atlanta sports tagged interest

The Atlanta Falcons won an overtime thriller Thursday, beating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 36-30 to kick off Week 5.

Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins found KhaDarel Hodge for a 45-yard touchdown on the Falcons’ opening possession of the extra period for the game winner. Atlanta kicker Younghoe Koo hit a game-tying 52-yard field goal as time expired to send the game into overtime.

Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield threw for 180 yards and three touchdowns. Tampa Bay also had success on the ground, running for 160 yards as part of a balanced attack. But the Bucs lost 14 yards on their last possession of the game — bumping them out of field-goal range after a Cousins interception, setting up the game-tying drive.

Cousins passed for 509 yards and four touchdowns. He threw a pick on fourth-and-15 with under two minutes to go that almost spoiled a possible comeback, but he redeemed himself by getting Koo into range for the equalizing kick.

Both offenses started hot as the teams combined for 41 points in the first half. Neither side punted in the first 30 minutes, and they mostly traded scores. The Buccaneers took a 24-17 lead into the break.

The defenses settled down in the second half, though, as the offenses combined for only 16 points.

While Tampa Bay tried to salt the game away on the ground, Atlanta committed some key miscues. The Falcons missed one field goal, and another was blocked. Before the blocked kick, receiver Darnell Mooney, who was wide open, dropped a pass that had the potential to be a touchdown.

Both teams are now 3-2, tied at the top of the NFC South. Atlanta leads the division after the head-to-head win.