Buccaneers 29, Jets 27
September 21st, 2025
No offensive line? No problem.
Another Baker Mayfield comeback was in the script.
The Bucs showed they’re a well-rounded team today in moving to 3-0 for the first time since 2005.
Joe can’t remember the last time any team jumped out to a 20-6 halftime lead while committing 10 penalites in the opening 30 minutes. But that was our beloved Bucs today — and that’s the bumbling Jets.
Joe is not picking on the O-line. Expectations were low. The Bucs had two first-time starters out there in practice squad callup Luke Haggard at right guard. He’s been with the team a couple of years, and second-year man Elijah Klein was at right guard. The line play was very shaky but it improved as the game wore on and the Bucs survived the losses of Cody Mauch (for the season) and Michael Jordan (knee). With Tristan Wirfs expected back next Sunday, things should improve dramatically.
What a stunning one-hand grab by rookie Emeka Egbuka. And it was against tight coverage by two-time All-Pro cornerback Sauce Gardner. Egbuka had a drop but continues to impress. He led the Bucs in receiving with 6 catches for 85 yards.
Stellar sign that kicker Chase McLaughlin bounced back huge from the horror show of his first two games, and Joe had to applaud Baker Mayfield for staying poised while continuing his dangerous scrambling game.
It looked like defense would rule the day with four sacks — four! — a Jamel Dean pick and a smothering blitz game, as well as the usual solid play against the run. But the Bucs played way too much prevent defense and it nearly cost them.
Joe can’t stomach thinking about the Mike Evans hamstring injury. And nitpicking is for another day.
Today is about being undefeated. Bring on the Eagles!
September 21st, 2025 at 4:22 pm
NFL and Refs missed that EE catch and dang near cost us. Gotta get healthy
September 21st, 2025 at 4:22 pm
Nail biter but glad for the win
September 21st, 2025 at 4:22 pm
Three heart attacks in.
September 21st, 2025 at 4:22 pm
Baker is a dude’s dude. Egbuka sparks joy. Lavonte Winfield, Yaya, damn right!
September 21st, 2025 at 4:22 pm
Up two scores and have to kick a field goal to win
Great Bowles defense Once again!
September 21st, 2025 at 4:23 pm
Nothing to celebrate here.
A horrible head coach preparing a team as only horrible head coach can.
September 21st, 2025 at 4:23 pm
Wuz that close enough??
September 21st, 2025 at 4:23 pm
EE caught that ball . Where in the hell was the booth review. Refs are morons and both review sucks
September 21st, 2025 at 4:23 pm
At least we are ahead in the Division by 2 games
September 21st, 2025 at 4:23 pm
Baker now has THREE 4th quarter comebacks … in 3 games. Wow!
September 21st, 2025 at 4:23 pm
27 days off my life with that game.why must we earn every piece of a win????
Go Bucs!
September 21st, 2025 at 4:23 pm
GAME.
Chase is back, so that’s good. Playcalling in the 2nd half was legit AWFUL. The only reason this game was close was the ridiculous refball, but some blame also has to go to the playcalling on both offense and defense.
Ugly wins still count the same, gotta rest up and have some pieces back if we want to beat the Eagles.
September 21st, 2025 at 4:24 pm
Go Bowles!
What a …
September 21st, 2025 at 4:24 pm
SAFE IS DEATH. Someone introduce Todd Bowles to John Tortarella
September 21st, 2025 at 4:24 pm
Bowles practically gave this game away. I think he did it on purpose because of his relationship with their head coach.
Dear Chase haters…in your face!
September 21st, 2025 at 4:24 pm
Whew! So glad we won.
September 21st, 2025 at 4:24 pm
E2 is by far our number 1…
ME isn’t going to get 1000 this year..
September 21st, 2025 at 4:24 pm
Love to hear Bowles talk “killer instinct” coming out of the half and shift into a prevent defense the whole 4th quarter.
September 21st, 2025 at 4:25 pm
I’ll take a last minute win every week all the way through the Super Bowl.
September 21st, 2025 at 4:25 pm
Todd Bowles gets an F.
