Tampa Bay beats Atlanta 16-0 without completing a single pass
· BehindLines newsroom · Updated
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Atlanta Falcons 16-0 on Sunday, November 1, 2026, in Week 8 of the NFL season without completing a single pass. According to the recap published by NFL.com, quarterback Baker Mayfield threw three passes and none was caught. The Buccaneers' own post-game report calls Tampa Bay the first NFL team since the Buffalo Bills in 1974, 52 years ago, to win under those conditions.
A game won on the ground
With no passing game, Tampa Bay relied entirely on the run. Also according to NFL.com, Bucky Irving gained 170 yards on 27 carries and scored a touchdown, while Kenneth Gainwell added 140 yards on 25 carries. The team gained 322 yards on the ground in total according to NFL.com (324 according to the Buccaneers' website), a franchise record. The Buccaneers' box score confirms these individual figures; the club's two written recaps, however, give Gainwell 24 carries. Bleacher Report notes that the NFC South game was played in the rain and that Tampa Bay had two successive fumbles on the same play, ending in a turnover before a possible touchdown. In the club's review, Todd Bowles explains that the weather pointed to a run-heavy game and that the turnover battle mattered.
A struggling Atlanta offense
On the other side, Michael Penix Jr. completed 8 of 24 passes for 125 yards, with four interceptions and a passer rating of 12.0, according to NFL.com. Atlanta scored no points.
An old precedent
The statistic is rare. NFL.com says Tampa Bay joins the 1974 Buffalo Bills as the only other team of the Super Bowl era to win without completing a pass. That precedent is therefore more than fifty years old; only the fact that it happened again, on a Sunday in November 2026, is new.
Takeaways
The score and statistics come from the reports and box score consulted after the game and may be adjusted after the league's official review. The win shows that an NFL game can be won almost entirely on the ground when its own defense forces mistakes and the weather limits the passing game, although none of the sources consulted names the rain as the sole cause.