Four days after an inexcusable home loss to the last-place Saints, the 7-6 Bucs were back at it inside Raymond James Stadium, hosting the 4-9 Falcons on Thursday Night Football in their annual creamsicle game. Tampa Bay entered Week 15 in a tie with Carolina atop the NFC South, so there was no room for error here, especially with the two teams set to meet twice in the final three weeks of the season.

Not only were the Bucs looking to shake off last week’s loss and maintain control of their own destiny on the path toward a fifth straight division title and a sixth consecutive playoff appearance, but they were also looking for their first season sweep of the Falcons since 2021 and their first win in the creamsicle throwback uniforms since 2009.

While there was a lot of excitement around the returns of Mike Evans and Jalen McMillan, the first half was all about Kyle Pitts, as he caught all six of his targets for 110 yards and two touchdowns as the Falcons took a 14-13 lead into halftime.

Falcons TE Kyle Pitts – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

But out of halftime, the Bucs took control for a spell. A nine-play, 90-yard touchdown drive gave them a 20-14 lead, then a badly needed takeaway from the defense set up another score to make it 28-14. But the Falcons answered right back with their own touchdown drive and an interception of Baker Mayfield, taking over with a chance to tie the game halfway through the fourth quarter.

The Falcons did drive down the field and score on Pitts’ third touchdown catch of the night, but their two-point conversion try failed, leaving the Bucs up 28-26. But after the offense couldn’t salt the game away, the defense predictably collapsed, allowing Kirk Cousins to drive the Falcons right down the field to set up a game-winning 43-yard field goal by Zane Gonzalez.

With that, the Falcons completed the comeback after trailing by 14 in the fourth quarter, winning 29-28.

Tampa Bay has now lost five of its six games since the bye week and six of its last eight overall to drop to 7-7 on the year.

Here’s a full recap of all the action from Thursday night’s devastating loss in the creamsicle game at Ray Jay:

Falcons 29, Bucs 28

The Bucs and Falcons traded punts to open the game before Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay offense really went to work. A third-down defensive holding penalty drawn by Mike Evans extended the drive early, then the Bucs worked their way down the field thanks to a 20-yard run by Rachaad White, an 11-yard catch by Evans and a 23-yard catch by Emeka Egbuka on 3rd & 15.

Then, after Jalen McMillan’s first catch of the season went for 19.5 yards to the goal line, Sean Tucker punched the ball in behind lead blocker Vita Vea to give the home team a first-quarter lead. With Chase McLaughlin’s PAT, the Bucs led 7-0 after an 11-play, 83-yard drive that took 4:44.

Bucs WR Jalen McMillan and Falcons S Xavier Watts – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The next Falcons drive carried the game into the second quarter, and Kirk Cousins easily carved his way through Todd Bowles’ defense this time around. A 26-yard catch and run by Kyle Pitts got the series going, then short passes to Bijan Robinson and David Sills got the ball into the red zone. But a couple of errant throws by Cousins killed the drive, leaving the Falcons to settle for a field goal… except Zyon McCollum jumped offside on the kick, giving Atlanta a first down.

One play later, Cousins found Pitts for an 8-yard touchdown, and the Zane Gonzalez extra point tied it up at 7-7 with 12:11 left in the first half.

The Bucs offense stalled out on their next drive and while Bijan Robinson did his absolute best to get the next Falcons possession going somewhere, penalty after penalty set the visitors back and eventually forced another Bradley Pinion punt a little over halfway through the second quarter.

A 12-yard catch by Evans on 3rd & 6 early in the Bucs’ ensuing possession sparked a quick hot streak for Mayfield, as he followed that completion by finding Egbuka for another 12 yards and McMillan for 19 more. But the drive died inside the 35 after a high throw from Mayfield left Evans vulnerable to take a hard hit and a tough fall, which left him shaken up. Chase McLaughlin pulled something out of the drive, though, drilling a 49-yard field goal to give Tampa Bay a 10-7 lead with 2:04 left before halftime.

What little momentum that field goal gave the home team was extremely short-lived, as a 35-yard catch by Pitts got the Falcons in the red zone quickly on their next drive. And one play after that catch, Pitts caught a 17-yard touchdown to give the visitors a 14-10 lead with 38 seconds left in the half. At that point, Pitts had caught all six of his targets for 110 yards and two touchdowns.

