The Tampa Bay Buccaneers overcame a lot of adversity en route to a crucial 30-19 victory over the San Francisco 49ers that puts them in the driver's seat for the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoff picture.
Paired with a loss by Detroit on Sunday Night Football, one that might end up helping the Bucs more than initially thought, Tampa Bay now has at least a full game lead on the rest of the teams in the NFC. Green Bay is lurking but has a tie on its record and the Bucs now own the tiebreaker over San Francisco with the win on Sunday.
A win next Monday night against the Lions would mean a two game lead for the Bucs, but let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves yet. Before we look ahead to that big game, let’s take one more look back at a convincing win in Week 6.
Who rose to the occasion, and who didn’t for Tampa Bay on Sunday?
Winners and losers from Buccaneers’ 30-19 win over 49ers in Week 6
Winner: Baker Mayfield
Mayfield continues his emergence as the MVP frontrunner after another incredible performance in Week 6 where he finally earned his first career win over the 49ers, who have had his number.
Mayfield threw for 256 yards and two touchdowns while completing 73.9% of his passes and posting a season-high 139.7 passer rating with zero turnovers.
The highlight play of the day came when Mayfield broke out of a sack on 3rd-and-14 and miraculously rushed for 15 yards, breaking a handful of 49ers tackle attempts on the way. Two plays later, he threw a deep seed to Tez Johnson for a crucial 45-yard touchdown, the first of Johnson’s career.
Mayfield continues to put the team on his back, as he has done all season long. He played the second half without all four of his top four receiving options and multiple starters out on the offensive line, but continued to perform at an MVP level.
Winner: Todd Bowles
Bowles finally got the upper hand against Kyle Shanahan and the 49ers. Entering today, the Bowles-led Bucs had lost in three consecutive seasons to San Francisco.
Despite being without cornerbacks Zyon McCollum and Benjamin Morrison, Bowles called a great game as his defensive unit dialed up the pressure on Mac Jones and allowed just three points in the second half.
Bowles has proven to be a top-tier coach and is earning his respect after overcoming one of the league’s worst injury situations and leading the Bucs to an NFC-leading 5-1 record, which is tied for the best record through six games in franchise history.
Loser: Chase McLaughlin
With Tampa Bay leading 27-19 with under nine minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, the offense drove into field goal range and gave McLaughlin a chance to put the game away with a field goal to go up by two possessions.
Instead, McLaughlin missed the 49-yard field goal wide right, wasting a clutch drive from the offense and putting immense pressure back on the defense. Luckily, the defense rose to the occasion and didn’t allow McLaughlin’s miss to come back and haunt the Buccaneers.
Winner: Bucs Defense
Admittedly, the first half wasn’t pretty for the defensive unit. They surrendered 16 points before halftime and it felt like the 49ers were taking whatever they wanted.
But the defense clamped down in the second half, allowing just three points and playing a major role in the victory. Two big weaknesses for Tampa Bay have been an inability to generate both sacks and turnovers, but the Buccaneers did both today.
The Bucs defense got to Mac Jones a whopping six times, and also generated two interceptions. The defense was resilient and opportunistic, and will need to continue to perform at this level to take some of the pressure off Mayfield and the injury-riddled offense.
Winner: Jamel Dean
Dean has caught a lot of flak from Bucs fans during his career, but he has taken his play to another level in a contract year.
On 4th-and-5 at the Tampa Bay 33-yard line, Dean called game with a clutch interception on the ensuing drive after McLaughlin’s field goal miss.
Dean, infamously known for his inability to catch the ball throughout his career, has now already come away with two clutch interceptions this season. If this is Dean’s last year in Tampa Bay, which all signs point to, it has certainly been a season to remember as he performs at arguably the highest level of his career.
Loser: Emeka Egbuka’s Rookie of the Year chase
Entering Sunday, Egbuka was the runaway favorite for the Offensive Rookie of the Year award.
Egbuka entered the game with 25 catches for 445 yards and five touchdowns, and was far and away Tampa Bay’s most productive receiver. Egbuka exited Sunday’s game in the second quarter due to a hamstring injury with just two catches for 24 yards.
If he misses more time with his hamstring injury, it could open the door for the New York Giants’ duo of media darling rookies, quarterback Jaxson Dart and running back Cam Skattebo, to gain momentum in the Rookie of the Year race.
Winners: Rachaad White and Sean Tucker
With the aforementioned injuries at wide receiver, and starting running back Bucky Irving sidelined due to injury, the Buccaneers needed White and Tucker and to step up in a major way.
They did just that, with White leading the way rushing for 65 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries while adding three receptions for 21 yards.
Tucker added 25 yards on six carries along with a touchdown of his own as the running back duo helped fuel the offense.