ClutchPoints
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are getting away with a lot to start the 2025 season, but that is now a thing of the past especially when they’ve gotten off to a 2-0 start to the new season — a solid follow-up to their 10-7, playoff-bound campaign in 2024. On Monday, they did manage yet another escape act, this time turning the tables on the Houston Texans in the dying seconds of the game, with quarterback Baker Mayfield leading his team to a game-winning drive with six seconds remaining in the game to take a 20-19 victory.
It sure looked as though the game got away from the Buccaneers’ hands after the Texans scored with a little over two minutes remaining in the game to take a 19-14 lead. Alas, the Texans got a bit greedy and went for two, and the Buccaneers made them pay for that decision after following up their sack on CJ Stroud on the two-point conversion attempt with a Mayfield-led game-winning touchdown drive.
In so doing, the Buccaneers made history and completed a bonkers NFL feat that only one other team in history accomplished. As per Greg Harvey of OPTA Stats, the 2025 Buccaneers joined the 1979 Cleveland Browns as the only teams in the history of the league to start the season 2-0 despite finding themselves down in the final minute of both games.
Moreover, ESPN Insights on X (formerly known as Twitter) pointed out that the Buccaneers became one of just three teams in NFL history to start the first two games of the season on the road yet come out on top by three points or fewer, joining the 1979 Browns (again) and the 1988 San Francisco 49ers.
The precedent for the 2025 Buccaneers is a mixed bag; the 1979 Browns didn’t even qualify for the playoffs, but the 1988 49ers ended up winning the Super Bowl.
The Buccaneers have built a reputation over the years for getting the job done however it’s necessary. They’ve remained a playoff team for this reason, getting into the postseason by the skin of their teeth over the past four seasons and remaining in the hunt for a Super Bowl crown, which is just about as good as they can hope for in today’s NFL.
Mayfield deserves plenty of credit for staying the course and not panicking amid adversity. The Buccaneers QB threw two touchdowns on Monday and completed 25 of 38 passes for 215 yards.
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