As usual, as usual this clown tries to sit on a lead the entire 2nd half. Thank Baker -that guy won it for them.
September 21st, 2025 at 4:25 pm
Great win! Go Bucs!
September 21st, 2025 at 4:25 pm
I’m aging rapidly because of this
September 21st, 2025 at 4:26 pm
Injuries are a huge reason we’re aren’t finishing on offense…this team is looking like the Chiefs of the last 2-3 years. Winning close games despite self-I lifted problems.
LFG…we’ll get healthier and better as the year wears on
September 21st, 2025 at 4:26 pm
I’ve hated the “prevent defense” since the Ray Perkins and Sam Wyche days!
September 21st, 2025 at 4:26 pm
3-0
We need to burn those uniforms. All those flags with mediocre oline did bring you back to 1976. SMH
September 21st, 2025 at 4:26 pm
Anyone criticizing Grizzard needs to get a grip, though. When 3 out of 5 o linemen are absolute scrubs, it kind of limits what you can do.
September 21st, 2025 at 4:27 pm
Just like they drew it up!
September 21st, 2025 at 4:27 pm
Seems like the Bucs have some kind of a under the table deal with antacid companies. This game is particularly insane.
Glad that Chase is back in form, but special teams still need some desperate work.
September 21st, 2025 at 4:27 pm
CMc is back on track…that’s good since we’ll need the points as the O heals up and gels
September 21st, 2025 at 4:27 pm
Helluva coaching job by Bowles. Missing 4/5th of your offense line, Kancey gone, Godwin out, team still finds a way to win. Refs definitely one sided today, Egbuka made that catch. Good win
September 21st, 2025 at 4:27 pm
Horrible officiating
September 21st, 2025 at 4:28 pm
I’ve known guys in other countries who worked for professional off-shore gambling companies. NFL has been a cash cow for years. This first half sure proved it. Thank gawd, Bucs managed to win.
September 21st, 2025 at 4:29 pm
Tex looked good beating everyone deep
September 21st, 2025 at 4:29 pm
Bad bad bad
September 21st, 2025 at 4:29 pm
BuccoDav Says:
September 21st, 2025 at 4:26 pm
I’ve hated the “prevent defense” since the Ray Perkins and Sam Wyche days!
———-
I’m normally on Bowles about that soft zone crap, but need to be fair when he’s not doing that. And on the 1st TD drive, they did play that soft zone crap until they got near the goal line when they went back to being agressive.
Really, outside of those few plays, they mostly stayed aggressive. The defense was just flat out spent in the 4th quarter.
September 21st, 2025 at 4:29 pm
That definitely was a catch by EE.
Hell of a win.
People in the stands got their monies worth.
September 21st, 2025 at 4:29 pm
🎶 Times they are a changing 🎶
September 21st, 2025 at 4:30 pm
Yeah, enough with the stupid prevent-the-win defense.
September 21st, 2025 at 4:30 pm
Baker Mayfield willing the team to win again. Carrying the team on his shoulders every single 4th quarter this year.
September 21st, 2025 at 4:31 pm
I don’t care if we won by 1 or 40 – I’ll gladly take the win. Those who thought this was going to be easy clearly don’t understand football, and what the Bucs are playing at offensive line right now. Basically the offense is neutered – THEN you lose Evans on top of it. Give me a break with those who aren’t happy getting a W.
September 21st, 2025 at 4:31 pm
Woke from a nap that snuck up on me and the Jets are leading by one. Too close. But 3-0!!
September 21st, 2025 at 4:31 pm
3-0 is the only stat that matters.
September 21st, 2025 at 4:32 pm
You can’t convince me that we a TD by them and you can’t convince me EE didn’t catch that!! Just tried to screw us for a nfl narrative. Go slap to hell NFL!
September 21st, 2025 at 4:33 pm
These Bucs
September 21st, 2025 at 4:33 pm
Eff the Chase haters.
