Bucs Run All Over Giants in Blowout Road Win

Baker Mayfield, Bucky Irving, Sean Tucker and Rachaad White all had touchdown runs on Sunday at MetLife Stadium as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers vaulted out of their bye week with a 30-7 win over the New York Giants. That marked the first time that the Buccaneers have had four different players score a rushing touchdown in the same game.

The Buccaneers snapped a four-game losing streak and sent the Giants to their sixth straight defeat. Tampa Bay improved to 5-6 on the season and moved them to within one game of the idle Atlanta Falcons in the NFC South. New York dropped to 2-9. The Bucs hope to go on a post-bye run like they did in 2020 and the lopsided win in East Rutherford was a good start.

“It’s good concentration,” said Head Coach Todd Bowles. “The guys focused on the little things; for the most part we executed on both sides of the football. I’d still like to finish the game a little bit better but they came back [from the bye] mentally tougher and they came back ready to play.”

Added Mayfield: “Just the focus. We talked about it, getting away for the bye, getting away from it for a little bit and come back ready to roll. Play it one week at a time. Offensively we did that for three quarters for the most part. That was the focus and the energy that we needed to play complementary football.”

Even with all of the scores coming on the ground, Mayfield was masterful for the Buccaneers, throwing for 294 of the team’s 450 total net yards on 24 of 30 passing. He also scrambled for multiple first downs in addition to his 10-yard touchdown run that ended with a dive over a defender into the end zone. He did suffer a stinger trying to recover a fumbled handoff in the fourth quarter but was able to stay in the game and execute a series of handoffs. The Giants came into the game ranked first in the NFL in sacks per pass play on defense but did not sack Mayfield once, speaking both to the protection afforded the quarterback and Mayfield’s own elusiveness.

“He did a heck of a job,” said Bowles of Mayfield. “Baker just plays ball. He loves playing ball. He had some great scrambles. He bought some time, he made some runs. He played a heck of a ballgame.”

Mayfield really spread the ball around, completing passes to 11 different players to tie a Buccaneers single-game record. That had only been accomplished four previous times in team history. WR Mike Evans caught five passes for 68 yards in his much-anticipated return from a hamstring injury and also drew an end zone pass interference call that led to White’s touchdown. Irving caught six passes for 64 yards and recorded 151 yards from scrimmage, including a 56-yard run in the fourth quarter that tied for the Bucs’ longest this season. Five different players, including WR Rakim Jarrett and TE Payne Durham, made catches of 25 or more yards.

“I think when Mike was hurt it got him to trust a lot of the other guys,” said Bowles. “So now with Mike back he can spread it around easier and not having to think about and look at who’s there. Everybody understands what they’re doing, so everybody’s in synch.”

Meanwhile, the Giants started second-year fan favorite Tommy DeVito after benching Daniel Jones earlier in the week and announcing that the veteran passer would be released. DeVito won three of his six starts for New York as a rookie but had trouble sustaining drives on Sunday, particularly in the first half. DeVito did direct some sustained drives in the second half and finished the game with 189 yards, no touchdowns and no interceptions on 21-of-31 passing. The Buccaneers sacked DeVito four times, one each by DLs Calijah Kancey and Vita Vea, plus one by OLB Anthony Nelson and one by S Antoine Winfield Jr.

DeVito did run the ball seven times for 32 yards, including a 17-yard scamper to the Bucs’ one-yard line in the fourth quarter that set up a Devin Singletary touchdown run to avoid the shutout.

S Christian Izien led the Buccaneers with 10 tackles and LB Lavonte David added five stops, a passed defensed and a forced fumble. David’s forced fumble led to the Buccaneers’ only takeaway and ended a Giants drive that had reached Tampa Bay’s five-yard line in the third quarter. Tampa Bay completely gained the momentum back after taking the ensuing drive 95 yards for their last touchdown. CB Jamel Dean made his return from injured reserve and contributed two tackles and the first forced fumble of his career.