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2025 Game Preview: Buccaneers-Texans, Week 2

As the Bucs seek a fifth straight 2-0 season start, they will have to contend with the prime-time lights, as hard-charging Texans defense and quarterback C.J. Stroud, who had a monster outing against them in 2023

Sep 11, 2025 at 08:00 AM

Scott Smith

Senior Writer/Editor

After a rousing win over division-rival Atlanta in Week One, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers hit the road again in Week Two to take on the Texans in Houston. It is Tampa Bay's first interconference game of the season and its first appearance in prime time, as the Buccaneers and Texans are the first act in a Monday Night Football doubleheader. It is also an opportunity or the Bucs to accomplish something that has become familiar in recent years and something the franchise has never done before.

Already one of only two teams in the NFL, along with Philadelphia, to win each of their last five season openers, the Buccaneers could also go to 2-0 for the fifth year in a row. That will only happen, however, if the Bucs can do something they've never done in 49 previous seasons: win a game in Houston. The Buccaneers were 0-4 against the Oilers on the road before they moved to Tennessee and have lost their previous three contests in Houston against the Texans.

In addition, prime time has not been kind to the Buccaneers in recent years. Though the team believes it is nothing more than coincidence and not any kind of mental block, it did lose all six of its regular-season night games across the 2023-24 seasons. As quarterback Baker Mayfield noted, spending the day in a hotel room while you're already eager to get the action started is the downside of prime-time games, but he still is excited by the latest opportunity to be alone on the NFL stage.

"Then, on the other side of it, Monday Night Football is just so awesome," said Mayfield. "Growing up and watching it, it's a surreal thing to be able to do, knowing you're the only game of the night and the whole nation's watching."

The Buccaneers tried to simulate some of the process of preparing for prime-time games during the near-week it spent in Pittsburgh during the preseason. Scheduling one of their practices during training camp for the evening was done for the same reason.

"The night practice that we had in training camp and going to Pittsburgh early, handling that whole week and then playing at night, we've had some experience with it so we know how to bide our time," said Head Coach Todd Bowles. It's never great laying around in the hotel all day but we make ourselves useful. We understand how we play, what time we've got to play and how much rest we need and we get that accordingly so we're ready to go."

The Bucs are far more concerned with the challenges of facing the Texans than the game's venue or scheduled kickoff time. Houston has finished 10-7 and won the AFC South in each of DeMeco Ryans' first two seasons as head coach, and the Bucs well remember the wild 39-37 shootout loss they were handed the last time they visited NRG Stadium in 2023. Houston had one 11 games total over the previous three seasons before Ryans arrival but have quickly remade themselves in their coach's image and built one of the league's scariest defenses from front to back.

"It starts with DeMeco Ryans, just the type of guy he is, the type of leader, a guy that played successfully in the NFL as a linebacker," Mayfield asserted. "You understand that he's going to demand his guys to play extremely hard. That's the one thing I remember; obviously they have some new pieces from two years ago, but they fly to the ball. They are going to play really hard."

The Houston defense features two edge rushers who hit double digits in sacks in 2024 with Will Anderson and Danielle Hunter; a rangy tone-setter in the middle in Azeez Al-Shaair; and a top-notch cornerback duo in Pro Bowler Derek Stingley and 2024 rookie standout Kamari Lassiter. Safety Jalen Pitre is also a big-time playmaker in the slot.

"[It's] just how physical they are and how they come off the ball. We refer to it as a 'jet technique,' where they're jetting up the field. Their ability with those guys – whether it's Anderson coming off the edge or Danielle Hunter – they really set the tone of the defense. But you can tell from that position all the way through the stack linebackers and Azeez and then Pitre playing the nickel, they run to the football. It's a lot of the things that we harp on as an offense with our guys running to the ball and helping each other up and playing harder than the other team. They embody that as well."

