Following a thrilling 23-20 win in their season opener against the Falcons, the Bucs have an extra day to prepare for their Week 2 matchup, as they’ll play in the front half of a Monday Night Football doubleheader. Tampa Bay will be in Houston to take on the Texans, looking for a fourth consecutive 2-0 start under head coach Todd Bowles and a ninth straight Week 2 victory.
Week 1 was a crazy one for the Bucs, as they lost a fourth-quarter lead, regained it with under a minute to go and then barely held onto it and avoided overtime thanks to a missed field goal. Whatever went on in that game, the end result was a 1-0 start for Bowles and Co., and now the team will look to be road warriors again in pursuit of a 2-0 start. The divisional win over the Falcons already means a lot in the grand scheme of things, but the Bucs would love to return to Raymond James Stadium in Week 3 with two road wins under their belts.
The Texans, on the other hand, are set for their home opener and looking to avoid an 0-2 start after last week’s 14-9 loss to the Rams in Los Angeles. History hasn’t been kind to teams that start off 0-2 in terms of making the playoffs, even if the Texans themselves proved in 2023 that it was possible to right the ship after dropping the first two games of the season. Still, there were some worrying things from the Houston offense in Week 1 and DeMeco Ryans will be looking for third-year quarterback C.J. Stroud to bounce back and put up more points in primetime.
Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: USA Today
Speaking of primetime, the Bucs are looking to reverse their fortunes under the bright lights. They went 0-5 in primetime last year and hold a 1-7 in primetime games over Baker Mayfield’s first two years in Tampa Bay. The team has three more primetime games on the schedule, so it would be nice to snap the losing streak now before it gets even more out of hand.
The Bucs are battling against another bad trend in this game, too, as they’re 1-5 all-time against the Texans. They’ve never beaten them in Houston and have lost five straight in the series, with their first meeting in 2003 being their only win.
Following this Monday night game, the Bucs return to Raymond James Stadium for their home opener, which comes against the Jets. Meanwhile, the Texans head back out on the road in Week 3 as they’ll visit the Jaguars for their AFC South opener.
Let’s dive into what might decide this matchup, as well as some key players to watch in Monday night’s contest at NRG Stadium:
What Might Decide This Bucs-Texans Matchup?
Offensively, this game is likely to come down to the Bucs offensive line and how well it can hold up against a strong Texans pass rush. Tampa Bay surprised a whole lot of people when it announced shortly before last week’s game that it was going with Graham Barton, not Charlie Heck, at left tackle. Left guard Ben Bredeson slid over into the center position, left vacant by Barton, while practice squad elevation Michael Jordan stepped into Bredeson’s normal spot.
That makeshift unit was initially something the Bucs worked on in practice for emergency situations, as the plan throughout training camp was for Heck to step into the left tackle position while All-Pro Tristan Wirfs works his way back from knee surgery. But Todd Bowles and his coaching staff ended up liking the emergency offensive line configuration better, so they rolled with it. The unit held up well against a pretty average Falcons pass rush, but largely struggled to open up running lanes for Bucky Irving.
Bucs LT Graham Barton, LG Mike Jordan, C Ben Bredeson and QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: Jeffrey Jones/PR
Holding the Atlanta pass rush at bay is one thing. Monday will bring a stiffer challenge for this offensive line, as Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter lead the way off the edge with Mario Edwards Jr. and Sheldon Rankins holding things down on the inside. Anderson had an 11-sack season in 2024, while Hunter has six double-digit sacks to his name, including a 12-sack campaign last year. Assuming Barton is at left tackle, he’ll face a major challenge. And with right tackle Luke Goedeke battling a foot injury heading into the weekend, he won’t have it any easier.
It would help in a big way if the group can get some push up front and open things up for Irving, Rachaad White and Sean Tucker in the run game. Irving was held to 2.6 yards per carry on 14 carries last week, and it was Baker Mayfield who finished as the Bucs’ leading rusher with 39 yards on five carries (7.8 avg.). Offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard can help Mayfield, the offensive line and the passing game if he can get the run game going, and finding some success in the screen/short passing game would be huge, too. Whatever gets the ball out of Mayfield’s hands quickly and keeps Anderson and Hunter from impacting the game, right?
Defensively for the Bucs, they need to get their own pass rush rolling. Haason Reddick had a strong debut in red, white and pewter last week, but Tampa Bay needs more from Yaya Diaby, as well as Vita Vea and Calijah Kancey. Kancey was especially quiet in Week 1, and with the injury to Houston center Jake Andrews, he and Vea need to cause some havoc on the interior to keep quarterback C.J. Stroud off schedule.
As far as the back half of the Tampa Bay defense, the secondary badly needs to hold on to any potential interceptions that come its way. It’s a tale as old as time for the Bucs defense, unfortunately, and after seeing Zyon McCollum drop two last week, there’s a lot of “here we go again” narratives building for that group. Perhaps the potential debut of 2025 second-round pick Benjamin Morrison can help, or maybe fellow 2025 draft pick Jacob Parrish shows off his ballhawking abilities this week. Of course, don’t be surprised if safeties Antoine Winfield Jr. and Tykee Smith are in position to create some takeaways.
