• Tampa Bay used a late drive to improve to 2-0 in its bid to win another NFC South title.
• The Texans, winners of the past two AFC South crowns, fell two games behind the upstart Colts.
• Bucs rookie Emeka Egbuka had another big night.

Frenetic start. Frenetic finish. In between, a fairly boring Monday night game eventually won by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who defeated the Houston Texans 20-19.

A matchup of 2024 division winners wasn’t nearly as exciting as their shootout from two years ago – both clubs finished in first place in 2023, too – won 39-37 by the Texans. But Monday ended with a flurry, Bucs QB Baker Mayfield orchestrating an 11-play, 80-yard TD drive in the closing minutes that provided the final margin while snapping Tampa Bay’s five-game losing streak to Houston.

While the 2-0 Buccaneers are headed in the right direction to capture a fifth straight NFC South crown, the winless Texans find themselves in a significant early hole.

But winners and losers from Monday night’s opener of a two-game act run deeper than that …

WINNERS

Todd Bowles

Four seasons, four consecutive 2-0 starts for the Bucs unassuming HC.

Emeka Egbuka

After finding the end zone twice in his NFL debut a week ago, the Bucs’ first-round wideout scored again Monday on a 15-yard catch-and-run hookup with Mayfield. Better, Egbuka’s drop late in the game didn’t lead to a soul-crushing loss after Tampa Bay lost the lead with 2:10 to go.

Charlie Heck

The Bucs’ reserve tackle got away with a fairly blatant trip that sprung Egbuka for the go-ahead TD. If you ain’t cheatin’ etc. etc.

Danielle Hunter

Now in his 11th NFL season, the Houston pass rusher’s sack of Mayfield gave him more than 100 for his career and made him only the seventh active player to reach that plateau.

Indianapolis Colts

Their stunning 2-0 start looks even better in light of the Texans’ early season hole.

Lavonte David

The veteran linebacker, who’s going to have solid Hall of Fame credential when he retires, became the first player in Tampa Bay history to start 200 games Monday night.

Native Texans

Mayfield and WR Mike Evans are among the Lone Star State sons playing for the Bucs who enjoyed a happy homecoming. Mayfield threw two more TD passes Monday, giving him 46 since the start of last season – more than any player save Lamar Jackson (47). His 15-yard scramble on fourth-and-10 on Tampa Bay’s final drive effectively saved the game. Evans caught five passes for a game-high 56 yards.

LOSERS

Houston Texans

They’re 0-2 and looking up at the Colts. The offense managed only 266 yards and 12 first downs, while the defense couldn’t keep the Bucs out of the end zone in the final two-plus minutes. Plenty to work on here – though it must be noted Houston was also 0-2 in 2023, the club’s first season with coach DeMeco Ryans and QB C.J. Stroud.

Lavonte David

If the Bucs’ longtime defensive leader doesn’t turn into Mr. Butterfingers in the fourth quarter, Houston’s late-game surge might have never transpired.

Bucs’ injured list

Heck was in because starting RT Luke Goedeke, who recently signed a four-year extension, left the game in the first quarter with a foot injury. (LT Tristan Wirfs has yet to play this season after undergoing knee surgery in July, though his return does appear to be drawing close.) Tampa Bay also lost DL Calijah Kancey in the first half to a pectoral injury. For a team that’s also still without WR Chris Godwin, the medical issues are piling up fast.

Tampa Bay special teams

Tampa Bay K Chase McLaughlin is one of many experiencing early season struggles. His 38-yard field-goal try in the third quarter drilled the upright but didn’t go through − only the second miss inside 40 yards of the seventh-year vet’s career. (McLaughlin also missed a 44-yarder in Week 1.) In the fourth quarter, Riley Dixon had a punt blocked, a sequence Houston turned into a field goal. Next, the Bucs gave up a 53-yard punt return to rookie Jaylin Noel that set up the go-ahead TD run by Nick Chubb. For good measure Tampa Bay held on the ensuing kickoff, nullifying its own return.

Tom Brady used to dominate the screen for three hours on Sunday, Monday or Thursday – then he retired. In his post-playing days, Brady has become inescapable on the screen.

The seven-time Super Bowl champion is no stranger to the spotlight. He walked into a broadcasting job with Fox Sports, serving on the top team for NFL games. He was on the call for Super Bowl 59 as an analyst alongside Kevin Burkhardt.

He added part-owner of the Las Vegas Raiders to his portfolio. On Monday, he announced that he’ll play in the Fanatics Flag Football Classic in March 2026.

