In absolutely improbable fashion, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers put together another signature win in Week 5, knocking off the Seattle Seahawks on the road. It wasn't merely the fact that they won and now sit at 4-1, but it's how they got there that should have everyone excited.
One person who is especially excited is kicker Chase McLaughlin. He drilled three field goals on the afternoon, including a game-winner as time expired. All of this comes ont he heels of very notable stuggles by special teams and McLaughlin showing up on the injury report at the last minute.
McLaughlin was a late addition on Saturday with an undisclosed illness, but that didn't stop him from having a huge day. It also meant that Baker Mayfield had something to play with when giving his kicker praise after the win.
Baker Mayfield dropped a hilarious line about Chase McLaughlin's "flu game"
Mayfield ended his postgame press conference by calling the win in Seattle McLaughlin's flu game. While that was funny enough, his clarification between Michael Jordan and McLaughlin sealed the deal.
"He's not Michael Jordan in stature," Baker said. "But we'll take it."
He wasn't the only one to draw that comparison after the game. Head coach Todd Bowles also made the connection, and took a light-hearted dig at McLaughlin in the process.
"It wasn't exactly Michael Jordan's flu game, but we'll give Chase McLaughlin his flu game up here in Seattle," Bowles said with a smile. "He did a heck of a job."
That last part is what sticks out, the praise of not only McLaughlin but of the entire special teams unit. It's been no secret how frustrating that area has been so far this season, with more mistakes than we'd all like to acknowledge. From blocked kicks to poor coverage, things have gotten so messy that Bowles implied there could be changes coming of things don't drastically improve.
It's still a long road ahead before we feel confident about special teams, but Sunday's win in Seattle was a huge step in the right direction. McLaughlin seems to have fully stabilized after a rough start to the season and everything that was going wrong got corrected against the Seahawks.
There's still much that has to be fixed, but for once special teams wasn't part of the problem and ended up a major piece of a siguture win for the Buccaneers.
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