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Baker Mayfield Does it Again: Former Oklahoma QB Leads Tampa to Late Rally

The Bucs led the entire game but collapsed late, meaning Mayfield had to pull his squad out of the fire again.
John Hoover|
Tampa Bay and former Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield
Tampa Bay and former Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield | Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

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Baker Mayfield did it again — in his home state, no less.

In the face of a special teams collapse and compounding late defensive blunders, it was Mayfield who sparked a moribund Tampa Bay offense to life and rallied the Buccaneers to a dramatic victory over the Houston Texans.

Without both of his starting offensive tackles, the former Oklahoma standout was at his best after the Bucs blew a late lead, driving Tampa to a game-winning touchdown with just six seconds remaining in a 20-19 win on Monday in Houston — less than three hours from his family home in Austin.

Mayfield’s stats were good but not stellar — he was 25-of-38 throwing the football or 215 yards with two touchdowns, no interceptions and was sacked four times — but after the Bucs gave up a late touchdown to trail 19-14, he came to life.

Mayfield overcame a late fourth-and-10 with a 15-yard scramble to start the game-winning drive — a 16-play, 80-yard march. On that drive, Mayfield completed 7-of-9 passes for 63 yards to set up a short touchdown run by running back Rachaad White to win it.

For the game, Mayfield also flustered the fearsome Texans’ pass rush by rushing for 33 yards on three carries.

The Bucs led most of the second half, but a missed field goal off the right upright, a blocked punt and a 51-yard punt return fueled the Texans. Houston also rallied thanks to a dropped interception and an uncontested 25-yard TD run by Nick Chubb that gave the home team the lead.

But Mayfield, who was hit frequently and appeared banged up several times in the fourth quarter, made sure the offense delivered just enough to prevail.

“Got another win. Doesn’t have to be pretty,” Mayfield said on social media while walking off the field. Monday Night Football, though, 2-0. On to the next.”

It was Mayfield’s 12th career game-winning drive in the fourth quarter, which is the most in the NFL during his professional tenure.

That career began when Cleveland made him the No. 1 overall pick in 2018, the year after he won the Heisman Trophy and led Oklahoma to its best performance in a College Football Playoff. He also leads the NFL in touchdown passes since joining the Bucs at the start of the 2023 seasen.

Another former Sooner and Mayfield teammate contributed to the Bucs' victory as well. Wide receiver Sterling Shepard delivered four receptions for 34 yards.

Shepard was a senior at OU in 2015, when Mayfield took over the starting job as a third-year sophomore, two years after transferring from Texas Tech.

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John E. Hoover
JOHN HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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