Bucs Record Watch 2025: Week 1 at Falcons

At long last, Bucs football truly returns this Sunday afternoon. It’s a big one for Tampa Bay, too, as the team opens up the 2025 regular season — the franchise’s 50th season — in Atlanta with a crucial NFC South matchup against the Falcons.

The winner of Sunday afternoon’s game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium will get an early upper hand in the NFC South race, and that would be key for the Bucs as they look for their fifth consecutive division title in 2025. It would also be significant for Tampa Bay if it can grab a victory in Atlanta, as Todd Bowles and Co. were swept by Raheem Morris’ team in 2024 and had to overcome that to win the division on the final day of the regular season.

Bowles enters this game 3-0 in season openers and 7-3 in September games as the head coach of the Bucs, and he’ll be looking to make that 4-0 and 8-3, respectively, to set the tone for what could be a special season in 2025.

As usual, there are other storylines to follow in this regular season opener in Atlanta, and that’s the reason we’re here right now. As we do every week here on PewterReport.com, it’s now time to take a look at what else is on the line during this week’s game. Of course, we’re talking about some of the records and milestones that some key Bucs are moving toward.

Last week, we previewed where things currently stand for several key players in terms of both the franchise and NFL record books heading into 2025. Here, we’ll take a look at where everything stands as far as Week 1 is concerned:

Bucs Record Watch: Week 1 at Falcons

Baker Mayfield

With 300+ passing yards against the Falcons on Sunday, Mayfield would tie Doug Williams (10) for the fourth-most 300-yard passing games in Bucs history. And with 438 passing yards, Mayfield would pass Steve DeBerg (9,522) for eighth-most in franchise history.

Mayfield needs two touchdown passes to tie Josh Freeman (23) for the third-most games in team history with multiple touchdown passes. Those two passing touchdowns would also move Mayfield ahead of Trent Dilfer (70) for sixth-most in franchise history. He’s also only five touchdown passes away from passing Doug Williams (73) for fifth-most in team history.

With a win over Atlanta, Mayfield would become just the ninth quarterback in franchise history to reach 20 regulae season wins.

Mike Evans

Of course, with Evans, most record talk is going to be through the lens of NFL history as he already owns just about every possible Bucs record. He is 38 receiving yards away from passing Pro Football Hall of Famer Art Monk (12,721) for 23rd-most in league history. With 102 yards, he’ll pass Irving Fryar (12,785) for 22nd-most.

Evans is 14 receptions away from passing Rod Smith (849) for 34th-most in league history.

Sunday will be Evans’ 169th game with the Bucs, leaving him 15 away from passing Paul Gruber (183) for sixth-most in franchise history. It will also be his 168th start, which will have him 16 away from passing Gruber (183) for fourth-most in team history.

Rachaad White

White needs one touchdown to tie Leonard Fournette and Reggie Cobb (22) for the seventh-most touchdowns from scrimmage by a running back in franchise history. He is also two receiving touchdowns away from tying Mike Alstott (13) for the most by a running back or fullback in team history.

White needs 91 rushing yards to pass Ronald Jones II (2,174) for 10th-most in franchise history.

Vita Vea

Vea’s 30.5 career sacks have him three away from passing Brad Culpepper and Jason Pierre-Paul (33.0) for ninth-most in team history.

This will be Vea’s 96th game as a Buc, which will tie him with Jermaine Phillips for 51st-most in franchise history.

Lavonte David

Sunday will be David’s 199th game with the Bucs. He already has the third-most games played in Tampa Bay history, and this will leave him 25 behind Derrick Brooks (224) for second-most. Unless this actually isn’t the final year for David, he’s likely going to be padding his lead for third-most more than he’ll be chasing Brooks for second.

This will also be David’s 199th start, which is 22 behind Brooks (221) for second-most in team history.

David is a half-sack away from passing David Logan for sole possession of sixth-most in team history. He’ll then be chasing former teammate Shaq Barrett, who ranks fifth with 45 sacks.

David needs four more passes defensed to pass Carlton Davis III (73) for fourth-most in franchise history.

Jamel Dean

Dean needs three passes defensed to pass Aqib Talib (54) for seventh-most in team history.

Zyon McCollum

McCollum is two passes defensed away from passing Jordan Whitehead and E.J. Biggers (28) for 15th-most in Bucs history.

Antoine Winfield Jr.

Winfield is one pass defensed away from passing Jermaine Phillips (30) for sole possession of 13th-most in franchise history, while five more passes defensed will move him ahead of Dwight Smith (34) for 12th-most.

Winfield needs three more forced fumbles to pass Hardy Nickerson (13) for seventh-most in franchise history, while two more fumble recoveries will move him ahead of Lee Roy Selmon (10) for fourth-most all-time. That would also tie him with John Cannon and Cecil Johnson (11) for third-most.

Winfield’s 17 career sacks is already the second-most by a defensive back in team history. He is 11.5 away from passing Ronde Barber (28.0) for the most by a defensive back in franchise history.

Chase McLaughlin

McLaughlin needs 13 points to pass James Wilder (276) for ninth-most in team history. He also enters this season 26 field goals away from passing Ryan Succop (84) for sixth-most in Bucs history.

Todd Bowles

A Bucs win on Sunday would be Bowles’ 28th as the team’s head coach, which would have him four away from passing Bruce Arians (31) for fourth-most in franchise history.