Buccaneers use late surge to beat Falcons, 23-20

D. Orlando Ledbetter, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Sep 7, 2025

Published in Football

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ATLANTA — The Falcons put up a fight, but could not pull out the victory.

Behind the passing of Baker Mayfield, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the Falcons 23-20 in the season opener on Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

The Bucs start the season 1-0. The Falcons are 0-1.

Mayfield completed 17 of 32 passes for 167 yards and three touchdowns. He finished with a passer rating of 99.3.

Falcons quarterback Michael Penix Jr. completed 27 of 42 passes for 298 yards and one touchdown. He finished with a passer rating of 93.2.

The Falcons’ revamped pass rush had just one sack and two quarterback hits.

The Falcons put together an 18-play, 91-yard touchdown drive that took 8:46 off the clock to take the lead 20-17 with 2:17 to play. The Bucs helped out with roughing-the-passer calls on Vita Vea and Greg Gaines. Penix scored on a 4-yard run.

The Falcons defense needed to protect the lead but couldn’t. Defensive tackle Ruke Orhorhoro had an untimely roughing-the-passer call and Mayfield tossed a 25-yard touchdown pass to rookie wide receiver Emeka Egbuka with 59 seconds to play. The Bucs missed the point-after attempt to take a 23-20 lead.

The Falcons quickly drove down to the Bucs 26-yard line. They took two shots at the end zone that were unsuccessful. They sent kicker Younghoe Koo out with six seconds left on the clock.

He missed wide right.

The air went out of the stadium.

The Falcons couldn’t run the ball, as they rushed 28 times for a meager 69 yards. With Falcons’ rushing attack grounded, the game was tied 10-10 at halftime.

On the third play of the game, Bijan Robinson caught a swing pass and took it 50 yards for a touchdown.

He shook Bucs linebacker SirVocea Dennis in the open field and then picked up blocks downfield from tight end Kyle Pitts and wide receiver Casey Washington.

The Falcons defense opened with two three-and-outs, but the offense couldn’t build on the lead.

On Tampa Bay’s third possession, Mayfield put together a 16-play drive that carried into the second quarter and ended with a 48-yard field goal by Chase McLaughlin with 10:17 left before half.

The Falcons were stuffed on their next possession. On fourth-and-1, operating out of the shotgun, Bucs outside linebacker Yaya Diaby busted through and dropped Robinson for a 1-yard loss.

The Bucs answered with a 30-yard touchdown pass to Egbuka to make it 10-7 with 6:53 before half. Cornerback Mike Hughes was in coverage on the play.

The Falcons put together a 13-play scoring drive, which ended with Koo making a 41-yard field goal.

After an exchange of punts, Tampa Bay’s Kameron Johnson broke loose for 54 yards to set up the Bucs at the Falcons 32-yard line in the third quarter.

It took them five plays to score. Mayfield tossed a 9-yard TD pass to Bucky Irving to make it 17-10.

The Falcons overcame two false starts by Elijah Wilkinson to get a 36-yard field goal by Koo to make it 17-13 with 20 seconds left in the third quarter. The Falcons forced a punt and the offense got the ball back with 11:03 left in the fourth quarter.

The Falcons travel to Minneapolis to take on the Vikings next Sunday at 8:20 p.m. ET at U.S. Bank Stadium.

On the last trip to Minnesota, the Vikings blasted the Falcons 42-21 on Dec. 8, 2024.

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