In the first of two Week 2 "Monday Night Football" games, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers pulled off a dramatic, come-from-behind victory to defeat the Houston Texans by a final score of 20-19, improving their record to 2-0 and dropping the Texans to 0-2.
Trailing 19-14 with just over two minutes remaining, Baker Mayfield led an 11-play, 80-yard touchdown drive to secure the comeback victory. He went 7 of 9 for 63 yards on the way down the field, but his biggest play was undoubtedly a 15-yard scramble to convert a fourth-and-10 opportunity from the Bucs' own 32-yard line. The drive didn't end with Mayfield putting the ball in the end zone himself, however, as Rachaad White ran it in from 2 yards out with just six seconds remaining, but he was the one who engineered the offense down the field for the win.
Prior to that, the game was alternately exciting and mind-numbing, with the offenses starting fast but quickly going into a funk that lasted for multiple quarters.
Things got off to a hot start as the Texans opened the game with a quick, efficient drive that ended with a touchdown pass from C.J. Stroud to Nico Collins, which was the team's first touchdown of the year after they managed just three field goals in their season-opening loss to the Rams. They wouldn't lead for long, though, as Tampa answered right back with a touchdown drive of its own, ending with Mayfield finding Ryan Miller over the top of the defense for a score.
Houston moved the ball well on its next drive, but ultimately stalled out in the red zone and had to settle for a field goal. The Bucs came right back with yet another touchdown drive, culminating with Emeka Egbuka finding the end zone on a screen pass from 15 yards out to give Tampa a lead for the first time.
After those first four drives of the evening each ended with scores, the teams traded punts on EIGHT consecutive possessions. (Not including a kneel-down to end the first half.) Neither offense could get anything going as each team's line looked overwhelmed and unable to block things up along the front.
But then things started to get interesting.
The Bucs put together one of their best drives of the game toward the end of the third quarter, but they stalled out just outside the red zone. That's when Chase McLaughlin clanged a field goal off the left upright, seemingly giving the Texans new life.
Houston took advantage of that mistake and drove the ball down to the goal line ... but then failed on three consecutive plays from the 1-yard line as Nick Chubb got stuffed and then Stroud misfired on back-to-back passes to Collins, keeping the Bucs in the lead.
Tampa actually did a nice job to move the ball off its own goal line on the ensuing possession, but disaster struck on special teams once again as Riley Dixon's punt was blocked by Jakob Johnson. The Texans, naturally, didn't do much with the opportunity, not gaining any yards on a drive that started inside the Tampa 40-yard line. Ka'imi Fairbairn bailed out the drive with a field goal, though, and that cut the Tampa Bay lead down to just one point.
After the Bucs quickly stalled once again on their following drive, Dixon managed to get a punt off cleanly ... but Texans rookie Jaylin Noel returned it 53 yards (a return that was upheld after the officials picked up a flag on the play) to the Tampa 26-yard line. It took the Texans just two plays to find the end zone from there, with Chubb running off right tackle and into the end zone to give Houston its first lead since midway through the second quarter.
Alas, all that was just prelude to Mayfield's heroics down the stretch. The Bucs, who looked like they were going to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, instead did the opposite and captured their second consecutive one-score win to open the year.
Mayfield magic and a few timely stops.
Baker only averaged 5.7 yards per attempt, but as mentioned, he made his passes count. He led that aforementioned 11-play touchdown drive to end the game. He threw touchdown passes on each of the first two drives. And he had three absolutely massive scrambles, all of which picked up first downs. He converted a third-and-1, a third-and-15 and a third-and-10 with his legs. That's huge.
Tampa's defense buckled down at opportune times. On Houston's second drive of the game, the Bucs clamped down in the red zone and forced a field goal. For a game that was so low-scoring and that ended up being decided by one point, that mattered a lot. After the Bucs missed a field goal, the defense bailed out the special teams unit with a goal line stand where the Texans had three opportunities to score from the 1-yard line. And after the blocked punt, the Bucs didn't give up a single yard, holding the Texans to yet another field goal.
Missed opportunities.
As mentioned, Houston had chances to score multiple times in advantageous situations and couldn't manage to pull it off. Three chances to score from the 1-yard line. A blocked punt that set the Texans up in opponent territory. You can't turn those two opportunities into just three total points.
