Buccaneers' first-rounder shines in close victory vs. Falcons

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers began the season 1-0 after a thriller and sloppy one in Atlanta against the Falcons, 23-20.

It wasn’t pretty all across the board with a lot of fixes to make moving forward but the Bucs begin the 2025 season in the win column.

The Falcons came out strong against the Bucs in the first quarter

Atlanta Falcons running back Bijan Robinson (7) warms up before a game against the Tennessee Titans. | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

The Falcons wasted zero time scoring, doing so in just three plays — a Michael Penix Jr. dump-off to Bijan Robinson went for 50 yards on Atlanta's third play from scrimmage to start 7-0 and punch Tampa Bay in the mouth. The Bucs couldn't respond, going three-and-out after Baker Mayfield threw two incompletions.

The Falcons punted on their next drive, but Tampa Bay was pinned inside the 10 and couldn't get the ball moving, so they punted back, and Atlanta did the same the drive after. At the end of the first quarter, the Buccaneers were driving and hit midfield.

Emeka Egbuka strikes for the Buccaneers in the second quarter

Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Emeka Egbuka (2) looks on before the game against the Atlanta Falcons at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

The Bucs led an extended drive to start the second quarter, but it ended in a field goal when the Bucs stalled. A 48-yarder from Chase McLaughlin made it 7-3 Falcons, and the Bucs got a huge break the next drive when the defense prevented the Falcons from converting on a 4th & 1.

The offense started at midfield, and it finally got it done when Baker Mayfield threw an excellent pass to Emeka Egbuka to go up 10-7 with 6:53 remaining.

The Falcons took the remainder of the second half up with their ensuing drive, but the Bucs didn't break and forced them to kick a field goal. That tied the game 10-10 all, and after a disasterous Bucs drive that quickly saw them go three-and-out, the Falcons took the ball back with 18 seconds left. They ran two plays before the half ended.

Bucs take the lead in the third quarter

Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Bucky Irving (7) celebrates after scoring a touchdown against the Atlanta Falcons. | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Tampa Bay marched into Atlanta territory to start the second half, but they stalled out at Atlanta's 34. Chase McLaughlin missed a rare kick, so they came away with no points and the game remained 10-10.

The Falcons committed numerous penalties that killed their next drive, so they punted it back to the Bucs. Kameron Johnson took that return all the way down to Atlanta's 30, and that led to a Baker Mayfield touchdown pass to Bucky Irving in the flat.

That brought it up to 17-10 Bucs, and the Falcons went on a massive drive that took up the entire rest of the third. It ended in a field goal, so the Falcons narrowed the gap to 17-13 before the Bucs got the ball back to start the fourth.

Buccaneers' rookie does it again in the fourth quarter... but it isn't enough

Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Emeka Egbuka (2) celebrates with wide receiver Mike Evans (13) after scoring a touchdown against the Atlanta Falcons. | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

The Bucs held an extended drive to start the fourth quarter, but once they got to midfield, they stalled and had to punt. Atlanta responded with an extremely long drive that ate up a majority of the quarter, getting the ball at 11:09 and then scoring a rushing touchdown by way of Michael Penix Jr. with just 2:17 left in the game.

The Bucs got the ball back with minimal time left, and they got the TD they needed on a connection between Mayfield and Egbuka again — unfortunately, a bad snap caused McLaughlin to miss the extra point, so the Falcons just needed three points to send the game to OT.

That didn't happen, though — Younghoe Koo missed his kick, and the Buccaneers narrowly escaped 23-20 with the win.

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