Thursday night produced a fantastic-looking football game … and the quality of the contest was fairly gripping, too, by the end of the fourth quarter – keep reading, I’ll explain.
Big picture, the Atlanta Falcons converted a field goal on the night’s final play, overcoming a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit to defeat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 29-28 and knocking the Bucs out of first place in the NFC South. Losers of five of their past six since a Week 9 bye, the Buccaneers dropped all the way to ninth place in the conference – though their prospects of winning the division for a fifth straight season are hardly shattered.
It was a night with a range of winners and losers beyond the final result. They are as follows:
Drafted fourth overall in 2021, the earliest a tight end had ever come off the board, Pitts hasn’t exactly lived up to those lofty expectations during his five NFL seasons – though the Falcons’ instability at quarterback during his tenure certainly hasn’t helped. But he had a career night Thursday, finishing with 11 receptions for 166 yards and three TDs, all career highs. Scheduled to reach free agency early next year, Pitts certainly showcased his talents anew on a national platform and might have rekindled visions of the type of impact player he could be in the right situation.