But the Texans also couldn't take advantage of other situations. They went just 2 of 9 on third downs in the game. They were 0 of 1 on fourth downs. They didn't turn either of their red-zone trips into touchdowns. They had several chances to sack Mayfield on top of the four sacks they actually collected, but he repeatedly escaped -- most notably on the fourth-and-10 scramble that extended the game-winning drive.
The entire last drive consisted of opportunities to end the game, but the Texans just kept giving up yardage. They also had an opportunity to manage the clock toward the end of the game and save some time for a potential game-tying (if the Bucs scored and converted on a two-point try) or game-winning drive, but they elected to let the clock run and keep the timeouts in their pocket. They ended up not having an opportunity for a final drive at all.
Facing fourth-and-10 from their own 32-yard line with just over a minute remaining in the game, the Buccaneers elected to go for it despite having all three timeouts left in their quiver. That decision payed off in a big way, as Mayfield escaped from pressure and took off through the left side of the line, scampering for 15 yards and a first down.
That play proved to be the crucial one to extend the drive and set up the Rachaad White game-winning score.
Let's go with three different plays here. First, we have the two special teams highlights from the Texans, which for a moment looked like the difference-makers.
Jakob Johnson broke through the line and blocked Riley Dixon's punt, setting up a Ka'imi Fairbairn field goal:
Rookie wideout Jaylin Noel, who had several big kickoff returns as well, took a punt back 53 yards deep into Tampa territory.
But we have to include a highlight from the Bucs, don't we? And for that, let's go with Mayfield's best throw of the night:
With Mike Evans working against star cornerback Derek Stingley Jr., Mayfield threw the ball to the exact, only spot where his man could catch it. And Evans did an unbelievably good job of showing late hands, waiting until the last possible moment to stick his arms out and grab the ball so that Stingley, who had his back turned, wouldn't be able to deflect the ball on its way to its intended target. Just a great all-around play from both guys.
The Bucs are 2-0 and maintained their early hold of first place in the NFC South. They host the Jets next Sunday before embarking on an extremely tough stretch of the schedule with games against the Eagles, Seahawks, 49ers and Lions from Weeks 4-7.
The Texans are 0-2 but have a chance to get back into things with back-to-back division games over the next couple weeks (at Jaguars and vs. Titans). However, they then travel to Baltimore and Seattle the following two weeks. Things could get quite interesting for the Texans if they don't sweep these next two contests.
Rachaad White runs it in for the potential game-winning score with six seconds remaining. That's an 11-play, 80-yard touchdown drive to likely win the game in dramatic fashion. What a drive from Baker and Co.
Oh man... Baker almost just had his best connection of the night, rolling out to his right and away from pressure to fire a strike to Egbuka, but the rookie couldn't come down with the ball.
Houston is back in the lead for the first time since midway through the second quarter. After being stuffed all night long, Nick Chubb finally broke through the line of scrimmage and found a lane to the outside, scooting into the end zone for a touchdown to get Houston back on top after the huge punt return by rookie Jaylin Noel.
The Houston defense has started to pick up the pass rush. The Texans have four sacks on Mayfield now after this latest third-down sack by Will Anderson Jr. Texans now have a chance to drive for the game-winning score.
Houston went absolutely nowhere on the drive following the blocked punt. Gross. Ka'imi Fairbairn bailed out the drive with a 53-yard field goal to make it a 1-point game: 14-13 Buccaneers.
The Texans are set up with fantastic field position again after Dare Ogunbowale and Jakob Johnson broke through to block the punt by Riley Dixon. Houston now has another chance to take the lead.
White did a great job to dive on a fumble from a scrambling Mayfield and help avoid a turnover but he remained down after taking a helmet to the ribs. We'll see what the injury looks like when they come back from a commercial break.
Baker just pulled a Houdini act, scrambling away from pressure on third-and-long. He broke through the line of scrimmage and then avoided another tackle to pick up 17 yards and a first down. Huge play to extend the drive. Meanwhile, the Texans just keep taking penalties to give the Bucs more and more first downs.
Houston had three tries to get the ball in from the 1-yard line and came up empty. After a first-down slant to Nico Collins got the Texans to the goal line, Nick Chubb was stuffed on an off-tackle run and then Stroud missed on back-to-back passes to opposite corners of the end zone. Brutal sequence for Houston, which failed to capitalize on the missed field goal from McLaughlin.
We had a scoreless third period, so the Bucs will still hold a 14-10 lead as we head into the fourth. The Texans are moving the ball around midfield and trying to retake the lead for the first time since midway through the second quarter.
