DeMeco Ryans Scouts Bucs QB Baker Mayfield Entering Texans' Week 2 Tilt

Houston Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans believes Baker Mayfield is playing the best ball of his career.

Sep 7, 2025; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield (6) passes the ball against the Atlanta Falcons during the first quarter at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

After falling to the Los Angeles Rams and veteran quarterback Matt Stafford in the season opener, the Houston Texans now draw the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Baker Mayfield. Mayfield's ability to keep plays alive with mobility and moxie hasn't escaped the attention of Texans' head coach DeMeco Ryans.

Ryans sees a Bucs quarterback who has never played better. 

"The Bucs, the one thing I would say about the Bucs starting off watching the tape. Baker Mayfield is—he's playing the best he's played [in] his career," Ryans said about Mayfield this week. "What they've done... Todd [Bowles] has done a really nice job of working with Baker in the passing game. They were first in the league in passing last year, or they were top-5 in pretty much all the major offensive categories last year, and it shows." 

Tampa Bay's combination of older and youthful wide receiver talent looks like it might bear some fruit. Veteran wideout Mike Evans and first-round rookie Emeka Egbuka hit the ground running against the Atlanta Falcons last week, and pairing them with Mayfield presents the Texans with yet another stern test. 

"They have weapons at receiver," Ryans said of the Bucs. "You know, Mike Evans has done it for a long time, continues to shine. The young kid, Ebuka, has done a really nice job making some explosive plays. He showed up big time for them in their game versus Atlanta. And Baker, he does a really nice job of just moving around and scrambling in the pocket, keeping plays alive. You see toughness. You see grittiness from Baker, which allows their passing game to thrive." 

Mayfield's skill set will challenge Ryans' defense, but the former No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 NFL draft still cultivates a gunslinger mentality, which can create opportunities for takeaways. However, capitalizing on any potential slip-ups by Mayfield could be problematic, especially if the spluttering Texans' offense, which only conjured three field goals in Week 1, shows up again. 

Getting the Offense in Rhythm

Sep 7, 2025; Inglewood, California, USA; Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud (7) attempts a pass during the first quarter at SoFi Stadium. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The Texans getting back into some kind of rhythm on offense won’t be that easy against Bucs head coach Todd Bowles' defensive scheme, which likes mixing things up with exotic looks. Quarterback C.J. Stroud admitted how the different looks the Rams threw at the Texans got them in a funk, but it can’t be allowed to happen against the Bucs. 

So, for as much as Ryans admires his coaching adversary on the Tampa side, the onus is on the Texans' offense to react far better to what they're seeing from the defense this week.

"Their front, it really comes from Todd's philosophy. He's going to bring a lot of exotic pressures," Ryans said. "There are going to be pressures from safeties, nickels, like, everybody is coming. They do a really good job of disguising it. So we just really have to do a great job as an offense when the picture changes. Like, how are we reacting and responding the proper way, communicating the proper way when the picture changes? That'll be the challenge for us this week." 

Keeping Things in Perspective

The season opener can often look much like a preseason game; the plethora of yellow laundry present in Houston's loss to the Rams attests to that. As frustrating as coughing one away against the Rams was, Ryans is aware that the Texans have to keep this initial setback in context.

"That's the nature of our business, right? Man, you lose, fire everyone, trade every player, right?" Ryans joked with reporters. "You win, you're going to the Super Bowl. Like, then the next week, everything changes. I get it, that's the nature of our business. It's exciting because you have so many different outlets, and so many different people have an opinion... Right, but to that point, the realistic point is that it's one game. It's week one, the building isn't burning down." 

Ryans' affable side was on display during his press conference, but nobody at Texans HQ is pressing the panic button. Even so, it's a given that the super-competitive Mayfield will be keying on creating as much chaos for the Texans as possible in primetime.