A dominant opener for several Bucs standouts.

Ladies and gentlemen, we’re back.

An excruciating 8-month wait finally gave way to NFL football once again Sunday, and it came packed with cannon fire and waiving flags of the Bucs’ loyal krewe.

From start to finish, the Bucs thoroughly dominated the Washington Commanders in a convincing 37-20 opening day victory, their fourth consecutive of such. Four straight Week 1 wins tie the Eagles and Dolphins for second-longest streak in the NFL behind only the the rival New Orleans Saints, who expanded their lead to 6 straight after dominating the hapless Carolina Panthers.

The Bucs revved smoothly on offense and weathered costly injuries on defense to start their quest to a fourth consecutive NFC South title. With that said, let’s do our first shoutouts of 2024!

Offensive Top Performer: QB Baker Mayfield

Mayfield, with hefty contract and comfortable self-assurance in hand, looked completely locked in from the first snap and exerted his will on a fledgling Washington secondary. Despite heavy interior pressure at times, Baker continued his good habits from 2023 when it came to handling pressure and creating something.

With an impressive command on new OC Liam Coen’s system, Mayfield completed 24 of 30 passes for 289 yards and four touchdowns, the fifth such instance in his career and second as a Buc. He also added 3 carries for 21 yards.

He toyed with a bad defense, sure, and the challenge will be upped significantly in the coming weeks, but you need to see good teams dominate bad opponents, and that’s exactly what happened. We should be excited for the next step in Mayfield’s journey.

Of course, we will shout out the dynamic duo of Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, who faced basically no resistance in tattering Washington’s D to ribbons.

Evans added two more highlight-reel touchdowns to his lofty resume, now sitting at 96 overall for his career. He finished with 5 catches for 61 yards and the scores. Godwin returned to his natural role and thrived with several successful screen plays, leading the team in receiving with 8 receptions for 83 yards and a touchdown.

Of course, the rookies Jalen McMillan and Bucky Irving get some flowers, too. McMillan was open big multiple times. While one near-catch on a would-be walk-in touchdown stung, he made up for it by drawing a DPI penalty deep in the redzone and then finishing the job later with a 32-yard score for his first career catch.

Irving led the team in rushing with 9 carries for 62 yards, including an explosive 31-yard burst. He and Rachaad White complemented each other well, with Irving grinding on the gound while White slashed through the air (6 catches, 75 yards).

Defensive Top Performer: CB Jamel Dean

We’ve might entered an inter-dimensional wormhole of some kind considering Dean, with his checkered injury history, was the only outside corner of Tampa’s to escape this game without a significant injury.

“Last man standing” does aptly apply here, but Dean played very well all game regardless and eliminated Washington’s only scary pass threat in Terry McLaurin, who notched only 2 catches for 17 yards — neither of which came against Dean. The sixth-year man out of Auburn also added 5 total tackles.

With Zyon McCollum (concussion), Josh Hayes (ankle), and Bryce Hall (ankle) all seemingly set to miss time, Dean needs to show that top 20 corner ceiling he’s displayed in the past, and not the severely inconsistent version from last year.

Christian Izien deserves props for similar reasons as he stepped up to play outside, and he held up fine enough considering the circumstances.

SirVocea Dennis played very well at linebacker as he got consistent snaps on third downs and obvious passing situations, as well as filling in for Lavonte David when the latter required an IV drip. Dennis laid a couple big hits, recorded a sack, and finished with 6 total tackles.

Joe Tryon-Shoyinka started his prove-it year on the right foot with multiple pressures, including the team’s first sack of the year and a forced fumble. He’ll be hugely important for the team’s pass rush all year long if he can finally break out.

ST Top Performer: K Chase McLaughlin

Getting frazzled at a couple preseason misses feels silly now as McLaughlin did his duty with aplomb on a sweltering late Tampa afternoon.

McLaughlin crushed all 3 of his field goal attempts, including one from 56 yards, as well as all four extra points. His early scoring put the Bucs offense and defense in more comfortable positions to operate. After having one of the best seasons for any Tampa kicker in history, McLaughlin repeating that effort would be pleasing to see.