Baker Mayfield’s clutch play and Jamel Dean’s resurgence highlight top winners from Bucs’ Week 3 win over Jets
There are several winners from Week 3 despite the fact it was an ugly game.
The Week 3 matchup between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New York Jets is easily one of the wildest games of the year, so far.
There were plenty of big moments and big mistakes that led to the insanity over the last few minutes of the game, including Tampa Bay’s third-straight, last-minute comeback that propelled the team to its first 3-0 start since 2005.
So, let’s go ahead and sift through the winners and losers from the Bucs’ Week 3 win over the Jets.
Winners from Week 3’s Bucs-Jets game
QB Baker Mayfield
Picking the quarterback always seems like low-hanging fruit, but there’s an exception with Mayfield. For every win he records (and is a key catalyst in), he gets one step closer to inserting himself into the MVP conversation.
After three weeks of very good play, he’s on the precipice. Honestly, the only thing keeping him out of the current conversation is the fact the Bucs’ first three opponents have a combined record of 1-8. If any of those teams were even considered a playoff contender, he might already be in the convo.
Regardless, Mayfield continues to make clutch plays through the ground and the air and the key part is he’s avoiding the costly turnovers that have followed him over the last couple of years. Yes, he’s had some close calls, but they’ve all fallen in his favor and he’s yet to commit a single turnover this season.
If he plays well and the Bucs beat the Eagles in Week 4 then expect him to vault into the MVP conversation and rightfully so.
CB Jamel Dean
Dean played well over the first two weeks of the season and he really made some noise against the Jets – primarily in the form of a pick-six that pushed the Bucs’ lead to 20-6 right before halftime.
Not only did it put points on the board for the Bucs, it also allowed them to “double up” after halftime since they received the ball first. Chase McLaughlin ended up drilling a 28-yard field goal to extend the Bucs’ lead even more, making Dean’s interception a little sweeter.
This is a huge year for the seventh-year veteran. He took a huge pay cut to stay with the team in 2025. He was slated to be under contract in 2026, but that was removed, as well, leaving him as a free agent after this year. It’s obvious he has to have a huge season or else he won’t be in Tampa Bay.
Well, he’s currently on pace for his best year as a Buc. If he can keep this up, there’s a very good chance he’ll find himself back in pewter and red in 2026 or he’ll land a huge pay day elsewhere.
K Chase McLaughlin
Things were pretty rocky for McLaughlin coming into this game after missing three of his eight kick attempts over Weeks 1 and 2. He got back on track, though, drilling two 54+ yard attempts and a 28-yarder before his fourth attempt of the game was blocked by Will McDonald IV and returned for a touchdown.
That wasn’t on him, though, it was the protection that failed him (and we’ll talk about that in a second). Regardless, McLaughlin immediately responded with the 36-yard game-winner as time expired.
The Bucs are going to need him as they continue to navigate these injuries. They can ill-afford him to miss kicks like he did in the first two games and they’ll really need him to be on point against the Philadelphia Eagles, so his performance against the Jets is certainly a breath of fresh air.
WR Emeka Egbuka
The rookie sensation just keeps on winning and he made several clutch plays to help the Bucs win on Sunday – and he should’ve had an even better game if he didn’t have an obvious catch taken away from him in the fourth quarter.
He didn’t score a touchdown for the first time in his NFL career, but he managed to finish with a career-high six receptions and 85-yards. The Bucs needed every single one of those receptions and the most impressive part about Egbuka’s performance is he did all this while dealing with hip and groin injuries.
Egbuka just keeps making plays and continues to look like one of the best picks of the 2025 draft. The Bucs may need to rely on him even more after Mike Evans injured his hamstring yet again and could be out for some time.
The Bucs pass rush
The Bucs pass rush really came to life on Sunday. Tyrod Taylor was pressured on 57.4% of his dropbacks, which is insane. That’s currently the second-highest pressure rate for Week 3 ahead of Monday night’s kickoff between the Detroit Lions and Baltimore Ravens.
The Bucs defense sacked him four times and hit him 10 times in all. It came from all different directions, too, as Yaya Diaby, Jacob Parrish, Antoine Winfield Jr., and Lavonte David all joined in on the fun while Todd Bowles threw blitz after blitz at Taylor: The Bucs blitzed him on 40.4% of dropbacks, which is currently third-most in Week 3.
We could’ve given all of those guys individual winner status, but it’s more efficient to lump it all into the Bucs pass rush and give each guy a specific credit. This is the ultimate team game, after all, right?
S Tykee Smith
Smith had yet another strong game, recording seven combined tackles (four solo) and a pass break-up on Sunday. He is tied with Zyon McCollum for the team lead in tackles with 24, he’s tied for second in sacks with 1.0, and his eight stops are third-most, per Next Gen Stats. For context, a stop is considered a tackle that results in a win for the defense/negative EPA for the offense.
The decision to move Smith to safety has been very successful, so far. He’s quickly become one of the best players on the Buccaneers defense thanks to his instincts, physicality, and aggression when it comes to attacking the football. With Antoine Winfield Jr. beside him, the Bucs could have the NFL’s best safety duo by the end of the year.
Honorable mentions: DL Elijah Roberts, WR Sterling Shepard
