Late Baker Mayfield Heroics Secures Nail-Biting Triumph Over Texans
A couple of seasons ago, the Bucs endured a tough defeat to the Houston Texans on a final-play score. This past Monday, Baker Mayfield and his squad turned the tables with a dramatic game-winning possession.
Tampa’s signal-caller led an lengthy 80-yard drive that concluded with the running back sprinting into the end zone from two yards out with only mere seconds remaining. The Tampa fought back to defeat the Houston by a score of one point. Monday’s finish stood in clear opposition to the franchises’ most recent meeting in H-Town back in last year, when the Texans’ QB hit his receiver for a last-second touchdown to seal a thirty-nine to thirty-seven victory.
“Anticipated a grueling battle, and it’s nice to end up on the winning end now,” the QB stated.
Mayfield passed for 215 yards and a pair of TDs for the Tampa Bay, who remained to 2-0 on the new season. A key 15-yard run on fourth-and-10 kept the final possession alive.
“That was a tremendous job of critical execution,” Tampa Bay head coach the defensive-minded leader remarked. “Mayfield on the critical fourth down, using his legs to secure the necessary yardage. That ignited the comeback from there.”
For the team’s first game, Mayfield threw a clutch score throw to Egbuka with under a minute left to seal a twenty-three to twenty win over the Falcons. He now stands alongside the franchise legend (in 1980) as the exclusive Bucs QBs to begin a season with two game-winning drives.
The Houston (0-2) seemed to have gained control when they grabbed a five-point lead on a 25-yard touchdown rush by Nick Chubb with just over two minutes to play. The Texans attempted the two-point conversion but Stroud was sacked. Houston’s passer threw for 207 yards and a TD but failed to move the attack effectively for a large part of the second half.
“There were plenty of occasions to secure the matchup and we didn’t make the plays essential to complete,” Houston leader Ryans stated.
Houston had registered the first score of the contest when they grabbed an first-quarter lead on Nico Collins’ 29-yard TD grab. This score was preceded when the QB found with Nick Chubb for a big gain on a screen pass the down prior. The Buccaneers evened the score at 7-7 when the QB delivered a twenty-yard touchdown throw to the receiver on their initial possession.
Egbuka hauled in a fifteen-yard touchdown catch with around midway to go in the initial two quarters to place the visitors up fourteen to ten. Egbuka, a rookie, joined the 6th athlete since the league merger with multiple touchdown receptions in his initial two contests.
The Texans was behind by a touchdown and had not scored in the second half when the punter’s boot was deflected by the special teamer and the return unit recovered the ball on the Buccaneers thirty-five with just under seven minutes to go. The offense failed to advance the ball and opted for the kicker’s long kick that reduced the lead to one point with approximately time remaining left.
Texans end Danielle Hunter forced a fumble and recorded two tackles for loss to give him to 101.5 in his ten-season career.
Tampa are now perfect for the 5th year in straight, the top active string in the National Football League.