The Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost at home in Week 14, as did their upcoming Thursday Night Football opponent, the Atlanta Falcons. The Buccaneers' late comeback attempt was snipped by the visiting New Orleans Saints in a 24-20 decision. The Falcons played the streaking Seahawks to a halftime tie before Seattle hit the gas pedal in the second half and pulled away for a 37-9 win.
It was a disappointing weekend for both NFC South teams, but the consequences were more final for the Falcons. While the Bucs dropped into a first-place tie with Carolina at 7-6 and have two upcoming games against the Panthers that will likely decide the division, the Falcons were officially eliminated from the playoff hunt after dropping to 4-9. One might expect that to create a motivational gulf between the Buccaneers, who technically still have all their 2025 goals within reach despite dropping four of their last five games, and the Falcons, whose best possible finish is now 8-9.
One would be wrong.
Regardless of win-loss records and playoff chances, Bucs-Falcons games almost always feature two highly-motivated squads. Tampa Bay won the NFC South in 2024 for the fourth season in a row but Atlanta won both head-to-head meetings, both in very close finishes. The Buccaneers won in Atlanta in Week One of this season, but not before rookie Emeka Egbuka caught a touchdown pass with 59 seconds left and Younghoe Koo missed a 44-yard field goal try with two seconds left. There really don't have to be any mitigating factors to get the Falcons to play their best game against the Buccaneers, and vice versa.
That said, there is a reason to expect Atlanta to be even more motivated as usual. As Baker Mayfield explains it, the Bucs are certain that the Falcons would like nothing better than to spoil their own postseason hopes.
"It's that playoff mentality," said Mayfield, describing the Bucs' approach to the game. "Looking at it, we're playing a divisional opponent, they would love nothing more than to beat us and screw up our chances. So, you go into it expecting, 'Okay, do they really have a lot on the line? Yeah, because they're trying to knock us out of the playoffs.' So that's the mindset. It's playoff mentality for us, and we have to expect to get their best."
It's this time of year when players and coaches like to bust out the "control our own destiny" line, which is perhaps an overly dramatic way to see that they don't need any outside help in order to make the playoffs. That is, of course, obviously true for the Buccaneers, who would win the division merely by winning each of their last four games. It's worth noting, however, that the Panthers can say the exact same thing right now. Another thing that's true: You can't win four in a row if you don't win one in a row first. That's where the Falcons come in, and a win in Tampa on Thursday night would definitely hurt the Bucs' chances.
"We're still in control of our own destiny -- that's just a fact," said Mayfield. "We're tied for the division, we would love to be ahead and in a different spot, but we are where we are and we control our own destiny, win one game at a time and see what happens."
