The Tampa Bay Buccaneers might have won their game against the Houston Texans to move to 2-0, but it wasn't all sunshine and sprinkles. While the defense did its part, the special teams unit was an absolute nightmare in the Monday night showdown.
Tampa led for most of the game but struggled to put the struggling Texans away and their special teams played a major part in letting Houston stick around and eventually taking the lead late in the game. Again, the Bucs won the game late but that doesn't mean we can't complain about what went wrong for this group.
Simply put, Thomas McGaughey's unit did not do their part and while he's not the one out on the field doing the work, he's the one leading them on the sidelines. That's something the Bucs will need to elevate if they want to continue happening after this disaster of an outing for McGaughey and his special teams crew.
Thomas McGaughey should be fired after atrocious outing from Bucs special teams
The first major gaffe on the Bucs special teams came in the third quarter when Chase McLaughlin missed a 38-yard field goal that would have given the Bucs a seven-point lead. That miss could have potentially been forgiven if it was the only blunder by this group but that wasn't the case.
On the Buccaneers' next offensive drive, they were forced to punt and disaster struck. Riley Dixon couldn't get the punt off before the Texans' special teams core caved in on him and blocked the punt. Former Buccaneer Justin Watson recovered the blocked punt and set the Texans up on Tampa's 35-yard line.
Texans block the punt and get the ball inside the 40!
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While the Texans only scored a field goal on that drive, the Bucs went three-and-out on their next possession, giving the ball right back to Houston's offense.
It somehow got worse though. Despite Dixon getting the punt off in time the next go-around, the Bucs allowed for Jaylin Noel to return the punt a whopping 53 yards down the field and setting the Texans up on the Bucs' 26-yard line. Two plays later, the Texans took the lead on a Nick Chubb touchdown run.
Again, Tampa won this game and that's all fine and dandy but fans are not going to feel good about the state of the special teams group until a change is made.