Was Mike Hughes really to blame on Emeka Egbuka's touchdowns?

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga – The Atlanta Falcons had just taken a lead over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday after another heroic moment from quarterback Michael Penix Jr, but their elation quickly turned to defeat after rookie Emeka Egbuka slipped behind the secondary for a go-ahead touchdown.

Make that ✌️ for @EgbukaEmeka

📺: #TBvsATL on FOX pic.twitter.com/17FJYxyE4v
— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) September 7, 2025

The touchdown marked the second score of the day for the rookie wide receiver, with cornerback Mike Hughes hot on his tail on both. Social media quickly turned on the third-year Falcon.

Is the cornerback to blame for the pair of touchdowns? Not so fast says, Raheem Morris.

“That last one, the critical one, we should have had a post player,” Morris said Monday. “It was Jessie [Bates III]. I don't want to act like I'm trying to sugarcoat those things. Jessie [Bates III] should’ve stayed in the post, and those things are critical.”

Content creator Dirty Bird Central was able to identify how and why the pair of touchdowns were not on Hughes, and largely had to do with some shortcomings from his teammates in the secondary.

Atlanta was running what looked to be a standard cover-3 in the secondary. With that, Hughes is responsible for the outside third and playing with outside leverage on the play, while Bates is responsible for the middle third.

Instead, you can see in the replay how Bates got sucked too far up the field looking to cover veteran wide receiver Mike Evans across the middle of the field on an in-breaking route. It looked like the Falcons’ captain was anticipating Baker Mayfield to play the ball to his trusty target, but it was bait.

This creates a gap in the middle of the field.

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Mayfield saw Bates play up and Egbuka with inside leverage on his deep post. Hughes had no chance to make up the ground, but still nearly closed out on the ball. The Buccaneers quarterback put a perfect ball in, and the Falcons gave up the score.

“That eats at Jessie [Bates III],” Morris said. “He'll be upset at you guys. Don't ask him about that this week. And Mike can squeeze that thing, make a play better there, too. But they make plays, too.”

On the earlier touchdown to Egbuka, Hughes again appeared to be in coverage on the play. Again, it may not be as clear as it first appeared on television.

2️⃣ for 6️⃣ on our first touchdown of Season 50 🙌

📺: #TBvsATL on FOX pic.twitter.com/6ofWYLIhSy
— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) September 7, 2025

From how it appears here, the Falcons were in an inverted cover-2 look with Hughes and A.J. Terrell Jr dropping to split the back half of the field while Bates and rookie Xavier Watts patrolling the second level as a ‘robber.’

Egbuka is running a deep over route, instantly putting Hughes at a disadvantage since he, again, has outside leverage here.

However, Watts was able to identify the route, but broke on it just a step late. He broke across the field to make a play, but Egbuka got good enough depth on his route, and Mayfield was able to slip the ball just over his outstretched hands for the touchdown.

To Raheem’s point, some of these are just the Buccaneers making a great play. These are bang-bang plays, but those are the difference between winning and losing.

So while Hughes was in the picture on both scores, the tape shows it wasn’t that simple. Sometimes, it just comes down to the opponent making the perfect play.