Kirk Cousins sets Falcons franchise record in wild Atlanta overtime win against Buccaneers
The Atlanta Falcons and Tampa Bay Buccaneers delivered a classic on Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime. And Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins delivered the heroics when his team needed them, connecting with KhaDarel Hodge on a 45-yard game-winning touchdown strike in overtime. Not only did he lift the Falcons to a 36-30 win in overtime, but Cousins also finished with a Falcons’ franchise record of 509 passing yards.
According to Next Gen Stats, Cousins completed 42 of 58 passes for 509 yards, four touchdowns, and an interception. All 509 yards came from passes within the pocket, the most in a game in the Next Gen Stats Era (since 2016). Between the numbers, he finished completing 27 of 33 passes for 385 yards, while tossing in three touchdowns.
Here is the pass chart below.
Cousins connected with Hodge on a 45-yard touchdown pass in overtime that won the game for the Falcons. Hodge simply spun around, and turned on the after burners, exploding right through the middle of the Tampa Bay secondary on his way to pay dirt. According to Next Gen Stats, Hodge reached a top speed of 19.70 miles per hour on his game-winner, his second fastest speed as a ball carrier in his career in the NFL.
In case you missed it, here’s the clip of the game-winner.
After the game Hodge talked out the special moment. “This is the moment of my life. I’m not going to downplay it. They put me in for one play and I take it to the crib for win. It’s like a movie,” Hodge explained via Cameron Wolfe of NFL Network.
Kirk Cousins did a great job of spreading it around
Cousins distributed the rock to a number of his weapons, including star receiver Drake London, who had a monster day. London finished with 12 catches for 154 yards and a touchdown. Falcons wideout Darnell Mooney had a big evening, hauling in nine catches for 105 yards and two touchdowns. And Atlanta tight end Kyle Pitts finally found his name in the stat sheet. He finished with seven catches for 88 yards on Thursday night.
Atlanta improved to 3-2 overall and 2-2 at home, whereas Tampa Bay dropped to 3-2 overall and 1-1 on the road.
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