Another Baker Mayfield game-winning drive lifts Tampa Bay to 2-0 For the second straight week, Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers found the magic when they needed it. Trailing by five points with barely more than two minutes left, the quarterback led the Bucs on an 11-play, 80-yard drive, beating the host Houston Texans 20-19 when Rachaad White bulled his way to a 2-yard touchdown run with six seconds left on Monday night. Mayfield completed seven passes on the drive and also kept it alive with a 15-yard scramble on fourth-and-10 from the Tampa Bay 32. Last week, Mayfield engineered a late road win - his touchdown pass to rookie Emeka Egbuka beat the Atlanta Falcons. Before Mayfield's clutch drive, Houston (0-2) looked to have pulled out a dramatic win, taking a 19-14 lead on Nick Chubb's 25-yard touchdown run. Chubb's run came just before the two-minute warning and was set up by a 53-yard punt return by Jaylin Noel that set up the Texans at Tampa Bay's 26-yard line. For Bucs, defense shines, while offense puzzles The Bucs defense did its job, essentially holding the Texans to just 10 points, all of which came on the Texans' first two drives. They even managed to slam the door shut on Houston in the fourth quarter with a phenomenal goal-line stand. The Texans got nine points late in the game, but those are attributed more to the Tampa Bay special teams than the defense. The Bucs offense just had a strange game. They were obviously playing shorthanded on the offensive line on the edges, but the protection held up decently, all things considered. They were able to run the ball well and controlled the tempo of the game. Egbuka had another touchdown, Mayfield, who completed 25 of 38 passes for 215 yards and two touchdowns, was able to spread the ball around quite well and the Bucs were solid on third downs. It felt like they were doing a lot of things well, in spurts, but didn't have the points to show for it. Mayfield's masterful drive Fortunately, they have Mayfield, who has been one of the better quarterbacks in the NFL when his team needs a touchdown late in the game. Mayfield engineered a masterful final drive, including a huge run up the middle on fourth down deep in Tampa Bay's territory. Mayfield appeared to have gotten banged up at various points in the game, but he had his classic swagger, both in his play and in his energy after the whistle. A short touchdown run by White capped off a 30-carries, 169-yard masterpiece on the ground for the Bucs, and gave Tampa Bay the final lead with six seconds left. Houston's special teams can't rescue offense Houston's offense got off to a fast start, scoring a touchdown on the opening drive and making a field goal on the second. From there, though, every drive in the second and third quarters ended in a punt, aside from a quick kneel to end the first half. The fourth quarter featured more points for the Texans, but it wasn't because of a burst of productivity from the offense. The first drive in the fourth quarter ended with the Texans having a second-and-goal from the 1-yard line. Houston had three tries to get 1 yard, but one rush attempt and two incompletions later, the offense turned it over on downs. Special teams nearly rescued Houston, with a blocked punt setting up a field goal and a big punt return setting up a touchdown run, but the offensive struggles throughout the game were too much to overcome. Texans need to ramp up the running game The issues begin with a failure to run the ball. Aside from Chubb's 25-yard touchdown run after the long punt return in the fourth quarter, the Texans had 18 carries for 59 yards. If you take away Chubb's touchdown run, C.J. Stroud would have been the team's leading rusher with 27 yards on four attempts. That simply is not good enough. Additionally, Stroud had some questionable moments himself, including a third-down pass in the fourth quarter that hit Bucs linebacker Lavonte David squarely in the hands and would have prevented the Texans from getting a field goal after they blocked a punt. The defense folding to Mayfield on the final drive was far from ideal, but the Texans' offense has to own that loss. Bob Harkins and Saad Yousuf, The Athletic, published 16 September 2025