On Monday night, he appeared in the Raiders’ coaches box with a headset on.

It’s an interesting look for Brady, especially after the NFL relaxed some of the broadcast restrictions they initially put in place for him.

ESPN’s Peter Schrager reported that Raiders offensive coordinator Chip Kelly consults with Brady at least two to three times a week. The duo gets together to go over film and game plans.

That puts Brady in a weird spot, especially when he’s calling games for teams that will be playing the Raiders at some point. As highlighted by 106.7 The Fan’s Grant Paulsen, Brady was on the call for the Washington Commanders’ game in Week 1 and the Raiders will play them in Week 3.

As ESPN’s Field Yates noted, Brady will call the Chicago Bears’ Week 3 contest before the Raiders play them in Week 4.

In Week 2, Brady was behind the mic for the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles’ Super Bowl 59 rematch – two teams the Raiders will play this season.

While there is no evidence that Brady is getting any additional advantage due to his broadcasting job, it won’t stop fans, players, coaches or media from speculating.

According to ESPN, Brady was prohibited from participating in the following things during the 2024 season:

• Brady will not be permitted in another team’s facility
• He cannot witness team practices
• He cannot attend broadcast production meetings, either in person or virtually
• He cannot publicly criticize game officials
• He cannot publicly criticize other teams
• Brady will be subject to the NFL’s gambling policy
• He will also be subject to the NFL’s anti-tampering policy

In 2025, Brady can attend production meetings with Fox provided they take place virtually or off-site.

His presence in the coaching booth on Monday night raised some red flags for plenty. It remains to be seen what, if anything, comes out of that new development.

• Spencer Strider has made 21 starts this season after elbow surgery cost him a full year.
• Atlanta’s ace isn’t dominating the way he did before injury – but he’s good enough to adapt.
• Braves will miss the postseason, but Strider has pitched better down the stretch.

WASHINGTON — Spencer Strider’s first pitch came out of his hand at 95.6 mph, mirroring his average velocity this season, and it did not induce a feeble swing nor a helpless look at a called strike, but rather a hard-hit line drive to straightaway center field.

To the casual observer accustomed to the average Strider fastball touching 97.6 mph just a couple years ago, when he was striking out a stunning 13.5 batters per nine innings through his first three seasons for the Atlanta Braves, it might have seemed a little disappointing.

Counterpoint: There’s nothing disappointing about one pitch, one out.

That was the outcome Sept. 15 when the Washington Nationals’ CJ Abrams led off the game with a harmless fly ball to left. After six pitches, the inning was over.

And a couple hours later, Strider had bulled and finessed and rope-a-doped his way through seven solid innings, perhaps his best overall start as this season after his second Tommy John surgery comes to a close.

The reinvention of Spencer Strider might never be complete, and perhaps it is a bit overblown to suggest the 6-foot, 195-pound right-hander was a total teardown project. Nor is it impossible that Strider’s velocity reach those rarefied heights again, when he was punching out 281 batters in 186 ⅔ innings and winning 20 games for the 2023 Braves.

Yet after two elbow reconstructions, that guy might be gone for good. But this guy is well on his way to becoming a reasonable facsimile.

“It’s very encouraging that I struggled a lot and was able to make some adjustments and things are trending in the right direction right when I would’ve wanted myself to, specifically,” says Strider after striking out six and giving up one run over seven innings of an 11-3 win. “We’re not going to have that opportunity to pitch in the postseason.

“But trying to make something out of this year knowing I was going to be struggling and working through things is encouraging, for sure.”

Spencer Strider stats don’t tell the whole story

Indeed, the Braves are 67-83, after a raft of injuries to rotation and lineup alike. This will be their first October without baseball since 2017. Strider, in the cruelest black-and-white terms, is simply a dude with a 6-13 record and 4.64 ERA, whose win over the Nationals snapped his second five-game losing streak this season.

Yet the significance of his recent resurgence is not lost on the Braves.

“It’s not easy,” manager Brian Snitker says of a second Tommy John comeback. “You talk about it all the time – you miss a year and it takes a long time to get back.

“You have to stay with it. He has. And he’s made really good adjustments, and indicative with how well he threw.”

In fact, Strider’s last two starts each produced career lows in fastball usage: 41.2% in his Sept. 9 start vs. the Chicago Cubs, and 39% – just 35 of his 96 throws – against the Nationals.

Again, if you’ve slept on Strider, that might be startling. He threw his heater 62.1% of the time from 2021 until that day in April 2024 when his UCL again failed him.

