ATLANTA — The hole wasn’t quite as deep and the stakes weren’t nearly as high. But Tom Brady and the Falcons had been here before, together at the intersection of “this game is over” and “no freaking way.”
The Buc trailed 24-7 in the third quarter at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sunday. Their offense was disoriented. Their defense had been shredded into confetti.
But the Falcons and Matt Ryan know that no lead is safe with Brady in the game. The Bucs scored 31 points in the second half and took their first lead on Brady’s 46-yard touchdown pass to Antonio Brown, his first with Tampa Bay, with 6:19 remaining in the game, to beat the Falcons 31-27.
It was reminiscent of Brady’s comeback from a 28-3 deficit in Super Bowl 51. The only difference was a few points and commissioner Roger Goodell wasn’t there to hand Brady a Lombardi Trophy.
It was the second straight victory for the Bucs, who at 9-5 took another step closer to breaking their 13-year playoff drought.
The Bucs trailed 17-0 at halftime as the Falcons’ Ryan threw touchdown passes to Russell Gage and Calvin Ridley in the first half. The Falcons held a 261-60 advantage in total yards in the first half. Playing without running back Ronald Jones, who is on the reserve/COVID-19 list, the Bucs rushed for only 7 yards.
The fact that the Bucs were completely dominated by a 4-9 team in the first half should be alarming. Unfortunately, it’s not surprising. Slow starts have been the norm.
In their past six games, the Bucs have been outscored 59-7 in the first quarter. It was also the second time the Bucs had been shut out in the first half this season.
Defensively, the Bucs were equally ineffective. They couldn’t put any pressure on Ryan. They were too soft in coverage. Cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting lost track of both Gage and Ridley in the end zone.
With no running game to help him, Brady was under siege by what has been an anemic Falcons pass rush this season. He was sacked twice.
Falcons interim coach Raheem Morris dialed up some blitz schemes that gave the Bucs trouble. You can only imagine what the Falcons might have done if Julio Jones wasn’t out with a hamstring injury.
It took the Bucs only seven plays to start the second half to finally get on the scoreboard. Mixing passes to Mike Evans and runs to Leonard Fournette, they marched 80 yards with the second-half kickoff.
Evans had the big play, a 32-yard strike from Brady to the Atlanta 1-yard line. He took a big hit from Falcons safety Keanu Neal but hung on. Fournette bulled across for a 1-yard touchdown run to cut the Falcons lead to 17-7.
But Ryan and the Falcons responded. They needed only seven plays to set up Ryan’s third TD pass, a 7-yarder to tight end Hayden Hurst. Once again, Ridley had the big play, a 28-yard reception from Ryan, who took a big hit from Shaquil Barrett as he delivered the football.
Trailing 24-7 with 7:34 remaining in the third quarter is not where you want to be on the road if you’re fighting for a playoff spot.
Evans and Brady got in synch. They connected on passes of 26 and 24 yards on the next possession. That set up Brady’s 4-yard scoring strike to Chris Godwin to trim the Falcons’ lead to 24-14.
Brady got the hot hand and Evans became his go-to receiver. You could feel the momentum shift and it was inexplicable and inexcusable.
Credit the defense for locking it down in the second half, thanks to two big sacks by linebacker Devin White.
