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Facts, stats, quotes from Thursday Night Football's overtime win against the Buccaneers


Facts, stats, quotes from Thursday Night Football's overtime win against the Buccaneers

OUTSTANDING STATS

– Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins ​​completed 42 of his 58 passes for 509 yards and four touchdowns. All of these stats are either at or near career highs. The 509 passing yards are the most by an NFL player in a single game this season, and the four passing touchdowns are the most in 2024. Those numbers also make Cousins ​​the 13th-ranked player in the NFL -History of over 500 passing yards and four-plus passing touchdowns in a single game.

— Cousins' clinic continues: According to OptaSTATS, Cousins ​​is the only NFL quarterback in the Super Bowl era to throw for at least 250 yards both before and after halftime. He had 253 yards in the first half and a total of 256 yards in the second half and overtime.

— The Falcons had three players with at least five receptions and 70 yards in the same game for the first time since the 2020 season-opening loss to the Seattle Seahawks. Tight end Kyle Pitts (seven receptions for 88 yards), wide receiver Darnell Mooney (nine receptions for 105 yards) and Drake London (12 receptions for 154 yards) joined Cousins ​​for the job on Thursday, while wide receiver Calvin Ridley (nine receptions) did their job for 130 yards), Russell Gage (nine receptions for 114 yards) and Julio Jones (nine receptions for 157 yards) did the job with quarterback Matt Ryan in the 2020 opener.

– Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans has now scored 100 career touchdowns, becoming the 26th player in NFL history to reach that mark. He has 99 receiving touchdowns, including 13 against the Falcons, and one rushing score in 11 seasons. With Thursday's two games in Atlanta, Evans has also now scored at least two receiving touchdowns in 22 career games, which ranks seventh all-time.

– The Falcons' 550 yards of total offense set a new NFL high for the 2024 season. The next best total is 516 by the Seahawks in their Week 4 loss to the Detroit Lions. The Falcons and Seahawks are the only two teams to crack 500 yards.

– According to Next Gen Stats, the Falcons' win probability against the Philadelphia Eagles, New Orleans Saints and Buccaneers was 1%, 26% and 5%, respectively. That's a 0.013% chance – or one in 7,692 – of winning all three games, which Atlanta did.

Dark facts

– In their last two games, the Falcons have tied their regular season records with the Buccaneers (31-31) and Saints (55-55).

– According to Next Gen Stats, the Falcons became the first defense in the NFL to not face a pressure in a game this season. Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield wasn't pressured once on 15 dropbacks in the first half, despite being blitzed on 60% of those dropbacks.

– Cousins ​​made this career appearance on the same night Ryan was inducted into the Falcons' Ring of Honor. Cousins ​​surpassed Ryan's Atlanta franchise record of 503 passes per game (2016 Week 4 win over the Panthers) by 6 yards.

– According to OptaSTATS, Cousins ​​is the first quarterback in NFL history to throw for more than 500 yards in a win without throwing a single pass while his team was ahead on the scoreboard.

— Mayfield still had a great night despite the loss. He completed 19 of his 24 passes for 180 yards and three touchdowns. Cousins ​​simply — or rather, impressively — outgained Mayfield by 329 yards. The crazy thing: Only seven other quarterbacks have thrown for at least 329 yards in a game this season.

— Here are two complicated ways to reconcile Cousins ​​with Tom Brady: First, Brady is the only other quarterback to throw for at least 500 yards and four touchdowns in a prime-time game. He did this in the New England Patriots' 2011 season-opening win against the Miami Dolphins, in which he threw for 517 yards and four touchdowns. Second, Brady is the only other quarterback to throw at least 58 pass attempts, gain 460 passing yards and post a 68% completion rate, all in a win. He accomplished this in the Patriots' Super Bowl victory in 2017.

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