The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have won their past two games with a dominant ground attack.
The Buccaneers are now 3-5 after knocking out the Atlanta Falcons in a dominant 16-0 victory over their NFC South rivals. The win not only put them ahead of the Falcons in the division, but also moved them a half game behind the 3-4 Carolina Panthers, whom they beat last week, for the NFC South lead.
This time they did it behind zero completions from Baker Mayfield on just three pass attempts. The Buccaneers became the first team since 1974 to win an NFL game with zero pass completions. They rode their rushing attack, with a franchise-record 324 rushing yards, to victory.
Baker Mayfield, who completed just seven passes for 64 yards in last week's win, commented
on the Buccaneers' latest win after another dominant ground-game showing.
"It's winning, that's what I think about it -- we won," said Mayfield after the game. "Getting guys lined up, making sure we're running the right run plays. Obviously, ball security in these conditions. We had some early ones. Decided to go to the shotgun and pistol sets, just easier to receive the snaps instead of it coming back through your hands under center. So going from there and just really trying to manage the game and time management, trying to bleed as much clock as possible. Just get everybody on the same page and go from there. So that's my job in these conditions. And listen, I'll do whatever it takes to win. That's all that matters to me."
Over the past two weeks, the Buccaneers have completed just seven of their 14 pass attempts for 64 passing yards, with 582 rushing yards en route to victory. They've defeated the top two NFC South teams, 59-13 combined.
For a team that was just 1-5 a couple of weeks prior, the Buccaneers are suddenly back in the driver's seat to potentially win the NFC South for the fifth time in the past six seasons.
Tampa Bay will look to ride that momentum when they take on one of the NFC's best teams, the Chicago Bears, in a Sunday Night Football road matchup next week.
This article originally appeared on Bucs Wire: Baker Mayfield sounds off on Buccaneers defeating Falcons with zero pass completions
