The Tampa Bay Buccaneers locked up the fifth seed in the NFC on Sunday, as they defeated the Atlanta Falcons by a score of 44-27. While the Bucs secured the top wild-card spot, it did come at a price. In the first quarter, star wide receiver Mike Evans went down with what appeared to be a serious knee injury, and he missed the rest of the Week 17 matchup. It's unknown as of now if he will miss any time in the playoffs.
Tom Brady completed 26 of 41 passes for 399 yards, four touchdowns and one interception. His final touchdown pass late in the fourth quarter marked No. 40 on the year. Evans may have been injured, but Brady's two other star wideouts had huge days. Antonio Brown caught 11 passes for 138 yards and two touchdowns while Chris Godwin caught five passes for 133 yard and two scores as well. Brown was noticeably a large part of the game plan on Sunday, as he was targeted a team-high 14 times.
While the Falcons found themselves on the losing end of yet another game, their offense did consistently find success against this Buccaneers defense. Matt Ryan threw for 265 yards and two touchdowns, while Brian Hill rushed for 94 yards on nine attempts. Russell Gage had another nice outing, as he caught nine passes for 91 yards and a touchdown. The Falcons had to deal with the same problem they have struggled with all season, as their secondary struggled to lock down the Bucs' talented wideouts and the defense as a whole allowed Tampa Bay to register 485 yards of total offense.