Tampa Bay

Buccaneers

McLaughlin also nailed his only PAT try. The Bucs forced a trio of turnovers in the first half. Their ensuring drives didn’t amount to much, but the field position alone allowed McLaughlin to put the ball through the uprights on two of them. With the Faclons accomplishing nothing on offense, the Bucs were comfortable taking the points throughout the contest, resulting in another strong fantasy outing for McLaughlin. He entered Week 8 as a top five fantasy option and will remain near the top of the kicker ranks for Week 9 versus the Bears.

Otton has one catch over his past three appearances and hasn’t hit 40 yards since Week 3. The Bucs, who only attempted three passes today, will increase the pass volume in Week 9, but that alone won’t be enough to get Otton back into fantasy lineups. He is not even in the TE2 mix for Week 9 against the Bears.

Baker Mayfield only attempted three passes in this game. One of them was a deep shot for Hurst into the end zone. Hurst initially had the catch as he spun around for the back-shoulder ball, but Falcons corner Mike Hughes jarred the ball loose for an incompletion. It was Hurst’s second week in a row with zero catches on one target. Hurst has topped out at three catches for 40 yards in a single game this year. He isn’t on the fantasy radar for Week 9.

Godwin has fallen off the map this year, but forces beyond his control caused this goose egg. The Bucs did not complete a pass and only attempted three in total. With their defense terrorizing Michael Penix, Tampa Bay leaned on their ground game to an absurd degree. Emeka Egbuka is working through a foot injury and didn’t play today. Godwin will return to the WR4/5 border if he’s back for Week 9. Godwin would have some FLEX appeal if the Bucs are without their No. 1 receiver versus the Bears next week.

Bucky Irving gave the Bucs a 16-0 lead entering the fourth quarter and passed the baton to Gainwell, who racked up 18 carries in the final frame. Irving only touched the ball once over the final 15 minutes. Gainwell’s late-game dominance got him up to career-highs in carries and yards. He also managed a season-high 14 attempts under similar circumstances last week. Unfortunately for Gainwell, the Bucs aren’t likely to be playing with a big lead in Week 9 against the Bears. Gainwell will return to the RB3/4 border next week.

The Bucs became the first team in over 50 years to not complete a pass for an entire game. In turn, Irving was able to rack up a career high in rush attempts. He then turned that into a career high in yards by averaging over six yards per carry. He could have posted even better numbers, but the Bucs put him on ice after his third-quarter touchdown. With the exception of one attempt from Irving, Gainwell saw 18 consecutive rush attempts to close the game. Gainwell wound up running for 140 yards on 25 attempts. To the Bucs’ credit, Gainwell was picking up chunk gain after chunk gain and Irving had already earned a massive workload. Irving failed to hit 100 yards on the ground in any of his first three games. He has since reached triple digits three times in his past four outings. Playing some of the best football of his career, Irving is pushing for an RB1 rank headed into Week 9 versus the Bears.

You read that correctly. Mayfield did not complete a pass and the Bucs handily defeated Atlanta. Playing in a torrential downpour, Tampa Bay’s defense eviscerated Michael Penix and the Bucs simply took the air out of the ball for four quarters. Bucky Irving and Kenneth Gainwell combined for 310 yards on 52 carries. There was simply no need for Mayfield to handle the football outside of transferring it from the center to a running back. Mayfield did have a long touchdown to Ted Hurst that was knocked out of the rookie’s hand. This is just the second time a team has completed zero passes in the Super Bowl era and the first such game in over 50 years. Needless to say, Mayfield’s numbers will rebound in Week 9 when he takes on the Bears. He will be in the QB2 mix for that contest.

Diaby went down in the first half and was ruled out before halftime. He was off to a slow start to the season before erupting for three sacks versus the Panthers last week. Diaby has started all eight Bucs games this year and has logged a snap share just under 60 percent.

Right tackle Luke Goedeke is also active. Gainwell will continue mixing in behind Bucky Irving this week. He has yet to hit a dozen fantasy points in a game this year and there’s no reason to expect that to change anytime soon. Gainwell is a low-end RB4 for Week 8. Inactive for the Bucs are DL DeMonte Capehart, WR Emeka Egbuka, CB Ayden Garnes, OT Luke Haggard, and OG Billy Schrauth.

Week 7 was Gainwell’s first game with more than seven touches all year. He handled 14 opportunities, all of which were carries, and they came in a 30-point blowout win over the Panthers. Unless the Bucs stay hot and roll over the Falcons, expect Gainwell’s touch total to return to the single digits. He is barely in the RB4 mix for Week 8.