With nothing on the line, this became a repeat of a pre-season game in the second half with every starter on the bench with their pads off and the roster being emptied as no less than four Bucs made their first playing appearance for the franchise. The Bucs led 17-10 at the half before the dogs were called off and the rest of the game became a farce in terms of competitive element. Now it gets serious with the Cowboys waiting in the Wild Card round.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING BUCS: Bernard 7-28, Vaughn 8-26, Thompkins 1-17, White 4- 15. FALCONS: Allgeier 24-135, Patterson 5-18, Williams 4-12, Ridder 2-9. PASSING BUCS: Brady 17-13-84-0-1, Gabbert 8-6-29-0-1, Trask 9-3-23- 0-0. FALCONS: Ridder 30-19-224-0-2. RECEIVING BUCS: Godwin 6-55, Thompkins 4-25, Gage 3-15, Vaughn 2- 8, Bernard 2-(-1), Perriman 1-9, Miller 1-8, Rudolph 1-8, Otton 1-5, Fournette 1-4. FALCONS: London 6-120, Zaccheaus 4-37, Pruitt 3-34, Patterson 2-1, Darby 1-15, Firkser 1-11, Hesse 1-6, Byd 1-0. INTERCEPTIONS BUCS: none. FALCONS: none. KICK RETURNS BUCS: Thompkins 1-24. FALCONS: Williams 1-17. PUNT RETURNS BUCS: Thompkins 1-12. FALCONS: Williams 0-0. SACKS BUCS: Hicks 1-8. FALCONS: none.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 17 Atlanta Falcons 30 Sunday 8 January 2023 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium
GAME SCORING TB 7-0 9:47-1Q Rudolph 8 pass from Brady (Succop kick) ATL 7-7 3:22-1Q Pruitt 2 pass from Ridder (Yoo kick) ATL 7-10 0:54-1Q Yoo FG49 TB 10-10 8:15-2Q Succop FG41 TB 17-10 1:46-2Q Gage 3 pass from Gabbert (Succop kick) ATL 17-13 10:27-3Q Yoo FG24 ATL 17-20 0:51-3Q Zaccheaus 3 pass from Ridder (Yoo kick) ATL 17-27 8:07-4Q Patterson 2 run (Yoo kick) ATL 17-30 4:00-4Q Yoo FG51
STARTERS OFFENSE DEFENSE LT 73 Walton DL 96 Hicks LG 60 Leverett DT 56 Nunez-Roches C 70 Hainsey DL 92 Gholston RG 69 Mason OLB 98 Nelson RT 67 Goedecke ILB 45 White TE 88 Otton ILB 54 David TE 41 Kieft OLB 9 Tryon-Shoyinka WR 83 Thompkins CB 23 Murphy-Bunting WR 14 Godwin CB 35 Dean QB 12 Brady S 22 Neal RB 29 White S 31 Winfield PLAYED 2 Trask, 3 Succop, 5 Camarda, 7 Fournette, 8 Rudolph, 10 Miller, 11 Gabbert, 16 Perriman, 17 Gage, 21 Vaughn, 25 Bernard, 27 McCollum, 30 Delaney, 37 Chesley, 44 Odenigbo, 51 Russell, 52 Britt, 75 Molchon, 77 Skule, 79 O’Connor, 84 Brate, 90 Hall, 95 Senat, 97 Triner. DID NOT PLAY 13 Evans, 78 Wirfs. INACTIVES 6 Jones, 24 Davis, 26 Ryan, 32 Edwards, 50 Vea, 76 Smith, 94 Nassib.
NFL RESULTS - WEEK 18 Tampa Bay 17 Atlanta 30 Jacksonville 20 Tennessee 16 Kansas City 31 Oakland 13 Buffalo 35 New England 23 Minnesota 29 Chicago 13 Cincinnati 27 Baltimore 16 Houston 32 Indianapolis 31 Miami 11 NY Jets 6 Carolina 10 New Orleans 7 Pittsburgh 28 Cleveland 14 Philadelphia 22 NY Giants 16 Washington 26 Dallas 6 Denver 31 LA Chargers 28 Seattle 19 LA Rams 16 San Francisco 38 Arizona 13 Detroit 20 Green Bay 16
COMMENTARY CREW Alex Amin and Mark Schlereth
GAME HIGHLIGHTS Click on the boxes below to view the big plays Kyle Rudolph caught his first Buccaneer touchdown to open the scoring Devin White was on hand to recover a Desmond Ridder fumble in the first half Blaine Gabbert came into the game in the second quarter and threw a score to Russell Gage