Houston's offense got off to a slow start in Week One with just nine points scored on a trio of field goals, but the depth chart is loaded with elite talent, starting with third-year quarterback C.J. Stroud. The 2023 Offensive Rookie of the Year torched the Bucs for 470 yards and five touchdowns in that aforementioned shootout in his debut season. His supporting cast includes Nico Collins, who had back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons in 2023 and 2024, as well as fellow veteran wideout Christian Kirk and rookies Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel.

"Very quick release, very strong arm, very accurate," said Bowles. "He can run, he can see the blitzes coming, he can read coverages very well and he's very accurate. When he gets to plant his feet and survey the field he can kill you.

"With Nico, it's size and speed, size and speed. He's very athletic that way. Kirk can get down the field. They drafted Higgins from Iowa State…they got two from Iowa State actually who can play well, very good-size receivers, very good hands. They can hurt you."

The Buccaneers' of course, can counter with talent of their own that has produced five straight playoff seasons. Mayfield leads the NFL since the start of 2023 with 72 touchdown passes, rookie wideout caught two touchdown passes in his NFL debut in Atlanta and the Bucs' defense held the Falcons to just one more touchdown after they had scored on their opening possession. To get that score that briefly put them ahead with two minutes left to play, Atlanta had to run eight plays from inside the Bucs' five-yard line.

Now they have to sit one more day to put the pads back on and try to prove they are a prime-time contender, but it will be worth the wait to have the league's attention on Monday night.

"I know they're juiced up," said Grizzard. "Anytime you have a chance to play on Monday night, especially now it's on the road, it's a hostile environment, very loud environment and against one of the better defenses in the NFL, it will be a great challenge. I know they're ready for it."

GAME AND BROADCAST DETAILS

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1-0) at Houston Texans (0-1)

Monday, September 15, 7:00 p.m. ET

NRG Stadium (capacity: 71,995)

Houston, Texas

Television: ABC

TV Broadcast Team: Joe Buck (play-by-play), Troy Aikman (analyst), Laura Rutledge and Lisa Salters (reporters)

Radio: 98Rock (WXTB, 97.9 FM), Flagship Station

Radio Broadcast Team: Gene Deckerhoff (play-by-play), Dave Moore (analyst), T.J. Rives (reporter)

Spanish Radio: 96.1 Caliente

Spanish Radio Broadcast Team: Carlos Bohorquez (play-by-play), Martin Gramática (analyst), Santiago Gramática (reporter)

ALL-TIME HEAD-TO-HEAD SERIES

The arrival of the Houston Texans as the NFL's 32nd team in 2002 prompted the NFL to change its scheduling format to one that relied on rotating divisional matchups. For the Buccaneers, who play in the opposite conference from the Texans, that means their entire series history with the Texans was made up of one date every four years, like clockwork. However, the "17th game" that was added to the schedule in 2021 opened up the possibility of additional Bucs-Texans matchups, and for the first time that has come to pass. Because the Bucs and Texans each finished first in their respective divisions in 2024 and the NFC South and AFC South are matched up for the 17th game in 2025, we get an extra meeting between the two teams halfway in between their regularly-scheduled contests The Bucs and Texans first met in Tampa in 2003 and that means, prior to this year, they had hooked up six times, most recently at NRG Stadium in Houston.

That contest in 2023 was an extremely memorable one, even if the memories aren't particularly happy for the Buccaneers. In a coming-out party that launched him towards stardom, then-rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud – the second-overall pick in the 2023 draft after Bryce Young – threw for 470 yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions in a 39-37 shootout win. Baker Mayfield also threw two touchdown passes, including one to tight end Cade Otton with 46 seconds left that gave the Buccaneers a 37-33 lead. Incredibly Stroud needed just 40 seconds (with two timeouts involved) to take his team 75 yards and hit Tank Dell on the game-winning 15-yard touchdown pass.