They say the hitters will let you know, and they certainly told Strider something quite loudly: They slugged .262 against his fastball in 2022. This year? It’s .482.

So Strider, truly, is a four-pitch guy now, even if his changeup comes and goes and his curveball remains a work in progress. And as his fastball continues to be a sidelight, it’s hard to argue with the results: He’s given up three earned runs in 13 innings, striking out 15, in his last two outings.

Strider blew out his arm as a Clemson undergrad yet battled back to become the K king of the major leagues just four years later. Yet 2025, he knew, would a journey.

“My anticipation this whole season was that I was going to have some rough patches and then have to continually work to make adjustments,’ says Strider, who’s in the third year of a six-year, $75 million contract. “To try to put myself in a good position to help us when games mattered most and we were competing for a postseason berth, and playing in the postseason.

“That didn’t happen, largely due to my own failures this season not being able to tread water well enough for us, giving us a chance to win games while working through that stuff I knew I’d inevitably have to do.”

Oh, Strider’s inconsistencies were far from the Braves’ biggest concerns, not in a year that began with an 80-game PED suspension for newly signed Jurickson Profar and season-ending injuries to pitchers Reynaldo Lopez, Spencer Schwellenbach, Grant Holmes and A.J. Smith-Shawver, along with All-Star third baseman Austin Riley.

Sure, it didn’t help that he toted a 5.24 ERA through his first 17 starts, but the Braves were probably sunk regardless of how well he threw. Still, there was just enough onramp for Strider to finish on a superior note.

“He’s getting better and better every start, keeping hitters off balance, changing up speeds and changing locations,” says rookie catcher Drake Baldwin.

Perhaps the final step is gaining the utmost confidence in his newer, slower fastball. Strider enjoyed six-, eight-, 12- and 10-pitch innings against the Nationals. And in his biggest jam, a bases-loaded, one-out spot, he threw three curveballs at Nationals right fielder Dylan Crews before getting him to chase a fastball out of the zone.

The little nubber turned into a 2-3 inning-ending double play.

“That’s a trend I’ve seen three of my last four starts – (the fastball) is playing the way I want it to be,” he says, “which affords me so much room for error. I can attack the zone and be convicted behind it and get a lot of fly balls. It opens things up for me when I can do that.”

Now, the end is in sight. Strider should have two more starts before season’s end, and to some extent, it will be a relief for Snitker. No worries about rehab, or ramping up, or how hard to go once spring training begins.

Heck, maybe he’ll find a little more kick on that fastball – even if he knows he can live without it.

“The day after the season ends,” says Snitker, “I want him to be able to make his next start. And if we can do that, that’s going to be a success.”

(This story has been updated with additional information.)

The injury-plagued Indiana Fever have been resilient all season long, but the Fever find themselves with their backs are against the wall yet again.

The No. 6 seed Fever dropped Game 1 against the No. 3 seed Atlanta Dream 80-68, despite a 27-point performance from veteran guard Kelsey Mitchell. The Fever now must win Game 2 of the best-of-three first-round WNBA playoff series on Tuesday to keep their Cinderella season alive.

‘We shot ourselves in the foot and weren’t able to capitalize on the things that make us great,’ Mitchell said after the Game 1 loss. ‘We hurt ourselves in a lot of different areas that impact being able to make plays and do what we wanted on the offensive end. Once we stop doing that, we give ourselves more of a chance to be who we are.’

It wasn’t a particularly great shooting night for either team. The Fever were held to 34.9% from the field and 2-of-15 from beyond the arc, compared to Atlanta going 38.6% from the field with seven made 3s.

WNBA PLAYOFFS WINNERS, LOSERS: Las Vegas Aces dominate, Alyssa Thomas falters

DREAM VS. FEVER, GAME 1: Dream pull away from Fever in Game 1 of WNBA playoffs 2025

Allisha Gray and Rhyne Howard each scored 20 points for the Dream. Naz Hillmon added 16 points and nine rebounds, while Brionna Jones had 12 points and three steals in the win.

Here’s what you need to know now about Game 2 between the Dream and Fever:

What time is Atlanta Dream at Indiana Fever?

The Indiana Fever host the Atlanta Dream at 7:30 p.m. ET (4:30 p.m. PT) on Tuesday, Sept. 16 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN.

