Tampa Bay Buccaneers 23 Atlanta Falcons 20 Sunday 7 September 2025 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium
NFC SOUTH STANDINGS Tampa Bay Buccaneers 1-0 Atlanta Falcons 0-1 Carolina Panthers 0-1 New Orleans Saints 0-1
FOX COMMENTARY CREW Kenny Albert and Jonathan Vilma
The Bucs won their fifth straight season opener in a dramatic game in Atlanta. A missed PAT and fieldgoal by the normally-reliable Chase McLaughlin gave the Falcons the chance to tie the game in the final seconds but Younghoe Koo’s fieldgoal missed right. Rookie Emeka Egbuka had an NFL debut to remember with a pair of TD receptions and Baker Mayfield shook off some inconsistencies to throw another one to Bucky Irving.
STARTERS OFFENSE DEFENSE LT 62 Barton DL 90 Hall LG 60 Jordan NT 50 Vea C 68 Brederson DL 94 Kancey RG 69 Mauch OLB 5 Reddick RT 67 Goedecke ILB 8 Dennis TE 88 Otton ILB 54 David TE 87 Durham OLB 0 Diaby WR 13 Evans CB 27 McCollum WR 2 Egbuka CB 35 Dean QB 6 Mayfield S 23 Smith RB 7 Irving S 31 Winfield PLAYED 1 White, 4 McLaughlin, 9 Dixon, 17 Shepard, K 19 Johnson, 25 Parrish, 26 Merriweather, 32 Hayes, 38 Wisdom. 41 Kieft, 43 Braswell, 44 Tucker, 45 Jones, 57 Bullock, 58 Watts, 70 Chukwuma, 77 Heck, 79 Klein, 81 Miller, 86 Deckers, 95 Roberts, 96 Gaines, 98 Nelson DID NOT PLAY 10 Bridgewater, 97 Gotsis INACTIVES 14 Godwin, 18 Williams, 21 Morrison, 22 Vildor, 29 Izien, 78 Wirfs, 82 Culp
GAME HIGHLIGHTS Click on the boxes below to view the big plays Kameron Johnson had a fantastic punt return to set up a Buccaneer score Bucky Irving’s diving effort brought Tampa ahead in the third quarter Emeka Egbuka’s second touchdown was the decisive one of the game
GAME SCORING ATL 13:14-1Q Robinson 50 pass from Penix (Koo) TB 10:17-2Q McLaughlin FG48 TB 6:53-2Q Egbuka 30 pass from Mayfield (McLaughlin) ATL 0:53-2Q Koo FG41 TB 7:26-3Q Irving 9 pass from Mayfield (McLaughlin) ATL 0:20-3Q Koo FG36 ATL 2:17-4Q Penix 4 run (Koo kick) TB 0:59-4Q Egbuka 25 pass from Mayfield (kick failed)
GAME REPORTS Emeka Egbuka proves he's the 'real deal' in season opener John Romano adds his own views in his morning-after column Game notes and anecdotes from the winning locker room How Josh Kendall of The Athletic saw the game unfold The Athletic’s view of things from the Falcon perspective Scott Smith’s official game report Click here for the play-by-play and the NFL gamebook
NFL RESULTS - WEEK 1 Tampa Bay 23 Atlanta 20 Philadelphia 24 Dallas 20 LA Chargers 27 Kansas City 21 Cincinnati 17 Cleveland 16 Indianapolis 33 Miami 8 Jacksonville 26 Carolina 10 Las Vegas 20 New England 13 Arizona 20 New Orleans 13 Pittsburgh 34 NY Jets 32 Washington 21 NY Giants 6 Denver 20 Tennessee 12 San Francisco 17 Seattle 13 Green Bay 27 Detroit 13 LA Rams 14 Houston 9 Buffalo 41 Baltimore 40 Minnesota 27 Chicago 24
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING BUCS: Mayfield 5-39, Irving 14-37, White 2-14, Egbuka 1-9, Tucker 1- 2. FALCONS: Robinson 12-24, Allgeier 10-24, Penix 6-21. PASSING BUCS: Mayfield 32-17-167-0-3. FALCONS: Penix 42-27-298-0-1. RECEIVING BUCS: Evans 5-51, Egbuka 4-67, Irving 4-8, Shepard 3-39, White 1-2. FALCONS: London 8-55, Pitts 7-59, Robinson 6-100, McCoud 3-51, Washington 3-33. INTERCEPTIONS BUCS: none. FALCONS: none. KICK RETURNS BUCS: Tucker 3-81. FALCONS: Brooks 3-68, Agnew 2-57. PUNT RETURNS BUCS: Johnson 1-54. FALCONS: Agnew 2-29, McCloud 0-0. SACKS BUCS: Reddick 1-9. FALCONS: Bowman 0.5-4, Deablo 0.5-4.