Tampa Bay won the first contest between the two teams in '03 when they were the NFL's defending champion, though it happened to be the last of seven victories for the Buccaneers that season. It was also their last win in the series, as Houston has won the last five. Prior to the 2023 meeting described above, the Texans came to Tampa in 2019 and won a back-and-forth contest, 23-20, on a fourth-quarter field goal by Ka'imi Fairbairn. The Bucs rallied from 14 points down with a Justin Watson touchdown catch and a Ronald Jones scoring run in the second quarter, but Jameis Winston was picked off four times, including one last time with less than two minutes left in the game.

So Bucs-Texans is a brief history lesson, and before the last two games, not a very competitive one. The first five games in the series were all decided by double-digit margins. The expansion Texans were still finding their feet in 2003 when the reigning champs beat them 16-3 to open the series. Running back Thomas Jones had the biggest day of his brief time as a Buccaneer, rushing for 134 yards and the game's only touchdown and Greg Spires sacked backup quarterback Dave Ragone 2.5 times.

Alternately, in 2011, the Texans were on the way to their very first playoff berth while the Buccaneers were limping to a 4-12 finish, and that won ended in Houston's favor, 37-9. Houston scored on the game's first play, an 80-yard Matt Schaub-Jacoby Jones connection and running back Arian Foster did the rest with 186 yards from scrimmage and two scores.

The 2007 meeting in Houston looked as if it had the potential to be tightly-contested, with the 8-4 Buccaneers taking on the 6-7 Texans, but the home team won that one by two touchdowns. The Bucs did go on to the playoffs that year while Houston made it to .500 for the first time in franchise history.

The Buccaneers had been to Houston before the 2002 expansion; their first regular-season game ever, in fact, was in the old Astrodome. But that was against the Houston Oilers, who are now the Tennessee Titans, so that game is technically part of the Bucs-Titans all-time ledger. The Buccaneers played four regular-season games in Houston before the Oilers moved to Nashville and lost them all, so Monday's trip is, in fact, another opportunity for the franchise's first win in that city.

Also, the Buccaneers and Texans do have an extensive preseason history together. When Houston first joined the league in 2002, the two teams agreed to a nine-year run of preseason games, meeting in the last warm-up game every year through 2010. The teams alternated playing host to those preseason finales, starting with Houston in 2002, so that's five more trips the Buccaneers have made to Texas. Not that it's particularly relevant, but the Buccaneers did win seven of those nine games, including four of five in Houston.

Prior to 2023, the most recent game in Houston occurred in September of 2015. Kyle Brindza drilled a 58-yard field goal for the Buccaneers, who were actually winning by a 9-7 score after a Charles Sims touchdown catch. However, Houston scored the game's final 12 points as its offense racked up 30 first downs and running back Alfred Blue ran for 139 yards and a touchdown.

NOTABLE CONNECTIONS

Buccaneers Quarterbacks Coach Thaddeus Lewis had a brief stint with the Texans during his NFL playing career. Lewis signed with Houston in November of the 2015 season and finished out that campaign with the team, though he did not see any game action.
Texans running back Dare Ogunbowale is with the team that originally signed him as an undrafted free agent out of Wisconsin in 2017, but it hasn't been an unbroken tenure in Houston, and one of his other NFL stops was in Tampa. After about half a season on the Texans' practice squad in 2017, he was released and then signed by the Buccaneers to their practice squad. He eventually got into 18 games with the Buccaneers in 2018-19, rushing 11 times for 17 yards and two touchdowns and catching 35 passes for 286 yards.
Tackle Charlie Heck, in his first season with the Buccaneers, originally entered the NFL as a fifth-round draft pick of the Texans in 2020. He played four seasons in Houston, appearing in 41 games with 21 starts.
Former NFL defensive lineman Frank Okam, who was drafted by the Texans in 2008 and is now their assistant defensive line coach, finished his playing career in Tampa. He appeared in 12 games with six starts across the 2010-11 seasons.
Houston Special Teams/Defensive Assistant Sean Baker signed with the Buccaneers as an undrafted free agent safety out of Ball State in 2012. He spent a portion of that season on Tampa Bay's practice squad and also went back to training camp with the team in 2013 but did not see any regular-season action.
Houston safety M.J. Stewart began his NFL career as a second-round draft pick of the Buccaneers in 2018. Stewart played slot corner for the Buccaneers for two seasons, appearing in 21 games with six starts before being waived during training camp in 2020. After two seasons with the Browns, Stewart signed with the Texans in 2022 and has since been converted to safety.

