Mayfield Eager for the Buccaneers to Build on a Promising Start to the Season

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers went into the 2025 National Football League (NFL) season aiming to maintain their stranglehold on their division.

The Bucs are -225 on the moneyline to win the NFC South division following their hard-fought 23-20 victory over Atlanta Falcons last weekend.

Quarterback Baker Mayfield’s 25-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Emeka Egbuka ultimately proved to be the difference between the two sides.

The Buccaneers’ offensive unit generated a total of 260 yards in the outing – a statistic that was padded out by converting 7-14 of their third downs.

Josh Grizzard’s work as the new offensive coordinator paid immediate dividends, and slammed the door on suggestions that the Buccaneers would miss Liam Coen in the role.

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Coen left the club during the offseason to become head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars, but Grizzard has stepped seamlessly into his shoes.

While Grizzard’s influence on the Bucs’ offense should not be underestimated, Mayfield believes the players deserve plenty of credit for making the systems work.

“This offense demands to have a high football IQ from everybody,” Mayfield said. “So, being able to go to the line of scrimmage with two plays and possibly a kill to get to a third.

“Our guys are smart – they’re able to handle that and that allows us to be successful on third down.”

The Bucs will be eager to build on their Week One victory when they face Houston Texans at the NRG Stadium on Monday Night Football.

The Texans made an underwhelming start to the new campaign, suffering a 14-9 road loss to the Los Angelea Rams. Quarterback CJ Stroud had a difficult outing.

He was sacked three times and pressured on more than 41 percent of his drop-backs. Stroud will hope he is given more protection against the Bucs.

However, given that putting pressure on the quarterback is one the Bucs’ strengths under head coach Todd Bowles, the Texans could be in for another difficult game.

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“Their front, it really comes from Todd’s philosophy,” Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans said. “They are going to bring a lot of exotic pressures.

“There will be pressure from safeties, nickels – everybody is coming and they do a really good job of disguising it. We just really have to do a great job as an offense when the picture changes.

“How are we reacting and responding? Communicating the proper way when the picture changes, that will be the challenge for us this week.”

The Bucs will head to Houston bidding to go 2-0 for the fifth season in a row, but wagering on them to achieve the feat could be a risky move.

The Texans have traditionally had the upper hand on the Bucs in Houston, while the latter’s recent record on prime-time television leaves a lot to be desired.

The Bucs simulated some of the process of preparing for prime-time games by spending almost a week in Pittsburgh during pre-season. They also scheduled one of their practices in the evening.

The moves paid dividends as they recorded a 17-14 victory over the Steelers. Bowles believes those small details could help their cause against the Texans.

“The night practice that we had in training camp and going to Pittsburgh early, handling that whole week and then playing at night, we’ve had some experience with it so we know how to bide our time,” Bowles said.

“It’s never great laying around in the hotel all day but we make ourselves useful. We understand how we play, what time we’ve got to play and how much rest we need and we get that accordingly so we’re ready to go.”