5 winners and 2 losers from Falcons’ 24-21 win over the Buccaneers

The Atlanta Falcons are a win away from the playoffs after beating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 24-21, in Week 15.

It wasn’t an easy victory for Atlanta, who watched the Buccaneers attempt a 54-yard field goal as time expired that would’ve forced overtime. Instead it sailed wide right and pushed the Falcons onto the doorstep of another trip to the postseason.

Here is what stood out the most Monday, both positively and negatively:

Devonta Freeman

Aside from a couple of fumbles, Freeman couldn’t be stopped. He finished the game with 126 yards on 22 carries, including a 32-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter that gave Atlanta a 10-point lead with about eight minutes to play.

The Buccaneers responded with a touchdown, but another dose of Freeman on the next drive left Tampa Bay with just one minute to try to drive the field down 24-21.

Jameis Winston

It wasn’t a winning effort, but the Buccaneers need to see more performances like that from the former No. 1 overall pick. The team will have to decide early next year if it wants to pick up the fifth-year option on Winston’s contract and it almost definitely will.

In his first three seasons, he’s had plenty of great moments and a heaping share of awful ones. Monday was about as well as he’s ever played.

Winston didn’t even throw his third incomplete pass of the game until the fourth quarter and made a few really brilliant throws, including his 42-yard touchdown bomb to Mike Evans.

Winston finished with 27 completions on 35 attempts for 299 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions. His 130.5 passer rating on the night is the second highest mark of his career.

Matt Ryan

It wasn’t a prolific night for the 2016 MVP, but he kept the ball out of danger, passed for 212 yards, and even managed to add 29 rushing yards.

He also gave us one of the funniest moments of the night when he told a receiver to get set with some NSFW language:

Way to be a field general, I suppose.

Jon Gruden

The ESPN color commentator took a break from the booth to be honored at halftime and inducted into the Buccaneers’ Ring of Honor. It meant his family, friends and many players from the 2002 Super Bowl-champion Buccaneers team coached by Gruden were in attendance.

Even current Buccaneers were feeling the spirit, like linebacker Kwon Alexander, who had some Gruden-inspired cleats during pregame warmups.

Uh ... handsome.

The Falcons’ playoff hopes

It wasn’t the smoothest victory, but the Falcons got the job done and that means the team needs just one win in the last two weeks to get into the postseason. Those aren’t easy matchups, though.

First, it’s a road game against the Saints and then it’s the season finale against the Panthers in Atlanta.

Thanks to the win over the Buccaneers, the Falcons don’t need to finish with a sweep.

The whole Buccaneers defense

All things considered, it’s kind of remarkable the Falcons only scored 24 points Monday. The Buccaneers didn’t do much well defensively, although Tampa Bay was without Gerald McCoy, Lavonte David, and Vernon Hargreaves, among others.

Whether it was leaving Julio Jones completely wide open on multiple occasions:

Sending out 10 men and subsequently allowing a touchdown:

Or just struggling to tackle any player wearing white, it wasn’t a pretty night for the hobbled Tampa Bay defense.

The playoff hopes of the Lions, Seahawks, Cowboys

There were a few teams hopeful that the Buccaneers could pull off the upset and open up the race for the second Wild Card berth in the NFC, but the Falcons are close to slamming that door shut.

They eliminated the Green Bay Packers with the win, and Atlanta needs just one more victory in the last two weeks to lock up a spot.