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SENIOR COACHING STAFFS

Tampa Bay:

Head Coach Todd Bowles

Offensive Coordinator Josh Grizzard
Run Game Coordinator/Defensive Line Coach Kacy Rodgers
Pass Game Coordinator/Outside Linebackers Coach Larry Foote
Special Teams Coordinator Thomas McGaughey

Houston:

Head Coach DeMeco Ryans

Offensive Coordinator Nick Caley
Defensive Coordinator Matt Burke
Special Teams Coordinator Frank Ross

KEY 2025 ROSTER ADDITIONS

Buccaneers:

LB John Bullock (UDFA)
T Benjamin Chukwuma (UDFA)
P Riley Dixon (UFA)
WR Emeka Egbuka (1st-round draft pick)
OLB Haason Reddick (UFA)
T Charlie Heck (UFA)
WR Tez Johnson (7th-round draft pick)
G Michael Jordan (FA)
CB Kindle Vildor (UFA)
CB Benjamin Morrison (2nd-round draft pick)
CB Jacob Parrish (3rd-round draft pick)
DL Elijah Roberts (5th-round draft pick)
QB Teddy Bridgewater (FA)
OLB David Walker (4th-round draft pick…on injured reserve)
RB Josh Williams (UDFA)

Texans:

WR Braxton Berrios (UFA)
T Trent Brown (UFA…currently on practice squad)
RB Nick Chubb (FA)
T Aireontae Ersery (2nd-round draft pick)
S C.J. Gardner-Johnson (T-PHI)
WR Jayden Higgins (2nd-round draft pick)
G Ed Ingram (T-MIN)
WR Christian Kirk (T-JAX)
RB Woody Marks (4th-round draft pick)
QB Graham Mertz (6th-round draft pick)
WR Jaylin Noel (3rd-round draft pick)
DT Sheldon Rankins (FA)
S Jaylen Reed (6th-round draft pick…currently on injured reserve)
T Cam Robinson (UFA)
CB Jaylin Smith (3rd-round draft pick)
CB Tremon Smith (UFA)
LB E.J. Speed (UFA)
LB Darrell Taylor (UFA)
G Laken Tomlinson (UFA)
WR Justin Watson (UFA)

ADDITIONAL 2025 CHANGES/DEVELOPMENTS OF NOTE

Buccaneers:

