Baker Mayfield points out how Bucs flipped the script and overcame a past problem to beat the Falcons
New year, new team, right?For the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the latter is mostly untrue when considering the vast majority of starters returned on both sides of the ball. The former, however, totally is. The bad taste from 2024’s tough playoff loss to the Washington Commanders is flushed out of the Bucs’ mouths and has been […]
New year, new team, right?
For the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the latter is mostly untrue when considering the vast majority of starters returned on both sides of the ball. The former, however, totally is. The bad taste from 2024’s tough playoff loss to the Washington Commanders is flushed out of the Bucs’ mouths and has been replaced with a winning taste after Baker Mayfield and Co. won a tough game against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 1.
The word “tough” honestly might be an understatement. This game was an absolute dogfight from the start when Bijan Robinson ripped the Bucs defense apart on a 51-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown on the third play of the game.
Tampa Bay eventually fought back and got in front, but never led by more than a touchdown at any point, and even found itself back on the losing side of things after Michael Penix Jr. scored on a four-yard rushing touchdown to put the Falcons back on top about midway through the fourth quarter.
Said run put the Bucs in a three-point hole with just 2:17 and one timeout left in the game. On a day where Mayfield and the offense were inconsistent, largely due to a fast-flying Falcons defense, three points weren’t guaranteed. Especially with Chase McLaughlin already missing a makable field goal.
The Bucs didn’t even need to use their timeout. Thanks to a big kickoff return by Sean Tucker (and the help of a roughing the passer call), it took Mayfield and Co. just six plays to get into the end zone and regain the lead.
Bucs and Mayfield finally get over the hump in a one-score game, setting new tone for season
Mayfield immediately pointed out the reality of the win after the game and how it paled in comparison to what the team did in these kinds of moments last year.
“Some of these close ball games last year, we weren’t on the right side of it,” he told reporters after the game. “So it’s good to see that we can find a way to win.”
Mayfield’s right. The Bucs went 3-6 in one-score games last year, and two of the three wins came against non-playoff teams in the Carolina Panthers and New Orleans Saints — the third came against the Detroit Lions in Week 2. It’s exactly why Todd Bowles was so adamant about his team instilling a “killer instinct” over the offseason.
And right off the bat, that looks to have happened. The Falcons scratched and clawed their way through the entire game and never backed down. They kept dealing blow after blow, but the Bucs kept getting back up and responding. When talking about doing that during a divisional matchup, on the road and with a lot of big injuries — it’s a hell of a statement win even if it’s just Week 1.
“Guys that’s a hell of a job, but keep fighting now. I know it’s only the first game and I’m not usually like this, but [expletive] YEEAAAAA,” a fired-up Bowles told the Bucs in the locker room after the game. “We got a long way to go [and] we understand that, but if we fight like that we’ll win most of our ball games.”
Bowles is absolutely right. Again, this is a Bucs team without two of its best players in Chris Godwin Jr. and Tristan Wirfs. Vita Vea was playing with a hurt foot. Mayfield played behind a shuffled offensive line that still found a way to get the job done without its All-Pro left tackle. Mistakes were made and big plays were given up, yet Tampa Bay found a way to win on the road in a hostile environment.
Sure, Younghoe Koo’s failure to tie the game in the waning seconds with a 44-yard field goal attempt looms large in the equation, but that gets mitigated a bit when realizing it was Antoine Winfield Jr. breaking up what likely would’ve been a game-winning touchdown to Casey Washington that put Koo in position to miss the kick.
At worst, it would’ve been a touchdown, or it would’ve ensured Koo’s attempt went through the uprights, as it basically would’ve been the equivalent of an old-school PAT attempt.
The Bucs found a way to make enough plays in all three phases of the game. That’s how you win big in the NFL, and to find that formula in Week 1, as opposed to Week 10 or whenever, can easily mean huge things for the rest of the 2025 season.
“That’s complementary football and that’s really what you have to do on the road – is when the defense makes a great play, [a] great stop on a series, you got to go down and get some points on the board for them. [I] think we left a lot of things out there. But you know, a win’s a win,” Mayfield told reporters.
The Bucs have to turn around and hit the road again, except this time they’ll head West to Houston to take on the Texans on Monday Night Football in Week 2. It’s another opportunity to end a slump for the Bucs, as they lost all five primetime games last year. It’s also a great test to see if Week 1 is a sign of things to come or was more just luck when it’s all said and done.
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Antoine Winfield Jr. is the reason the Bucs beat the Falcons in Week 1 yet not many people are talking about it
The game of football is a collective effort, right? The final outcome of a game typically doesn’t come down to one play – it’s an accumulation of plays in certain moments that define the outcome. To try and pin a win or loss on one instance isn’t a good process, for the most part. This […]
