TAMPA, November 2, 2026 — Baker Mayfield dropped back seven times Sunday, threw three passes and completed none. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers won 16-0 anyway, the first NFL team to win without a completion since the 1974 Buffalo Bills.
Rain fell at Raymond James Stadium from the opening kickoff, and the field turned to mud. The ball slipped out of hands. Puddles formed where linemen planted. The Buccaneers looked at all of it and decided to run the ball 56 times.
They finished with 324 rushing yards, a team record, against an Atlanta defense that entered the game ranked fourth in the league against the run.
Two Backs, One Record
Bucky Irving carried 27 times for 170 yards and a touchdown. Kenny Gainwell added 140 yards on 25 carries. According to Pro Football Focus, the pair combined for 229 yards after contact, the second-highest total by a team in a game this season, and both graded at least 78.0 as rushers.
Atlanta’s offense offered no counterweight. Michael Penix Jr. threw four interceptions, two in the first quarter, and finished 8 of 24. The Falcons never scored.
Mayfield, in his second game back from a fractured thumb, attempted one deep shot to rookie Ted Hurst that PFF graded a big-time throw, and one screen that was dropped. Tampa Bay did not call a pass after the 9:37 mark of the third quarter.
“Listen,” Mayfield said afterward. “I’ll do whatever it takes to win. That’s all that matters to me.”
A Line’s Kind of Game
For the men up front, 56 runs and three passes is close to a perfect afternoon.
“It’s been a blast, these last two weeks. It’s every offensive lineman’s dream,” guard Ben Bredeson said in the locker room. “That’s what we strive for, being able to run it when everybody knows it’s coming.”
Two-time All-Pro tackle Tristan Wirfs said the puddles were deep enough that his hand stuck in the mud when he set up in his stance. “It feels like you’re a kid again,” he said. Guard Cody Mauch was asked at halftime whether he wanted dry socks. “It’s not even worth it,” he said. “They’ll just get wet again. Who cares?”
Right tackle Luke Goedeke put it plainly: “I’ll die on the hill that we’re the best O-line in the country.”
From 1-5 to a Ground War
The identity did not arrive overnight. Tampa Bay started 0-4 and sat 1-5 before Week 7, when it beat Carolina 43-13 with Mayfield throwing 11 passes for 64 yards and the team running for 258.
Sunday’s follow-up made the Buccaneers the first team since 1973 to win two straight games attempting 11 or fewer passes in each. Over those two weeks they have rushed 102 times, according to PFF. Their three victories have produced 823 rushing yards, an average of 274.3 per game.
The scheme is not simple. PFF notes Tampa Bay runs everything from outside zone to man to counter concepts, and the results have come with defenders knowing what is coming.
A League-Wide Turn Back to the Trenches
Week 8 was not an isolated case. Four teams ran for 200 or more yards and all four won: Detroit (230 in a 19-15 win over previously unbeaten Minnesota), Arizona (202 in a 33-30 overtime win at Dallas), Pittsburgh (200 in a 27-6 rout of Cleveland) and Tampa Bay.
Six players ran for 140 or more yards on the same day, the first time that has happened since 2003. In a season built around franchise quarterbacks and high-volume passing, the results offered a reminder that winning the line of scrimmage still travels.
Mayfield, who signed a three-year extension worth $165 million with $150 million guaranteed before the season, sounds content to hand off. “When the team knows that you’re going to be running the ball, that’s imposing your will on somebody,” he said. “Two weeks in a row of big-time ball.”
The last NFL team to rush for 300-plus yards without completing a pass was the 1933 Boston Redskins. The Buccaneers’ next chance to keep the formula going comes in Week 9.
Sources
- Buccaneers turn to old-school football and running teams dominated in Week 8 | iNFOnews.ca
- NFL Week 7 All-Stars: Joe Burrow Makes A Big Statement; One Team Dominates
- Buccaneers riding dominant run game to rebound in tight NFC South race
- Buccaneers riding dominant run game to rebound in tight NFC South race
- Tough Mudders: Inside All The Oddities Of Buccaneers Completion-Less Win vs. Falcons
Photo: Peter Zhan / Unsplash (Unsplash License)