The Buccaneers roll into 2025 with their fourth offensive coordinator in the last four years. This year's transition, however, is a bit different than the last two. In 2023 and 2024, Dave Canales and Liam Coen, respectively, came to town with entirely new offensive systems that the players had to absorb. In 2025, the Buccaneers followed the departure of Coen to be the Jacksonville Jaguars' head coach by promoting former Pass Game Coordinator Josh Grizzard from within. Grizzard will certainly evolve the Bucs' offense in new ways and have his own spin on play-calling, but the basic system remains the same, offering a very helpful continuity for a team that is also returning all of its offensive regulars from a unit that finished in the top five in 2024 in net yards, points scored, rushing yards and passing yards. After Grizzard's promotion, the Buccaneers also hired one of his former colleagues, Kefense Hynson, to be the team's new pass game coordinator.
To celebrate their landmark 50th season, the Buccaneers are unveiling a new sort of throwback uniform in 2025. In addition to the popular "Creamsicle" togs that they will don for the Thursday night game against Atlanta in Week 15, the Bucs are also wearing, for this season only, a white version of their original uniforms worn during the 1976 season. Those uniforms will make their debut in the home opener against the Jets in Week Three and will be broken out again when the Bucs play at Seattle in Week Five, a game that is a battle of the NFL's two expansion teams from 1976.
While Todd Bowles remains the play-caller for Tampa Bay's defense, he did make some changes to his defensive coaching staff. Mike Caldwell, who was part of the Bucs' staff from 2019-21 when Bowles was the defensive coordinator, returns to tutor the inside linebackers. Larry Foote has moved from inside linebackers to outside linebackers and is also the team's run game coordinator. George Edwards, who previously coached the outside linebackers, is now the pass game coordinator.
The Buccaneers have a handful of significant injury concerns to monitor as the 2025 season opens. Wide receiver Chris Godwin continues his return from a series lower leg injury suffered in Week Seven of last season and All-Pro left tackle Tristan Wirfs underwent arthroscopic knee surgery in July. Both players are in doubt for Week One but neither was placed on the reserve/PUP list, preserving hope that they would miss fewer than the four games required by getting that designation. Wide receiver Jalen McMillan sustained a severe knee strain in Week Two of the preseason against Pittsburgh and is expected to be sidelined for at least half of the regular season. He is currently on injured reserve but can be designated for return.
The changes made to the kickoff process by the NFL during the offseason appear to have impacted the Buccaneers' strategy for that play in a significant manner. Now that a touchback on a ball caught or landing in the end zone puts the ball at the receiving team's 35, the Buccaneers will likely rely less on touchbacks, which they produced on more than 75% of their kickoffs last year. With that in mind, the team took kick coverage units into serious consideration when shaping the 53-man roster and multiple players – including linebacker John Bullock, cornerback Josh Hayes, outside linebacker Markees Watts and wide receivers Ryan Miller and Kameron Johnson – made the team in large part due to their special teams contributions.

Texans:

When DeMeco Ryans landed the head coaching job in Houston in 2023, he brought Bobby Slowik with him from the 49ers to serve as the offensive coordinator. After two seasons on the job, Slowik was let go and the Texans turned over the offensive reins to Nick Caley, who had previously served as a tight ends coach and passing game coordinator on Sean McVay's staff with the Rams. In addition to their offensive line overhaul, the Texans also made a change at the coaching level, replacing Chris Strausser with Cole Popovich, who was promoted from within. Popovich was also named the run game coordinator.
The Texans' longest-tenured player, long-snapper Jon Weeks, signed with the 49ers, ending a run in Houston that stretched for 15 years and included 244 games played.
The Texans, one of four teams in the NFL that conducts its practices and non-game day activities at its home stadium, is looking to build a new training facility away from NRG Stadium. No timetable has been set for the project as of yet, but the team feels as if it has outgrown its space on the current site and has been frequently interrupted by other events at the stadium.
After the Texans acquired Diggs in a trade with Buffalo in April of 2024, they quickly restructured his contract so that the receiver could hit free agency a year earlier. Sure enough, after eight games, 47 catches and a half-season on injured reserve in Houston, Diggs left to sign with the New England Patriots.
Houston also traded away both starting left tackle Laremy Tunsil and 2022 first-round pick guard Kenyon Green in the offseason to kick off an offensive line overhaul after disappointing results from that unit in 2024. The team then added Cam Robinson, Laken Tomlinson and Trent Brown in free agency and drafted Aireontae Ersery in the second round to give them multiple options for aligning a front five. The Texans' Week One lineup of Robinson at left tackle, Tomlinson at left guard, Jake Andrews at center, Tytus Howard at right guard and Ersery at right tackle was different at every position from the five they started in the final game of 2024.

INJURY REPORT

Key:

DNP: Did not participate in practice

LP: Limited participation in practice

FP: Full participation in practice

NL: Not listed

Buccaneers:

The first injury report of the week will be added on Thursday afternoon.

Texans:

The first injury report of the week will be added on Thursday afternoon.

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