ATLANTA (AP) — Kirk Cousins and the Atlanta Falcons are ruling the NFC South — especially when playing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Cousins threw four touchdown passes with no interceptions while completing a season-best 79.3% of his passes — 23 of 29 — for 276 yards in Sunday's 31-26 win at Tampa Bay.
That came after Cousins passed for a team-record 509 yards with four touchdowns and one interception in a 36-30 overtime home win over the Buccaneers on Oct. 3. Cousins now has eight TD passes with one interception in two statistically satisfying wins over Tampa Bay.
He has six TD passes and six interceptions in his other six games this season. Cousins has thrown more than one scoring pass in only one other game this season — two in a 22-21 win at Philadelphia on Sept. 16.
Cousins even made rare highlights as a runner against the Bucs. He scrambled for 13 yards on one carry before picking up a first down on a fourth-and-1 keeper. The 13-yarder was a shocking development for the 36-year-old quarterback coming off an Achilles tendon injury who hadn't had a run for longer than 1 yard in his first seven games with Atlanta.
“He looked like Patrick Mahomes out there, man,” Falcons coach Raheem Morris said. "It was outstanding.” Mahomes? Cousins wasn't ready for that comparison.
“Let's not get carried away,” he said. The Falcons (5-3) moved into sole possession of first place in the NFC South. Atlanta is 4-0 against division opponents and has the tiebreaker advantage .