Tampa quickly moved the ball downfield with several good runs by Rachaad White and got to just outside the red zone, but things stalled out from there and ended in disaster. Baker sailed a couple balls over the top of his receivers' heads into tight coverage (with the second of those throws coming under pressure), and then Chase McLaughlin doinked a 38-yard field goal try to keep this a 14-10 game. Houston's defense stepped up and then caught a break.
This is what you call "late hands" from Mike Evans. He was manned up by Derek Stingley and Evans waited until the last possible second to put his hands up to catch the ball, which prevented Stingley from putting his own hands up to try to break up the pass. Perfect throw from Baker made it all possible.
The Texans' offensive line is getting destroyed on third down. Another sack of C.J. Stroud ends another drive.
After four straight scores to open the game, there have now been seven consecutive drives that ended with a punt. Neither of these offenses is getting much going right now because both offensive lines are having a tough time.
Bucs safety Tykee Smith just absolutely trucked Dare Ogunbowale on the slot blitz. My god. He single-handedly ended the Texans' drive and forced a punt.
The Bucs got a quick first down on their opening drive of the second half, but the defensive front of the Texans quickly put an end to the possession with a tackle for loss on Bucky Irving and then a sack of Baker Mayfield. Bucs punt it away and Houston has a chance to retake the lead.
Calijah Kancey has been downgraded to out with his pectoral injury, which didn't look great. Bucs are shorthanded up front on both sides of the ball now.
Tampa holds a 14-10 lead at the break and gets the ball coming out of halftime. The Texans got off to a fast start and 7-0 lead but the Bucs scored touchdowns on each of their first two possessions surrounding a Houston field goal before the teams traded several punts to end the half. Let's see what these teams have in store for us after the break.
Tampa got a freebie with an illegal hands to the face penalty on one sack of Baker Mayfield, but then quickly gave up another that set up a third-and-long give-up screen. We had punts on back-to-back possessions after each of the first four drives of the game ended in scores.
Here's the sack, which was the 100th of Danielle Hunter's career.
The Bucs DT has a pectoral injury and is questionable to return. He went out during the last drive.
The Texans got up near midfield but quickly stalled out after a pair of incomplete passes by Stroud. On the first one, he scrambled away from pressure and had a potential big play to Harrison Bryant, but Bryant tripped. On the second, there appeared to be a miscommunication between Stroud and Dalton Schultz. Texans had to punt after that.
Tampa is now 4-4 on third downs after the latest conversion by Emeka Egbuka, who took a screen pass 15 yards to the end zone to give the Bucs their first lead of the game. Egbuka already has 3 grabs for 22 yards and a touchdown after going 4-67-2 last week against the Falcons. Tampa had the best screen game in the NFL last season and has already thrown several more screens tonight. (Charlie Heck, the lead blocker, got away with a tripping penalty on the play.)
Goedeke has been ruled out with a foot injury.
Luke Goedeke came into this game questionable with an ankle injury but suited up for the Bucs. He just went to the sideline and trainers seemed to be looking at his ankle. Backups at both tackle spots and center now because starting center Graham Barton has kicked out to left tackle in place of Tristan Wirfs. That could be huge against this Houston pass rush.
A holding call on Tytus Howard stalled what could have been another touchdown drive for the Texans. That turned first-and-goal at the 6-yard line into second-and-12 at the 20, and the Texans had to settle for a field goal after Stroud's pass intended for Justin Watson sailed high out of bounds. It's 10-7 Houston late in the first quarter.
Woody Marks didn't play much in his NFL debut last week, but he's the No. 2 back tonight with Dameon Pierce inactive. He's already making his presence known with a nice carry and now a big 37-yard catch-and-run. He was a prolific pass-catcher at USC.
Tampa overcame an offensive pass interference call on Evans and responded to the Houston touchdown drive with a score of its own. It's not Evans or Emeka Egbuka or Bucky Irving or even Cade Otton, but Ryan Miller who finds himself in the end zone. His first catch of the year ties the game at 7-7.
Derek Stingley Jr. is probably going to shadow Mike Evans wherever he goes. That's a matchup of two of the best in the league. Evans got the better of Stingley on an early third down here, converting it for a new series for the Bucs. That'll be a fun battle to watch all night.
What a drive for the Texans (6 plays, 64 yards, 3:07) and what a catch by Collins up the right sideline. Great hands and very fancy footwork to get both of his feet down in the end zone. First touchdown of the season for the Texans, who had just nine points last week.
