Buccaneers’ Baker Mayfield Had No Intentions of Playing for the Tie vs Atlanta

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers orchestrated a thrilling 23-20 comeback win against the Atlanta Falcons at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, setting the tone for a promising 2025 season.

Trailing late in the fourth quarter, Baker Mayfield engineered a dramatic turnaround, connecting with rookie sensation Emeka Egbuka on a 25-yard touchdown strike that handed the Bucs the lead. In the postgame press conference, Mayfield opened up about the offense’s growing pains and the team’s resilience in overcoming adversity.

“It felt like an eternity that they were down there trying to score,” Mayfield stated in the postgame presser.

“But we were looking at the clock situation and we knew we were going to be above the two-minute warning with one timeout left, so we look at that like two timeouts. At least get a good play off on first down, get to the two-minute then gather yourself and go. We were looking to go down and score. It wasn’t about getting a field goal to tie it and go to overtime. We were looking to score.”

Buccaneers Rose Up When It Mattered 

Despite an afternoon of inconsistent offense, the Bucs stayed committed to their game plan, and it ultimately paid off with a hard-fought win.

“Especially to start the season, it was a little bit bizarre both ways, between the extra points missed and the long red zone periods that occurred. It was just one of the bizarre wins.” Mayfield said via the team’s website.

“We played a crazy one like that here last year and came out on the losing end. We came out on the winning end of this one.”