Falcons TE Kyle Pitts and Bucs CB Kindle Vildor – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The Bucs did cut into the deficit before halftime, as a fallen defender allowed Evans to get loose for a 33-yard gain. Mayfield did take a sack after that, but that didn’t take them out of McLaughlin range, as the best kicker in franchise history booted a 52-yard field goal to make it a 14-13 Falcons lead at halftime.

Tampa Bay’s defense somehow managed to get a stop out of the break, though a holding penalty on Pinion’s punt left the Bucs offense backed up at its own 10-yard line. But then came the big plays in the passing game that this unit has been missing. Mayfield first found Egbuka for 20 yards, then unloaded a deeeeeeep ball to Evans, who went up and got it over Cobee Bryant for a 45-yard gain to the Falcons’ 12-yard line.

From there, penalties on the Atlanta defense kept the Tampa Bay drive alive before Mayfield found Devin Culp for a 6-yard touchdown. Culp’s first career touchdown and McLaughlin’s PAT made it a 20-14 Buccaneer lead with 6:22 left in the third. Though it was helped by even more flags, that was still a huge nine-play, 90-yard drive for Mayfield and the offense.

Bucs TE Devin Culp – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The Falcons and Bucs then traded punts, with Atlanta taking back over at its own 13 with 53 seconds left in the third quarter. But by the six-second mark, it was Tampa Bay’s football again. After a Bijan Robinson catch, Christian Izien put his helmet on the ball and jarred it loose for a fumble. Jacob Parrish was there for the recovery at the 25-yard line, setting the offense up to extend the lead to two scores on the other side of the quarter break.

And early in the fourth, the offense turned that takeaway into a touchdown. Mayfield found Chris Godwin Jr. from 3 yards out for the score, then Godwin hauled in the two-point conversion for the octopus and a 28-14 Buccaneer lead.

The party couldn’t get started yet, of course, as Cousins and the Atlanta offense breezed right down the field on their next possession, which ended with a 6-yard Robinson touchdown run. The two-point conversion try failed, but the Falcons were still right back within one possession at 28-20 with 9:37 left.

Falcons RB Bijan Robinson and Bucs ILB Lavonte David – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

It all went from bad to worse after that, as Mayfield threw an interception to Dee Alford, giving the Falcons possession with a chance to go down the field and tie the game. And they put themselves in position to do so as Cousins and Pitts linked up for a third touchdown on the night. But an Antoine Winfield Jr. blitz disrupted Cousins’ throw on the two-point conversion, leading to an incompletion.

Of course, earlier in that drive, the Bucs somehow failed to recover a Darnell Mooney fumble despite having four guys around the ball. The Falcons recovered it and scored to get within 28-26 with 3:34 left.

The Bucs needed to go to work on the clock and run it out from there, but all they could do was get it down to the two-minute warning before punting it away. The Falcons got the ball back at their own 30 with 1:49 to go with no timeouts, only needing a field goal to win.

And it was all too predictable from there. Haason Reddick got to Cousins for a sack-fumble at one point, but the officials ruled that there was a simultaneous recovery, meaning the offense retained possession. Still, Tampa Bay got Atlanta to a 3rd & 28 and an eventual 4th & 9, only the defense couldn’t finish. Cousins found some easy completions and from there, it was all inevitable. Zane Gonzalez came on to boot the game-winning 43-yard field goal, sending the Bucs to another disastrous loss.

Baker Mayfield finished the night 19-of-34 for 277 yards and two touchdowns to one interception. He was sacked five times in the loss.

The receiving corps showed up with the returns of Mike Evans and Jalen McMillan. Evans caught six of his 12 targets for 132 yards, while McMillan caught both of his targets for 38 yards. Emeka Egbuka caught four passes for 64 yards, and Chris Godwin Jr. brought in four passes for 20 yards and a score.

The defense allowed Kirk Cousins to finish 30-of-44 for 373 yards and three touchdowns, with Kyle Pitts doing the most damage with his 11 catches for 166 yards and three touchdowns. Bijan Robinson was a problem, too, as he ran 19 times for 93 yards and a touchdown while catching eight passes for 82 more yards.

The Falcons finished the night with a franchise-record 19 penalties for 125 yards, yet it didn’t matter in the end.

For the time being, the Bucs have a half-game deficit in the NFC South race and will now wait out the Panthers-Saints result on Sunday to see where things stand heading into the final three weeks of the season. Regardless, Tampa Bay’s next game comes next Sunday, Dec. 21, in Charlotte against the Panthers. Kickoff for that game is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.