September 21st, 2025 at 4:33 pm
Was*
September 21st, 2025 at 4:33 pm
Bowles played it safe and let the lowly Jets back in the game and it almost cost them. Baker came through again. 3-0 baby
September 21st, 2025 at 4:35 pm
Bucs got some bad calls! Very clearly bad calls–needs to be reported by coach. Ridiculous, what good is replay if they just ignore it.
September 21st, 2025 at 4:36 pm
With Munch on this. There are little things to complain about here and there but to think that with that make shift offense line that we can compete. Just wonderful.
The coaches and staff deserve all kinds of credit for creating a culture that even when things are going that poorly, you think you still can win. Wow.
September 21st, 2025 at 4:37 pm
Los Locos
September 21st, 2025 at 4:37 pm
Upheld a dropped touchdown and refused to review EE’s catch.
September 21st, 2025 at 4:39 pm
We all have our bitches and complaints, but the end result is what matters. A win is a win. I just hope we don’t lose ME13 for too long. He knew exactly what happened, you could see it on his face as he walked to the locker room.
September 21st, 2025 at 4:42 pm
Remarkable, I wouldn’t say David had his best day, yet he had 11 tackles and a sack. The Bucs defense had 4 sacks and an INT for a TD. They really didn’t play soft today, except for one series, they just got worn out I think from the heat. Although the Bucs actually won the time of position, which seems amazing as it didn’t feel like it.
September 21st, 2025 at 4:43 pm
Great team effort and WIN! The NFL is rigged, all about greed and entertainment. They needed an undefeated matchup for week 4. Get your bets ready!
September 21st, 2025 at 4:43 pm
Being a Bucs fan is not for the weak
September 21st, 2025 at 4:44 pm
If the defense doesn’t crawl into the fetal position in the second half, we win that easily.
That and Vegas officiating.
September 21st, 2025 at 4:45 pm
geno711 – Agreed, I’m just happy they got the W here, I thought for sure this was going to be an L going into the week, people seemed way overconfident like it didn’t matter who we had blocking.
But man, next week, I just hope Wirfs and Godwin is back, because I don’t know how they compete otherwise. If Bowles can get a W vs the Eagles with this injury riddled team, it’s going to be his best win as HC, ever. But I’m not expecting it – but hopefully, because I’d love to taunt Eagles fans for years if this beat up team missing half its starters are able to take them out.
Maybe we can get a hurricane or something to delay the game until the end of the year.
September 21st, 2025 at 4:46 pm
No rod,when you are u by that much in the 4th the people that thought it would be easy are right it definitely should have been. 🤷 Bucs win but my heart took an L.
September 21st, 2025 at 4:46 pm
You dont take a delay of game on a kick. This special teams unit is a freaking problem. Todd bowles is just awful how do you give up a 21 point lead. Its bc youre freaking complacent. No killer instinct. We still haven’t learned our lesson yet on this crap after how many years.
The refs have to be investigated. I mean this is absolutely ridiculous. No review and keeping that td on top of the fifteen thousand penalties on us.
We cannot continue doing things like this. Evans hurt again. Typical.
September 21st, 2025 at 4:48 pm
2 things……
1) Why did Bowles decide to stop blitzing in the 4th quarter?? Tyrod was getting smoked by the blitz creativeness then Bowles just turned it off??
Moral of the story……DONT GO AWAY FROM WHAT IS WORKING!!!!!!
2) The refs totally screwed Ebuka on that catch at the end of the game. Bowles was smart with the timeout to give replay booth the time and they STILL got it wrong….
As usual, crappy-ass officiating almost cost us…
Let’s clean some things up and hopefully Godwin & Wirfs can play against Iggles next week…Go Bucs!!
September 21st, 2025 at 4:49 pm
The Ebula bobble, then had control, left foot is in then left shin lands out of bounds while right toe drags and then slides out of bounds. Was it because his shin hit out of bounds right before that right toe tapped in bounds that they didn’t review? Usually when a player gets both toes in the leg doesn’t hit the ground in between the toe touching.
September 21st, 2025 at 4:53 pm
Everyone complains about Bowles, but he gets this team playing together as a unit. Everybody picks each other up. That is Huge!!!
