In all fairness to the Atlanta Falcons, no one could throw the ball in a sustainable way during their game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday. A heavy thunderstorm that persisted throughout the matchup made offensive football a slog and the field a glorified Slip N' Slide for everyone who played. Unfortunately for the Falcons, said conditions created the perfect storm (heh, get it?) for them to come out on the wrong side of some rather abysmal history in their eventual 16-0 loss.
You see, given the consistent downpour during the game, the Buccaneers didn't even bother throwing the ball with Baker Mayfield. They officially had 56 carries between running backs Bucky Irving and Kenneth Gainwell, and Mayfield. Mayfield only threw the ball three
times all afternoon. He didn't complete a single one of them, and the Buccaneers still won.
Dearest readers, despite the awful quarterback play you see somewhere every NFL Sunday, that never happens. NFL teams in the Super Bowl era do not go without a single pass completion and still win games. But because the Falcons couldn't really throw the ball either with Michael Penix Jr., the Buccaneers' running game, which produced 324 team rushing yards (!), meant Tampa Bay became the first NFL team since 1974 to win a game without completing one solitary pass.
Woof. Talk about a stat epitomizing the Falcons and their rash of bad luck:
Buccaneers beat Atlanta 16-0 without completing a pass.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) November 1, 2026
They are the first NFL team since the 1974 Buffalo Bills to win a game without completing a pass.
If there's any consolation for the Falcons, they do reside in the NFC South, which currently doesn't have a single team sitting above .500. Their aspirations of winning the division are very much alive. Still, it has to hurt losing an important division game in historic fashion, largely because of a downpour.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Heavy Tampa Bay rain created perfect conditions for the most Falcons stat ever
