In the final week of the 2024 NFL regular season, the NFC South division title was still up for grabs for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Atlanta Falcons. All Tampa Bay needed to do was win against the New Orleans Saints to win the division. Atlanta needed a Tampa Bay loss and a win over the Carolina Panthers to do so. In the end, the Buccaneers mustered up a second half comeback to defeat the Saints, 27-19, and win the NFC South for the fourth straight season.
Additionally, history was made at the end of the game. After a turnover on downs by New Orleans with only 36 seconds left, Tampa Bay was set to claim the division. But the offense came out looking to throw the ball on their own side of the field instead of taking a knee. Star wide receiver Mike Evans needed just five more yards to make NFL history.
Evans ended up with nine yards on the final pass from quarterback Baker Mayfield to surpass 1,000 yards for the 11th straight season with 1,004 yards this year. That tied Evans with legendary hall of fame receiver Jerry Rice for the most ever. The team and fans erupted in celebration of Evans’ milestone moment, and he had this to say about his achievement after the game.
“I was hoping we got a stop because I can’t pass up history,” Evans said. “I’m happy they let me go out and get that. It’s hard to do for 11 straight years. To be tied with one of, if not the greatest receiver of all time, it means a lot to me and my family.”
Despite the end result, the first half of the game didn’t go how the Buccaneers wanted it to. The Saints looked like the better team to start, scoring on all four of their drives in the first half. On three of those drives, New Orleans’ kicker Blake Grupe cashed in with field goals. Quarterback Spencer Rattler led the team down the field on another drive that ended with a five-yard touchdown pass from Rattler to wide receiver Dante Pettis.
Tampa Bay could kick two field goals in the half from kicker Chase McLaughlin. The Saints led the Buccaneers at halftime, 16-6. At the same time, the Falcons were leading the Panthers, 24-17, setting both of the games up with interesting second halves to follow.
The Buccaneers opened up the second half with the ball, and Mayfield led the team down the field for a touchdown on a six-yard pass to tight end Payne Durham. With that touchdown, New Orleans’ lead was cut to 16-13. Each team then had a quick possession. The Saints punted after three plays, but the Buccaneers gave the ball right back as Mayfield was picked off by safety Jordan Howden.
Even though they couldn’t move the ball, New Orleans cashed in on the turnover with another field goal by Grupe to make the score 19-13 with just under six minutes left in the third quarter. The teams exchanged sloppy possessions once again as both teams were forced to punt after three plays on offense.
That led to Tampa Bay’s next drive to wrap up the quarter. In that drive, the Buccaneers began driving down the field as the fourth quarter began. Looking for the lead for the first time all game, Mayfield had key throws to tight end Devin Culp, wide receiver Jalen McMillan and Evans, while also scrambling for a few first downs.
Mayfield took a deep shot to McMillan for a 32-yard touchdown for the go-ahead score and Tampa Bay now led New Orleans, 20-19. The Saints tried to respond, but the Buccaneers’ defense made a stop and forced a punt.
With a chance to wrap up the victory and a division championship, Tampa Bay bled the clock down for over five minutes. Faced with the only third down of the drive on a 3rd and 14 at their own 12-yard line, Mayfield scrambled for 28 yards and the first down for the Buccaneers.
Continuing to drive the length of the field all the way to the two-minute warning, on the first play after, Mayfield was looking for Evans to get the record and seal the win. However, New Orleans covered him well, so Mayfield was forced to improvise. He did just that, pitching the ball behind him to running back Bucky Irving. Irving took it the rest of the way for an 11-yard rushing touchdown to give Tampa Bay a 27-19 lead.
However, the Saints weren’t going down without a fight. Rattler began driving the team down the field with relative ease, and it looked like the defense needed to make a stop so New Orleans wouldn’t be able to tie the game up. The Buccaneers’ defense did just that as Rattler threw four straight incompletions to force a turnover on downs that led to Evans’ milestone catch and a 27-19 win for Tampa Bay.
The Buccaneers finished the regular season with a 10-7 record en route to the NFC South title. The Falcons ended up dropping their final game of the season to the Panthers, 44-38, in overtime as Atlanta finished the season 8-9 and in second place in the division. The Panthers and Saints both finished the season at 5-12, good for third and fourth place respectively.
With that, the Buccaneers are heading to the playoffs once again as the champions of the NFC South. Tampa Bay is the third seed in the NFC, and they will face the Washington Commanders at home on Sunday Night Football. It will be a rematch from Week 1 when the Buccaneers defeated the Commanders, 37-20, but both teams look a lot different heading into their playoff matchup.
