Need a big play in a big game? Bucs can call on Anthony Nelson Anthony Nelson has the kind of choir-boy face that makes you think he's the guy organizing the church rec-league hoops game, not wrecking NFL offenses. But give him a chance and the Bucs' part-time pass rusher turns into a full-time problem. After playing just 30% of the defensive snaps all season, Nelson made the most of his opportunity Sunday. In the second quarter, Nelson got the Bucs on the scoreboard by tipping a Spencer Rattler pass to himself, shoving the quarterback to the turf with one arm and rumbling in for a 3-yard pick-six. That was just Nelson's biggest highlight in the 23-3 win over the Saints. He opened the game with the first of his two sacks and forced a fumble on the fifth play in a breakout performance that was impossible to overlook. "He's a good ballplayer," Todd Bowles said. "We always talk about Nellie all the time. ... He's always at the right place at the right time. He's a very aggressive player. He's a very smart player. He has not settled for a bootleg yet. "He had great anticipation when he batted the ball up and he's a very good athlete and he can catch the ball very well. He had a heck of a ballgame and once he catches the ball, there's nobody who is going to catch him when he sprints 1 yard." See, even that little quip by Bowles short-changed Nelson because it was 3 yards. Nelson admitted after the game he didn't really remember the entire sequence of events that led to his career highlight. "I tipped the ball up. I guess I caught it," he said. "I don't really remember what happened. I just remember catching the ball near the goal line and being in the end zone. It's all good. Probably just rebounding instincts took over. I'm glad it happened." This is Nelson's seventh NFL season and the former fourth-round pick from Iowa has a penchant for rescuing the Bucs. A year ago, they were going to lose a critical game at Carolina on a field goal until Nelson forced running back Chuba Hubbard to fumble and the Bucs went on to win in overtime. After Sunday's game, Bucs players took turns describing Nelson's performance. "Big Hawk, man! Unbelievable game," Baker Mayfield said. "Flying around. Obviously, it started with the punch-out fumble. Forced fumble. Touchdown. The interception. It just goes on and on. He probably got every single stat you want in a player as an outside linebacker and edge rusher. He played lights out. I think everybody else on defense did, too." Antoine Winfield Jr., who had a monster game himself with an interception and forced fumble/fumble recovery, couldn't say enough good things about Nelson. "He's just always in the right place at the right time when he's playing," Winfield said. "He just balls. I couldn't believe it. It shocked me. I couldn't believe he did that. He had a great game. Sacks. Fumble, Pick-six! Running the quarterback over? I said, ‘Ooh, that was nasty!'" Players sometimes talk about being in the zone, when they can do no wrong. Playing for injured starter Haason Reddick, Nelson began Sunday's game on fire and got hotter. "You definitely get in that zone and I think a lot of it has to do with the people around me," he said. "Like I said, we had a lot of guys going after the ball, getting strips, punching at the catch, even some that were close that ended up being incompletions. So when everybody is doing it, it gets contagious and you can feel it. It gives you confidence and everybody joins in on it. It feels great to get the first one. I got my hand on the ball and it bounced right to me." Rick Stroud, Tampa Bay Times, published 27 October 2025