HOUSTON \u2014 Tampa Bay\u2019s Mike Evans is always thrilled to play in Houston since NRG Stadium is just an hour from where he grew up in Galveston, Texas.<\/p>\n
The star receiver in his 12th NFL season expects Monday night\u2019s trip to face the Houston Texans to mean a little more than past visits considering it could be his last time to play there.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt might be,\u201d Evans said. \u201cEven if I played another three or four years, when is the next time we go back? This might be my last time. So, I\u2019ve got a lot of people coming to this game for that sole reason.\u201d<\/p>\n
Evans, who also played collegiately in the state at Texas A&M, is hoping this visit goes better than Tampa Bay\u2019s previous trip to Houston in 2023 when C.J. Stroud\u2019s career-high five touchdown passes allowed the Texans to rally for a 39-37 win in the final minute.<\/p>\n
Evans said that loss \u201cbroke our heart\u201d and he hopes the Buccaneers can get some payback Monday.<\/p>\n
Leading that charge with him will be fellow Texan Baker Mayfield, who is from Austin. The quarterback is also looking forward to the trip to his home state and hopes to grab something from his favorite Texas-based burger chain while he\u2019s in town.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always awesome,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s always awesome to get Whataburger after the game as well. That\u2019s a really big plus. But yeah, it\u2019s always good to go back to Texas, knowing that there\u2019s a lot of people there to support. We have a bunch of guys that have roots there as well. So, it\u2019s a good time.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield (6) runs the ball during the first half of an NFL football game against the Atlanta Falcons, Sunday, Sept. 7, 2025, in Atlanta. Credit: AP\/Danny Karnik<\/p>\n
Tampa Bay will try to improve to 2-0 after rallying for a 23-20 win over Atlanta in the opener last week. The Texans are looking for their first win after falling to the Rams 14-9 last week after a late fumble.<\/p>\n
Houston coach DeMeco Ryans knows his team will have its hands full dealing with Mayfield and Tampa Bay\u2019s passing game Monday night.<\/p>\n
\u201cBaker Mayfield, he\u2019s playing the best he\u2019s played in his career,\u201d Ryans said. \u201c(Coach) Todd (Bowles) has done a really nice job of working with Baker. The passing game … they were top five in pretty much all the major offensive categories last year. It shows. They have weapons at receiver. Mike Evans has done it for a long time, continues to shine.\u201d<\/p>\n
And the Texans understand how potent rookie first-round pick Emeka Egbuka can be, too after he scored two touchdowns, including the game winner in his debut last week.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Houston Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans reacts on the sideline during the first half of an NFL football game against the Los Angeles Rams, Sunday, Sept. 7, 2025, in Inglewood, Calif. Credit: AP\/Gregory Bull<\/p>\n
\u201cEgbuka, has done a really nice job making some explosive plays,\u201d Ryans said. \u201cHe showed up big time for them in their game versus Atlanta. Baker, he does a really nice job of just moving around, scrambling in the pocket, keeping plays alive. You see toughness, you see grittiness from Baker, which allows their passing game to thrive.”<\/p>\n
Evans had five receptions for 51 yards in the opener. The Buccaneers would love to get him the ball more, but Bowles understands that if teams key on him then other receivers will have a chance to shine as Egbuka did last week.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a big focus of our offense,” Bowles said. “Obviously, he\u2019s a focus for defenses when they play us so he\u2019s going to command two or three guys sometimes. So, that opens up the run game, it opens up the other receivers, the tight ends, it helps the quarterback get his read a lot quicker. Mike does a lot of things even when he\u2019s not getting the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Buccaneers expect a challenge Monday night from a secondary that includes All-Pro cornerback Derek Stingley and safety Jalen Pitre. The group is looking for a better showing this week after allowing Puka Nacua to pile up 130 yards receiving in the Rams\u2019 win.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have a very ball-hawking secondary,\u201d Bowles said. \u201cThey keep eyes on the quarterback at all times. From Pitre, the nickel, to the two outside guys, to the edge rushers that make the ball come out. They\u2019re very in sync. DeMeco does a great job and makes sure those guys are going 100 miles an hour at all times.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2014 Tampa Bay\u2019s Mike Evans is always thrilled to play in Houston since NRG Stadium is just…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":226666,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5130],"tags":[4345,2505,1232,3528,358,3187,10190],"class_list":{"0":"post-226665","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-houston","9":"tag-houston-texans","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers","12":"tag-texas","13":"tag-tx","14":"tag-wires-bot"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115203846002846031","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226665\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}