Tampa Bay rallied to win a 20-19 decision at Houston thanks to Rachaad White’s two-yard touchdown run with six seconds remaining in the lid-lifter for Monday Night Football’s Week 2 doubleheader. The Buccaneers won outright as three-point road underdogs, hooking up money-line supporters with a +130 payout.
However, they didn’t get out of NRG Stadium unscathed. Starting defensive tackle Calijah Kancey sustained a torn pectoral muscle that’ll require season-ending surgery.
On the bright side, the foot injury that forced starting right tackle Luke Goedeke out of the game in the first quarter isn’t a long-term injury. Goedeke will miss time, though, possibly even several weeks, according to a report Monday from ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.
Tampa Bay was already playing without starting left tackle Tristan Wirfs, the four-time Pro-Bowl selection who had knee surgery in July. Wirfs was a limited participant at practice last week and should be back in the next week or two.
The 24-year-old Kancey was Tampa Bay’s first-round pick with the #19 overall selection in the 2023 NFL Draft. As a rookie, the University of Pittsburgh product started all 14 games he played in and recorded 26 tackles, 12 QB Hits, 10 tackles for loss and four sacks. He finished 10th in voting for Defensive Rookie of the Year honors.
Kancey started all 12 games he played in last season, producing 28 tackles, 17 QB Hits, 11 TFL’s, 7.5 sacks, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery. He didn’t record a stat in last week’s comeback win at Atlanta, but he had one TFL at Houston before getting injured.
Baker Mayfield completed 25-of-38 passes for 215 yards and two touchdowns without an interception against the Texans. Rookie WR Emeka Egbuka had four receptions for 29 yards and one TD, while WR Ryan Miller had the other score on a 20-yard TD catch.
As of early Tuesday night, FanDuel had the Bucs installed as 6.5-point home favorites (with a -120 price) for Sunday’s showdown vs. the winless New York Jets, who were +270 on the money line. The total for ‘over/under’ wagers was 44.5 points.
FanDuel has Tampa Bay with 22/1 odds to win Super Bowl LX. Those are the 10th-shortest odds on the board. The betting shop had the Bucs as -180 ‘chalk’ to win the NFC South.