Tampa Bay Wins Without Completing a Pass, a First in the NFL Since 1974

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers won an NFL game on Sunday without completing a single pass — something that had happened only one other time in the Super Bowl era, more than half a century ago. In a rain-drenched, mud-soaked meeting at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, they beat the Atlanta Falcons 16-0.

Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield attempted three passes without a completion. The win was built instead on the ground game: Tampa Bay set a new club rushing mark of 324 yards.

According to the Associated Press, the last and only other time a team failed to complete a pass in a game since the NFL began playing Super Bowls was on Sept. 29, 1974, by the Buffalo Bills. Quarterback Joe Ferguson attempted only two passes without a completion that day, and O.J. Simpson ran for 117 yards.

Two runners led the way this time. Bucky Irving gained 170 yards and averaged 6.3 yards per carry against the Falcons, while Kenneth Gainwell gained 140 rushing yards and averaged 5.6 yards per attempt.

Afterward, head coach Todd Bowles was asked whether he had informed his offensive coordinator or Mayfield that they were not going to throw the ball much. “The conditions told him that,” Bowles said. “You could see it as a downpour down there and the wind's blowing. You can kind of see the ball wasn't going anywhere.”

Mayfield joked about the situation himself. “All right, let's get this over with because you don't want to talk to me,” he told reporters to open his postgame news conference. Asked about his lead blocking on one play, he said: “If you're not going to throw the ball, I got to get active somehow.”

The Falcons, by contrast, kept trying to pass and paid for it. Their quarterback, Michael Penix Jr., completed only eight of his 24 attempts and threw four interceptions. The Buccaneers, busy running up and down the field, never pressed against that wall.

Irving also shrugged off the weather. He said he did not know the last time he had checked the weather for a football game — rain, snow or mud, the team was going to have to play in it anyway.

The victory gives Tampa Bay renewed life in the NFC South. But the game will be remembered less for the scoreline than for its surreal statistic: a win without a single completed pass, the first in the NFL since 1974.