Baker Mayfield threw three passes on Sunday. None of them got caught, and Tampa Bay won by 16 anyway.

The Bucs shut out Atlanta 16-0 in a downpour at Raymond James Stadium and became just the second team in the Super Bowl era to win without completing a pass. Thanks to one sack, they finished with minus-2 net passing yards. They still ran the show all afternoon, because they figured out early what the Falcons never did: in that weather, throwing the ball was a great way to hand the other team points.

The Weather Called The Plays

Todd Bowles was quick to say this wasn't some pregame plan to never throw.

I didn't say we weren't going to throw the ball. The conditions told him that. It's a downpour and the wind [was] blowing; you can kind of see the ball wasn't going anywhere.

So Tampa ran it on about 92% of their plays and piled up 324 rushing yards, a franchise record. Bucky Irving had a career-high 170 yards and a touchdown on 27 carries. Kenneth Gainwell had a career-high 140 on 25. Per ESPN, they're the first teammates in NFL history to each hit 25 carries and 125 yards in the same game.

It wasn't just bodies piling into the line, either. On the third-quarter touchdown drive — where they went 90 yards in six plays — Zac Robinson went to three tight ends, and Irving took an outside zone 46 yards on 2nd-and-1. Two snaps later, Gainwell hit another outside zone for 28, and Irving punched it in from the 4. Stretch the defense sideways, then cut back against the flow. Easy to draw up, miserable to tackle in a monsoon.

Ball security did the rest. After Mayfield bobbled a couple of early snaps, the Bucs moved to shotgun and pistol looks:

It's just easier to receive the snaps instead of it coming back through your hands under center.

Atlanta Kept Throwing Into It

Atlanta looked at the same sheets of rain and still called a pass on nearly half their snaps.

It went about how you'd guess. Michael Penix Jr. completed eight of 24 throws with four interceptions and a 12.0 passer rating. Three of those picks came in the first 18 minutes. Alex Anzalone had two, and Jacob Parrish and Zyon McCollum grabbed the others. The Falcons went 0-for-12 on third down, and Bijan Robinson, who leads all running backs in rushing, got just 19 carries.

Then there's Kevin Stefanski. In January, Mayfield said he was still waiting on a call from his old coach after Cleveland shipped him off "like a piece of garbage." Now he's beaten him without completing a pass. You can't script that stuff.

52 Years Between Them

The last team to pull this off was the 1974 Bills, who beat the Jets 16-12, also in rain and wind. Joe Ferguson went 0-for-2, Buffalo ran 61 times for 223 yards with 117 from O.J. Simpson, and Joe Namath threw three picks. Sixteen points that day, too. Same blueprint.

Asked if he'd ever won a game like this, Bowles said he hadn't:

But there's a first time for everything.

Nobody should pretend this is a long-term plan. Mayfield has seven completions in two weeks, Emeka Egbuka's still out with a foot injury, and Tampa went 1-for-3 in the red zone. Sunday night in Chicago's going to need a forward pass or two. But at 3-5 after an 0-4 start, the Bucs don't need style points. They needed a win in the slop, and they had the sense to quit fighting the weather and just run the ball.

All stats courtesy of Fantasy Points Data.

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