In a battle of two of the three undefeated NFC teams in Week Four of the 2025 NFL season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers fell at home to the Philadelphia Eagles, 31-25. The Buccaneers rallied impressively with a series of big plays in the second half but it wasn't enough to overcome a slow start that saw them down 24-3 just before halftime.
Quarterback Baker Mayfield finished the game with 289 passing yards and two touchdowns, but most of that production came in the second half, including touchdown passes of 77 yards to rookie wideout Emeka Egbuka and 72 yards to second-year running back Bucky Irving. Mayfield completed 12 of 21 passes for 65 yards and no touchdowns in the first half and generally relied on short passes against a Vic Fangio led Eagles defense designed to limit big plays. In the second half, Mayfield was 10 of 19 for 224 yards, those two touchdowns, an interception and a 108.2 passer rating.
The gradual uptick in Mayfield's downfield passing led some to wonder if he was operating at less than full strength on Sunday after his throwing was significantly limited during the week of practice due to a right biceps injury. Mayfield, however, said he was operating at 100 percent.
"Honestly, [I was] full-go," said Mayfield after the game. "It's just the way they were playing defense. They do such a good job of top-down not letting you take shots over the top, and that's just the way Vic coaches it, and those guys do a good job executing it. Whether it's more completions or just establishing the run game a little bit more – and to be able to continue drives early on – got to be able to do that. But yeah, I was full-go."
The Bucs only ran eight plays on their first two possessions, both ending in punts, including one that was blocked by the Eagles and returned for a touchdown. They did put together a field goal drive on their third positoin, but it was largely powered by penalty yards. Their three second quarter drives accumulated a total of 44 yards. Mayfield was irritated after the game about the offense's slow start.
"It goes back to, we were just kind of lifeless to begin with in the first half," he said. "We got punched in the mouth going into halftime – looked at the scoreboard, you're like, 'Alright. What are we going to do now?' But we're too damn good to wait to get hit in the mouth. We've got to come out swinging. We've got to play better."
Mayfield's precise throw to Egbuka on his long score, made on the run and fit in between the diving break-up efforts of safeties Reed Blankenship and Andrew Mukuba, was good evidence that the Bucs' quarterback was being honest about the state of his throwing arm. His sideline rainbow to Irving was right on the money as well. The Bucs' offense was not limited by a quarterback experiencing arm throw, but in the end it was undone by a pair of turnovers, something the team had totally avoided during its 3-0 start.
"Taking care of the ball – when we took care of the ball, we were undefeated," said Mayfield, who was intercepted at the goal line by linebacker Jihaad Campbell with eight minutes left. "When we didn't, [we] lost the game, and that goes for special teams as well, but [I'm] only going to speak to the offense. We've got to execute, got to be able to establish a run, and that's a good defense we played – got to be able to sustain drives for Grizz (Offensive Coordinator Josh Grizzard), create the explosives when we need and just continue to focus on the details and start fast. That's the goal."