Bucs HC Todd Bowles and pass game coordinator George Edwards – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR
The other big deciding factor in this game for the Bucs defense will be the money downs. Tampa Bay allowed Atlanta to go 6-of-15 on third down and 3-of-4 on fourth last week, and it led to a time of possession disadvantage of more than 10 minutes. The Bucs simply couldn’t get off the field in big moments, whether it was an actual conversion or a costly penalty. Bowles’ group can’t let that happen again Monday night against Stroud and the Texans.
Speaking of Stroud, he’s going to be the key for Houston come Monday night. His coming-out party during his rookie season came against the Bucs, as he threw for an NFL rookie record 470 yards and five touchdowns in a come-from-behind 39-37 win. He threw for 3,638 yards and 18 touchdowns in 14 other games that year, but the big performance against Bowles’ defense ballooned his numbers to 4,108 yards and 23 touchdowns during his Rookie of the Year season.
Stroud took a step back in 2024, throwing for 3,727 yards and 20 touchdowns to 12 interceptions, and his 2025 debut was certainly less than stellar as he went 19-of-27 for 188 yards and an interception. He’ll need to get the Texans offense going against the Bucs defense if his team is going to avoid an 0-2 start.
It can’t all be on Stroud, though, as he’ll need his pass-catchers to step up and create some separation. Eight different Texans caught passes last week, but it was rookie Jayden Higgins who led the way with just 32 yards. That type of production from the passing game won’t cut it in most games, so Higgins, fellow Iowa State product Jaylin Noel, Nico Collins and Dalton Schultz will have to step up against the Bucs in Week 2.
The offensive line, which could be missing its center, will need to be better this week as well. That group allowed three sacks and seven quarterback hits against the Rams in Week 1, so dialing in on Reddick, Diaby, Vea and Kancey and keeping them out of Stroud’s face is an important key to Houston’s success on offense in this one.
Texans DE Will Anderson Jr. – Photo by: USA Today
As much improvement as there needs to be from Stroud and the Texans offense in Week 2, it’s likely that DeMeco Ryans‘ defense will be charged with leading the way to a victory over the Bucs. That side of the ball had Houston in the game last week, only allowing 14 points to a potent Rams offense. Will Anderson Jr. was one of three Texans to sack Matthew Stafford in that game, and both he and Danielle Hunter are likely to be major factors Monday night.
In a lot of ways, though, Houston’s defense will be looking to make some of the same strides as Tampa Bay’s defense this week. The Texans did force and recover a fumble in last week’s loss, but more takeaways are in order from what is an extremely talented unit. Not only that, but this is a defense that allowed Los Angeles to go 7-of-13 on third downs and 1-of-1 on fourth downs, so getting off the field on money downs is bound to be just as big of a focus for the Texans as it will be for the Bucs.
It’ll be paramount for the Houston defense to key in on rookie wide receiver Emeka Egbuka Monday night after the 2025 first-round pick burst onto the scene in Week 1 with two touchdowns – including the game-winner – against the Falcons. At the same time, the Texans can’t lose sight of Mike Evans, so it’ll be plenty challenging for the secondary, which features Derek Stingley Jr., Kamari Lassiter and old foe C.J. Gardner-Johnson.
Key Players To Watch
It was said all summer and into training camp and the preseason. And in Week 1, it became even clearer. Rookie wide receiver Emeka Egbuka is the real deal. He caught four of his six targets for 67 yards and two touchdowns in his regular season debut, making it clear that the hype is legit. It’s hard to ask the former Ohio State star to repeat that two-score performance in Week 2, but look for him to continue making an impact. Not only will he continue to produce, but it’ll interesting to see how much attention he can draw away from Mike Evans, as that could open up another game-changing element of Tampa Bay’s offense.
Bucs WRs Emeka Egbuka and Mike Evans – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR
The main focus for the Bucs defense this week is inside linebacker SirVocea Dennis. Last week was an up-and-down return to action for the 2023 fifth-round pick who missed most of the 2024 season with a shoulder injury. The Falcons went after him and found success with Bijan Robinson creating a mismatch, and there were moments when it looked like Dennis was unplayable. But he recovered well late in the game and made some key stops against the run. Perhaps it was rust or maybe it was growing pains for a guy who has played sparingly over his first two NFL seasons. Whatever it is, he’ll have to shake it off in Houston.
If C.J. Stroud is going to rebound from a poor showing in Week 1, he’ll need to get more out of Nico Collins. Collins, a 2021 third-round pick out of Michigan, is coming off back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons. And over those two seasons, he caught 15 touchdowns. He’s Stroud’s go-to guy, but he was held in check last week to the tune of three catches on five targets for 25 yards. He needs to do more if Houston’s offense is going to get going. He may draw Zyon McCollum quite a bit on Monday night, and that’s going to be one of the main matchups that could go a long way in deciding this game.
Texans QB CJ Stroud and WR Nico Collins – Photo by: USA Today
At one time this offseason, Derek Stingley Jr. was the highest-paid defensive back in football. The former LSU Tiger had back-to-back five-interception seasons in 2023 and 2024, and he remains one of the game’s very best cornerbacks and the leader of the Texans secondary. No matter who he draws from the Bucs offense, it’s bound to be a great matchup, and it’ll be one that plays a big role in the game’s outcome. If he manages to take away Mike Evans completely or he draws Emeka Egbuka and can shut him down, it’ll force Baker Mayfield to go to options three, four, five and so on. That would certainly work in the favor of the Texans defense.