ATLANTA – The Atlanta Falcons and Tampa Bay Buccaneers established early that Thursday night’s game would be an offensive slugfest, with both teams scoring touchdowns on their first possession, so it seemed fitting that the NFC South showdown would be decided by a long TD pass.

Kirk Cousins ​​threw his fourth touchdown of the game, a 45-yard score to KhaDarel Hodge, who had entered the game after an injury to Drake London, to give the Falcons a 36–30 overtime victory.

Younghoe Koo’s 52-yard field goal as time expired forced overtime, and Cousins ​​took care of the rest as he set a career passing mark with 509 yards to tie Atlanta (3-2) atop the division.

Atlanta Falcons

The difference between making the playoffs or not, between winning a division or not, lies in games like these, and Atlanta has had its share of that.

The Falcons trailed in the final minute of the fourth quarter in all three of their wins this season. They are the first team in NFL history to record three wins through the first five games of a season in which they trailed in the final minute of the fourth quarter.

At 3-2, with dramatic back-to-back wins over New Orleans and Tampa Bay, Atlanta has an early lead in the NFC South thanks to tiebreakers over the Saints and Buccaneers. That could be crucial in December and January in what appears to be a tight division.

QB breakdown: Cousins ​​looked healthy and was back to being the quarterback the Falcons signed to a $180 million contract this offseason. He completed 42 of 58 passes for 509 yards, 4 touchdowns and 1 interception.

According to ESPN Research, it’s the sixth time he’s thrown for 350 yards and three touchdowns in a prime-time game, tying Patrick Mahomes and Peyton Manning.

Eye-popping statistics: Drake London remains dominant when he faces Tampa Bay — three of his four career 100-yard games have come against the Buccaneers, including Thursday’s 12-catch, 154-yard performance. He also picked up his first-ever touchdown against Tampa Bay in the first quarter.

Promising trend: Darnell Mooney still looks more like the receiver he was in Chicago in 2021 than he did in his last two seasons with the Bears. He had his first game with multiple touchdown catches – in 2021 he had a game with a rushing and receiving touchdown – and his 9 catches for 105 yards are both career highs. However, he did have two straws, including one that could have been costly.

Most surprising achievement: A week after failing to catch a pass against New Orleans, tight end Kyle Pitts put together his best statistical game in almost a year, grabbing 7 catches for 88 yards, once again emerging as part of Atlanta’s offense. His catches and yards are his highest since Oct. 8, 2023, against Houston, when Pitts had seven catches for 87 yards on a career-high 11 targets. — Michael Rothstein

Next game: at Carolina Panthers (4:25 p.m. ET, Sunday, October 13)

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

All summer long, the Bucs heard that the Falcons were the team to beat in the NFC South, despite Tampa winning the division the last three years. That rang true Thursday night as it’s now a three-team race with the Bucs in New Orleans.

Tampa Bay needs a lot of players to get healthy, and it has nine days to do so.

QB breakdown: Baker Mayfield completed 13 of 16 passes for 129 passing yards, three touchdowns — two to wide receiver Mike Evans — and no interceptions in the first half. He was hit on 7 of 15 dropbacks (47%) in the first half, with all three touchdowns coming against the blitz. Mayfield’s 11 touchdowns through the first five games are the best of his career.

Biggest hole in the game plan: With Tampa linebacker SirVocea Dennis on injured reserve with a shoulder injury, the Falcons routinely used KJ Britt in coverage. He surrendered an 18-yard touchdown to wide receiver Drake London on the opening drive.

Surprising performance: The Bucs defense surrendered 550 yards of total offense. They took a step forward against the Eagles last week in missed tackles, but struggled in this department against the Falcons. The Falcons finished with 235 yards after the catch, the most in a game since Week 8 of 2019 against Seattle (236). –Jenna Laine

Next game: at New Orleans Saints (1 p.m. ET, Sunday, October 13)