September 21st, 2025 at 4:54 pm
Buc “fans” on this site are pathetic.
Anything that’s good is in spite of Bowles.
And anything bad is all Bowles’ fault.
These people must be miserable to live with.
September 21st, 2025 at 4:56 pm
KING C…. CORRECT!!!
September 21st, 2025 at 5:00 pm
King C correct
This ain’t the same ole Buccaneers from the lost decade
We have won 3 games in a row that the ole way of thinking we used to lose
BUCS are getting better
GO BUCS !
September 21st, 2025 at 5:05 pm
Let’s go
3&0
GO BUCS
September 21st, 2025 at 5:13 pm
As I always say, the prevent defense prevents a win, most of the time.
September 21st, 2025 at 5:14 pm
Agreed @King C
I’m usually mad critical of Bowles but with the broken OLine, all these wins have been unreal. Remember one score games in the 4th last year, it felt like we never won those. That’s changed.
None has been pretty but this feels different being able to pull out these late wins.
Only complaint is special teams, something has to give there. Regardless of how good the block was we can’t continue to leave that many special teams points o the board.
September 21st, 2025 at 5:14 pm
Let’s go RED SOX! Beat the RAYS!!!
September 21st, 2025 at 5:16 pm
I also want to be 3-0 too!
September 21st, 2025 at 5:16 pm
Has the ST coach been fired yet? There is no aspect of special teams play that is credible. That Chase block was a vivid example of just how bad it is. On another note, hoping to see Jordan and the new guy, Feeney in at the guard positions next week.
September 21st, 2025 at 5:17 pm
35 – 3. New Orleans is going 0-3 today. Their defense looks worse than ours.
September 21st, 2025 at 5:32 pm
A lot of those calls for offensive holding on the BUCS were Tiki-Tak calls, yet I saw many holds against Vita while being held double-teamed all day!!!!
September 21st, 2025 at 5:39 pm
11 seasons and Mike Evans still has not found the leg curl machine at the Buccaneers gym.
September 21st, 2025 at 5:56 pm
BUCS…the Cardiac Kids….find a way, just WIN Baby!!!!
September 21st, 2025 at 6:01 pm
We would be 0-3 without Baker.
September 21st, 2025 at 6:03 pm
You forgot to mention the TWO drops by Evans.
September 21st, 2025 at 6:04 pm
Smoke and mirrors.
September 21st, 2025 at 6:13 pm
All right, In Baker we trust!! The Defense didn’t play lights out but they made the.plays everytime the chips were down.how bout 2 4th down stands!!!! BAKER MAYFIELD IS OUR LEADER & WE ARE A BETTER TEAM FOR IT!!! MAC the Kicker is back. The block wasn’t his fault. It was a heck of a athletic play by a top DE playing STs. , you gotta give him that. But you gotta give the bucs Their due also. They never quit, never give up never back down. GOOOOO BUCS!!!!! CARDIAC BUCS i mean. Hang on BUCS 3-0 with 3 heart stopping Drives under 1 min left.
September 21st, 2025 at 6:52 pm
I’m a firm believer in this, Comeback wins are a sign of Championship winners !! Look at the Eagles vs Rams today !!
Go Bucs !!
September 21st, 2025 at 6:59 pm
Big shout out to Grizz. Canales and Coen never had to come up with game plans against all odds like Grizz has. Grizz is destined to be a head coach sooner than later.
September 21st, 2025 at 7:31 pm
Just grit all the way, this teams got a grit to it that I really love to see. Bowles haters ease up please, yes they should’ve continued with that smothering defense in my opinion and for the love of god can special teams clean their mess up but all in all 3-0 for the first time in a long time and a team that’s becoming well adept at overcoming adversity so I’m ok with our coaches.
September 21st, 2025 at 9:04 pm
Can anyone explain to me why McDonald leaping over the offensive linemen to blok the FG was not a penalty?
September 21st, 2025 at 9:30 pm
They looked like the creamsickle bucs, incredible defense. Good qb. No passblocking, special teams an adventure
I loved it, hot more emotional than I normally get these days.