarter.

At 3-2, with dramatic back-to-back wins over New Orleans and Tampa Bay, Atlanta has an early lead in the NFC South thanks to tiebreakers over the Saints and Buccaneers. This could prove crucial in December and January in what looks to be a tight split.

QB breakdown: Cousins ​​looked healthy and the returning quarterback the Falcons signed a $180 million deal in the offseason. He completed 42 of 58 passes for 509 yards, 4 touchdowns and 1 interception.

He has thrown for 350 yards and three touchdowns in a prime-time game for the sixth time, tying Patrick Mahomes and Peyton Manning, according to ESPN Research.

Eye catching status: Drake London continues to be dominant when he faces Tampa Bay — all three of his four career 100-yard games have come against the Buccaneers, including Thursday's 12-catch, 154-yard performance. He also picked up his first touchdown against Tampa Bay in the first quarter.

Promising trends: Darnell Mooney continues to look as good a receiver in Chicago in 2021 as he has in his last two seasons with the Bears. It was his first game with multiple touchdown catches — he had a game with a rushing and receiving touchdown in 2021 — and his 9 catches for 105 yards are both near career highs for him. He had two drops, but one that could prove costly.

The most amazing performance: A week after not catching a pass against New Orleans, Kyle Pitts had his best statistical game in nearly a year with 7 catches for 88 yards, re-emerging as part of Atlanta's offense. His most catches and yards since October 8, 2023 against Houston, when Pitts had 7 catches for 87 yards on a career-high 11 targets. — Michael Rothstein

next game: at Carolina Panthers (4:25 p.m. ET, Sunday, Oct. 13)

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

All summer, the Bucs heard that the Falcons were the underdogs in the NFC South, even though Tampa had won the division the past three years. That was true Thursday night, as it's now a three-team race with the Bucs in New Orleans.

Tampa Bay has a lot of players that need to get healthy, and has nine days to do it. The Bucs will have to learn how to finish as the offense completely stagnates in the second half and the defense plays poorly.

QB breakdown: Baker Mayfield completed 13 of 16 passes for 131 yards, three touchdowns — two to wide receiver Mike Evans — and no interceptions in the first half. He exploded for three touchdowns in the first half on 7 of 15 dropbacks (47%) against the blitz. Mayfield's 11 touchdowns in the first five games is a career best.

But after a big first half, Mayfield and the Buccaneers barely managed anything in the second half, totaling 49 yards through the air.

The biggest hole in the game plan: With Tampa linebacker Sarvosia Dennis on injured reserve with a shoulder injury, the Falcons routinely exploited KJ Britt in coverage. He surrendered an 18-yard touchdown to wide receiver Drake London on the opening drive.

Amazing performance: The Bucs surrendered 550 yards of total offense. It took a step up last week against the Eagles in terms of missed tackles but struggled against the Falcons in that category. The Falcons finished with 235 yards after the catch, their most in a game since Week 8 of 2019 against Seattle (236). — Jenna Line

next game: at New Orleans Saints (1 p.m. ET, Sunday, Oct. 13)