ATLANTA – It was a moment that could have been made in Hollywood. KhaDarel Hodge was summoned from the Atlanta Falcons bench in overtime of an absolutely wild game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium and then..
. He blacked out. Hodge took a short pass from Kirk Cousins on a simple stop route, eluded a defender, cut down the middle of the field and raced to the end zone for a 45-yard touchdown that punctuated a 36-30 victory against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
If Hodge didn’t live it, he might not have believed it. After all, as the fourth receiver on an offense loaded with star power, Hodge would be one of the most unlikely heroes. Then again, these are the 2024 Falcons, who have been flowing with this knack for taking games down to the wire .
In winning three of their past four games in such fashion, the Falcons (3-2) have catapulted into first place in the NFC South. NFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more. To survive this time, they needed to overcome an ugly crunch time interception by Cousins, get a 52-yard field goal from Younghoe Koo as time expired in regulation, win the overtime coin toss and then let the backup receiver bring it home.
It seems so fitting that Hodge – a seventh-year pro with his fourth team since entering the league as an undrafted free agent from an HBCU, Prairie View A&M – was the Man of the Hour hoisted upon the shoulders of teammates when it was over. “I can’t make this up,” Hodge said, holding court in a festiv.