The Bucs found a way to snag another win, even after special teams tried their best to give it away. Good teams find a way to win, and with Baker Mayfield leading the charge, you always have a chance!
Despite the 2-0 start, there's always something to rant about. And a rant doesn’t have to be a bad thing—sometimes it can be about good things. So here’s a good one!
Kudos to Offensive Coordinator Josh Grizzard for calling a clean game. Last week, in my article “Bucs Win If/Texans Win If,” I urged him to throw the ball on the first drive. Well, he did just that—throwing on first down, second down, and even third and short. He was aggressive early and caught the Texans off guard with play action passes and screen passes.
He didn’t play for third down, and Baker and the offense rewarded him with a touchdown on that opening drive. On the second touchdown drive, we mixed in more runs, even utilized jet sweeps, but more importantly continued to throw the ball when the Texans weren’t expecting it. By the time Luke Goedeke re-injured his foot, we were scoring a touchdown on a screen pass to Emeka Egbuka, taking a 14-10 lead.
At this point, our defense was starting to find its rhythm after a shaky start. They held firm and kept us in the game as we entered the second half. However, the injuries on our offensive line were becoming apparent, forcing us primarily to rely on the run game. Any pass that wasn’t a screen or quick hitch put Baker in danger, with Texans' defenders bearing down on him.
But as we know, you can’t rely solely on your defense in the NFL; eventually, your opponent will score. Grizzard recognized this and began to attack before the Texans found the end zone. Late in the third quarter, after playing it safe for a while, he took two deep shots to Evans—one for 25 yards down the right sideline and another down the left. While the second pass wasn’t completed, it did its job and opened up running lanes for Rachaad White, who then rattled off consecutive runs up the middle. Unfortunately, kicker Chase McLaughlin missed a short field goal at the end of that drive, because the momentum was starting to swing back our way again.
After a chaotic fourth quarter, largely due to our struggling special teams—including a blocked punt and a long return—we found ourselves down 19-14 with just over 2 minutes left. The offensive line was being pushed around, but with Baker Mayfield and Grizzard, they managed to get us into the end zone and take the lead with just 6 seconds remaining.
Grizzard called a fantastic game, especially given the circumstances. He demonstrated his willingness to open up the run game with early passes while also playing it safe when necessary.
Now, if only we can get a defensive stop on our opponent's first drive and keep our punt team off the field completely, we’ll be in great shape moving forward!
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Big thank you to the Bucs for the picture!
It was the street fight I thought we’d get, and the while the score was only 5 points more than the 20-14 I posted before the game, Houston left some points on the field.
I think we managed the toughest of 2 games well, and Grizz called about as good a game as possible with the live fire Baker & the patchwork line had to endure (that was about as ferocious a front 4 attack as Baker has seen in sometime. Both teams could have capitalized on dropped INT’s… can’t fault Baker, or the o-line who held just enough to get the points we needed against that Texan d-line onslaught. Mike had his hands full with Stingly, and early on, Emeka took some heat off Mike..but it grew tougher as the game went on. That was likely due to Baker being under immense pressure all night. I think I heard Baker had 11 passes behind the line, he was having to get rid of the ball really fast.
Defense played an interesting game, the loss of Kancey’s going to be tough. Rotation iDL, hopefully Elijah Roberts can see some more action there, but wow. They held when needed, but wasn’t expecting Haason Reddick to get stoned, maybe scheme had something to do with some of it, but I’m sure we expected more than what we’ve seen for the last 2 games.
Special teams was bad, hopefully Money McLaughlin sheds kick-off duties and get his accuracy back quickly, but I bet it takes a bit more time.
Baker, Bucky & Rachaad were balling last night. Absolute studs.
Curious as to whether Emeka recovers from that thigh - definitely need more of 1st half EE, rather than last half.
Overall, we survived and got out of Houston with a W.
That last series is going into my archive, wow. 80 yards in a little over 2 minutes, against THAT defense… LOVED watching Baker take their souls from them!
@white-tiger - yeah, it’s funny how we go get Haason; everyone is always talking up Yaya; and a guy like Greg Gaines always finds a way to make plays.
Why do people keep saying Gizz called a good game?
He didn't. He called 3.5 good drives. Bowles actually called a better game than him, and his blitzes were mostly trash...
Also can we fire our special teams coach? Jfc
@white-tiger - yeah, it’s funny how we go get Haason; everyone is always talking up Yaya; and a guy like Greg Gaines always finds a way to make plays.
Yaya is proving to be a good rotational player. Nothing more... Can't generate pressure
I think were blessed that our offense has a lot of guys who can step in and make plays happen when it doesnt go right. Obviously baker is like that. But I think some of our rbs and wrs are just good football players when they get the ball in their hand or have an opportunity to make a play. We have some versatility at o-line that works well too which helps when things go wrong there too. Love the clutch players we have here.
The defense as a whole gave up 19 points. Stroud was sacked three times. Collins caught 3 passes. The defense did something right. Diaby was part of it.@white-tiger - yeah, it’s funny how we go get Haason; everyone is always talking up Yaya; and a guy like Greg Gaines always finds a way to make plays.
Yaya is proving to be a good rotational player. Nothing more... Can't generate pressure
The defense as a whole gave up 19 points. Stroud was sacked three times. Collins caught 3 passes. The defense did something right. Diaby was part of it.@white-tiger - yeah, it’s funny how we go get Haason; everyone is always talking up Yaya; and a guy like Greg Gaines always finds a way to make plays.
Yaya is proving to be a good rotational player. Nothing more... Can't generate pressure
Oh cmon... One of the worst lines and a bottom half offense and he doesn't get one sack? Did he even generate a pressure?
I have to think that our patchwork/out-of-position o-linemen contributed to limiting our playcalling. The d-line was on Baker very fast. That’s why I put it the context that his playcalling was about as good as we could have asked.Why do people keep saying Gizz called a good game?
He didn't. He called 3.5 good drives. Bowles actually called a better game than him, and his blitzes were mostly trash...
Also can we fire our special teams coach? Jfc
They couldn’t maintain that style all game, Grizz - but mostly Baker, Bucky, and White, had them sucking wind in that final drive. I think that also played a role. We scored a couple of TD’s early and then endured the onslaught, which wore their defense down a bit, kept it close, then scored on them on a final drive.
It ain’t Coen’s offense , but we’re missing some guys, and still winning despite playing a couple of good defenses. I’ll give Grizz some latitude until he at least gets Tristan back.
Two weeks in the Bucs are the near the top of every offensive category. The Bucs are also a few missed kicks from being in the top ten for scoring too. Not bad for missing a bunch of starters on offense and a shuffled OL.
Grizzard called a variety of plays to keep the elite Texans edge rushers from feasting on Mayfield with a patchwork OL. That was the difference in the game along with Grizzard integrating Egbuka, Miller and Shepp into the passing game and not asking Evans to do everything. Imagine what this offense will look like with McMillan, Wirfs and Godwin back?
Exciting times ahead.