Atlanta – – Another visit to the Mercedes -Benz stadium produced more sustainable memories for Emeka Egbuka.
Only eight months after helping the Ohio State to win a national championship by defeating Notre Dame, Egbuka took the spotlight on his return to Atlanta for her regular NFL season debut.
Egbuka caught two Touché passes, including a 259-second Go-Ahead with 59 seconds to play, and Tampa Bay recovered after losing the advance on a marathon journey by Atlanta to beat Falcons 23-20 in a spectacular opening match on Sunday.
“You can’t get a big ball that,” said Egbuka about Baker Mayfield’s pass pass in the last minute. “… Obviously, it’s great to be able to help my team win.”
Egbuka, the choice of first round, had four taken for 67 yards.
“He’s all we’ve been thinking about it since he’s here,” said Tampa Bay coach Todd Bowles. “He played with so much balance and Baker (Mayfield) played with so much balance.”
Mayfield said his adjustment with Egbuka like another best game player for Buccaneers has progressed “extremely quickly”.
“Just the way he worked,” said Mayfield. “… as you have seen today, it’s the real deal.”
After the pass of 25 yards from Mayfield to Egbuka, the failed additional point of Chase McLaughlin gave the Falcons an opening to force extensions with a basket.
Michael Penix Jr., who capped a 18-game journey by scoring on a 4 yards race for a 20-17 advance with 2:17 to play, moved the Falcons in a goal position in the last minute. Younghoe Koo was wide on the 44 yards, and his attempt was not close.
“He missed it,” said Falcons coach Raheem Morris. “I’m not going to sit here and pretend that I can tell you about the technique and what happened with this Miss. But we had to kick. These are very reinforced kicks. We have to lock ourselves and do this. ”
Koo was not present when the locker room was open to journalists.
Egbuka said the last -minute response from the Buccaneer to the loss of the advance proves “that we are resilients, that we play as a team”.
Mayfield completed 17 of the 32 passes for 167 yards with three affected.
The Falcons had two calls overturned with successful challenges while the defense of the Buccaneers was called to two personal faults on the calls for the breaststroke – the Pourerur on the Marathon des Falcons campaign, which covered 91 yards and lasted 8 minutes, 46 seconds.
“It was like an eternity,” said Mayfield about the long wait on the touch that the offensive has another opportunity.
In fourth drop compared to 4, Penx Pump took, then took off. Calijah Kancey of Tampa Bay held Penix’s legs while the quarterrier reached the goal line before losing possession of the ball. An examination confirmed the call for officials on the ground that Penix scored before losing the ball.
Atlanta managed to challenge the winger tightly Kyle Pitts and a call that Penix was broken before reaching the first marker during another fourth race more inside the 5. After this challenge, the Falcons had a first 1 test at 1 but need four stockings before Penix scores with 2:17.
Vita Vea and Greg Gaines have had blurring penalties to prolong Atlanta’s conduct.
Mayfield and the Buccaneers responded quickly.
“I mean, we were trying to go down and mark,” said Mayfield about the decision to decisive. “It was not a question of obtaining a goal in the field to link it.”
Fourth, conversions provided key games in the first half, which ended with an equality of 10-10.
The Buccaneers converted a fourth and 1 game when Mayfield found Mike Evans on a pass of 6 yards, keeping a life trip, which ended with the 48 yards of Chase McLaughlin at the start of the second period.
Bijan Robinson was arrested during a fourth and 1 race at the Tampa Bay 47, installing the Buccaneers for the Mayfield Touch pass at 30 yards in Egbuka.
Penix, entering his first full season as a starter in Atlanta, completed 27 of the 42 assists for 298 yards with a touchdown.
“I told him that after the match, he was going to be a problem in this league for a long time,” said Mayfield.
Robinson achieved six catches per 100 yards, including a 50 yards on the opening of Atlanta. Despite its success as a receiver out of the back field, Robinson and the Falcons were unable to establish a coherent racing game.
Robinson only had 12 races for 24 yards while the defense of Tampa Bay held the Falcons at 69 yards on the ground.
“We must be better in all aspects,” said Penix. “Not only rushing, but also me in a different situation where I could have given my guys a better chance at the ball.”
Buccaneers: CB Benjamin Morrison (hamstrings) was inactive.
Falcons: WR Jamal Agnew was listed as questionable with a snap injury in the second quarter. WR Darnell Mooney (shoulder) was selected after being considered a playing decision. Another receiver, Drake London, left the match with a shoulder injury.
Buccaneers: Visit Houston on September 15 in a match on Monday evening.
Falcons: Visit Minnesota next Sunday evening.
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