How to watch Indiana Fever at Atlanta Dream: TV, stream

• Time: 7:30 p.m. ET (4:30 p.m. PT)
• Location: Gainbridge Fieldhouse (Indianapolis)
• TV channel: ESPN
• Streaming: ESPN+, Disney+, Fubo (free trial to new subscribers)

Dream vs. Fever WNBA playoffs schedule

• Game 1: Dream 80, Fever 68
• Game 2: Mercury at Fever, 7:30 p.m. ET Tuesday (ESPN)
• Game 3: Fever at Mercury, TBD Thursday (ESPN2)

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AI-assisted summary
• Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh called safety Derwin James the best safety he has ever seen in NFL history.
• Harbaugh praised James for his versatility, comparing him to a ‘five tool, six tool secondary player.’
• James led the Chargers defense with seven tackles and two pass deflections in a 20-9 win over the Raiders.

LAS VEGAS – There have been a lot of great safeties in NFL history: Ronnie Lott, Ed Reed, Ken Houston and Emlen Tunnell are four safeties atop many all-time lists. But the best safety Jim Harbaugh’s ever seen is the one he coaches.

Harbaugh gave Chargers safety Derwin James huge praise following the team’s 20-9 road win over the Las Vegas Raiders.

“I’ve called him the best safety I’ve ever seen in the history of the National Football League. I don’t think I’m going out on a limb,” Harbaugh said of James. “He is one of the most incredible players I’ve ever watched.”

Winners, losers from Chargers’ Monday night win over the Raiders include nasty defense

Harbaugh then dropped a soliloquy when USA TODAY Sports asked him what makes James the best safety he’s ever seen.

“It’s like being around greatness every day, whether it’s the practice environment, the training environment, the meeting environment, the way he is on the sideline and most of the way he is and during the game. He’s incredible,” Harbaugh explained. “When he tackles he gets him down, he can cover (and) he can play any position in the in the secondary. I guess what jumps out the most is he can play nickel, he can play dime backer, he could play corner, he could play in the deep half, he can play in the deep middle (and) he can blitz. You have to compare him to Willie Mays at that point. He’s a five tool, six tool secondary player. It’s incredible what he can do.”

Harbaugh continued: ‘He does it all. It’s like Superman when he puts on the armor, when he puts on that suit and wears that number three. He’s donning the cap. He’s a Superman out there.”

Harbaugh’s effusive praise of James came after a superb outing for James and the defense.

James, the two-time All-Pro and four-time Pro Bowler, led the way for the Chargers defense despite losing veteran leader Khalil Mack in the first quarter due to an elbow injury. The Chargers had an astounding 15 pass deflections, three interceptions and bottled up Geno Smith and the Raiders offense.

James registered seven tackles and two pass deflections in performance where he was all over the field. One of his pass breakups resulted in an interception in the end zone by cornerback Donte Jackson.

“Everybody made plays on the ball. We (were) running to the ball and made plays on the ball,” James said postgame. “That’s contagious, and that’s a sign of a good defense.”

Los Angeles’ defensive unit kept the Raiders out of the end zone and stopped Smith from completing a single pass over 10 yards. According to Next Gen Stats, Smith did not complete any of his 12 pass attempts over 10 yards downfield. He’s the only quarterback since 2016 to attempt at least 10 downfield passes in a game without a completion.

Smith finished 24-of-43 passing for 180 yards and tossed three interceptions in a forgettable night for the quarterback and the offense. The Las Vegas crowd even voiced its displeasure for the Raiders offense on multiple occasions in the second half. The boos were most prevalent when the Raiders settled for a field goal at the conclusion of a 19-play drive to cut their deficit to 20-9 with 11:15 remaining in the fourth quarter. It turned out to be the final points of the game.

“The defense stopping them from getting points and getting turnovers in the red zone, absolutely outstanding,” Chargers wide receiver Keenan Allen told USA TODAY Sports. “Even when they held them to three and we’re scoring touchdowns. It’s gonna be hard for us to lose that way.”

Chargers linebacker Daiyan Henley compiled a game-high 10 tackles, he had one interception and two pass deflections despite being questionable prior to the game due to an illness. Henley and James were the best players on the field on Monday night.

It was James, the Chargers do-it all safety who lines up at multiple positions throughout the game, that shined brightest on Monday night. Harbaugh believes James is the best safety he’s ever seen. It might be hyperbole. But the 2-0 Chargers are atop the AFC West. Both their victories came against divisional opponents, so let Harbaugh do all the talking he wants.

“Started 2-0 in the division. You only play six (division games),” James said. “To be 2-0 is a great start.”

Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Tyler Dragon on X @TheTylerDragon.