How is anyone supposed to go to sleep after a thriller like that?
Nothing about it came easy, but the Buccaneers displayed elite resilience for a second straight week as they overcame injuries and horrendous special teams play to skate past the Houston Texans, 20-19, in the final seconds to start 2-0.
Tampa became the first franchise since, ironically, the Houston Texans (2010-14) to start five straight seasons at 2-0. And the victory also marked the Bucs’ first-ever win visiting Houston since they
became the Texans. On top of it all, the Bucs won in primetime for the first time since Christmas night 2022 — they were 0-6 since then prior to Monday.
While they received a glut of gutty performances across the board, here are some guys who stood out above the rest.
Offensive Top Performer: QB Baker Mayfield
How could it be anyone else?
Two games this year, two f0urth-quarter comebacks within 2 minutes remaining. Two wins.
Describe Mayfield anyway you’d like — dude, gamer, maniac, aggressor — but there’s one word he’s personified above all else since arriving in Tampa: winner.
Mayfield dealt with offensive line injuries against an elite pass rush, taking 4 sacks and many more pressures as the makeshift front tried with all its might to endure the losses of Tristan Wirfs and Luke Goedeke. Mayfield himself even appeared to be banged up before the persistent loudmouth Chauncey Gardner-Johnson decided to shoot his gob off and immediately trigger Mayfield’s “You wanna f**king go or what, tough guy?” complex.
The rest was history.
Some critical vintage Mayfield scrambles, including a do-or-die play on 4th and 10 on the final drive, paired with trust in his playmakers like Bucky Irving and Mike Evans (5 catches, 56 yards) hustled the Bucs into position for Rachaad White’s walk-in TD.
Mayfield went 7-of-9 for 63 yards on the final drive along with the 15-yard run. He finished 25-of-38 for 215 passing yards and 2 TDs and no turnovers. Just a completely stupendous performance when the Bucs needed him most.
We also need to recognize both Irving and White.
With a besieged pass-blocking operation, the team needed a good running game, and they both delivered. Irving averaged a healthy 4.2 yards per carry, touting the rock 17 times for 71 yards and contributing 6 catches for 50 yards, with his uncanny tackle-breaking ability making major gains on the final drive. White proved his worth as a top-tier complementary back with 10 carries of his own for 65 yards and the game-winning score.
Defensive Top Performer: S Tykee Smith
Both weeks, the Bucs’ defense allowed opening-drive touchdowns and heart-wrenching late scores, but really tightened up during the in-between. And to be fair to them, they got put in a very unenviable position multiple times by the special teams unit.
One player who looked a lot more comfortable this week was Tykee Smith, who’s making the full-time transition from nickel to safety. After some up-and-down moments against Atlanta, both he and Bowles seemed to have a better idea of how to deploy him, and the results spoke for themselves — a team-leading 6 total tackles (2 for loss), a sack, and a pass defensed as he flew around the field.
Between him and Antoine Winfield Jr., who again looked like his former self and posted 4 tackles, the Bucs did an excellent job capping the Texans’ passing attack. C.J. Stroud completed just 13-of-24 passes for 207 yards and 1 TD that was frankly indefensible.
Zyon McCollum and Jamel Dean did well in coverage, too, as did rookie Jacob Parrish, so through two weeks the secondary is looking MUCH better. Second-rounder Ben Morrison even got sprinkled in a little.
And after Calijah Kancey got hurt, who stepped up on the defense line? Did anyone have Greg Gaines on their bingo card?
The backup nose tackle collected a clean sack and got after Stroud multiple times as he got forced into more snaps than usual. Huge meet-the-moment game for him.
Special Teams Top Performer: Gunner Kaevon Merriweather
I was strongly tempted to just write “no one” here. Let’s not beat around the cattle pen, this unit should’ve cost the team a win.
Chase McLaughlin missed his third kick of the season (two field goals, one extra point) in contests where every point mattered. As good as he’s been the last two years, that is inexcusable and will lead to increased scrutiny if he can’t turn it around fast. After how badly this team struggled with punters in 2024, I doubt Todd Bowles’s patience will be particularly forgiving.
Riley Dixon punted well again, averaging a huge 50.6 yards per kick, but he has a slow setup and the Texans nearly blocked him twice early in the game. Rather than learning from that, Dixon continued his process and ST coordinator Thomas McGaughey failed to note it. Disaster then struck with a block that luckily the defense mitigated with only a field goal allowed. That simply cannot happen.
But the real egregious problem lay with the coverage. Texans returner Jaylen Noel feasted on this unit all night long, as he racked up a whopping 145 return yards, including the 53-yard return that set the Texans up for their late g0-ahead touchdown.
That cannot happen.
We’re giving Merriweather some recognition here because he both tackled the Texans player who recovered the blocked kick as well as Noel on the punt return. Two touchdown-saving plays made an impact. The backup safety should serve as a model for everyone else on the unit, who have a short week to have some serious conversations and conjure some solutions.
