On Sunday afternoon, the Atlanta Falcons hit the road to take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in an NFC South matchup. The field was swamped by rain in Tampa Bay for this one, causing both teams to lean heavily on the run early on amid the downpour.

It was the worst half of Falcons quarterback Michael Penix Jr.'s career, as he threw three interceptions in the half, and also overthrew tight end Kyle Pitts on what would have been a potential touchdown at one point.

Penix ended up with just two completions and a rating of 0.0 in the ugly half.

Meanwhile, Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield attempted just two passes in the first half of this one, completing neither of them and thereby ending up with zero yards, a far cry from the hype he had been building for his matchup against former Cleveland Browns coach Kevin Stefanski in a self-engineered revenge game of sorts.

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Still, the Buccaneers were able to go up 9-0 at the half thanks to three field goals, and were very nearly able to put the ball in the end zone. However, Falcons safety Jessie Bates punched the ball out of Bucky Irving's hands before he reached the goal line, saving the Falcons from going down by an even larger deficit into the locker room.

Making matters even more frustrating for Atlanta was the fact that the team had a golden opportunity to slide into first place in the NFC South on Sunday, but Penix certainly didn't bring his A-game to begin this one.