Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs New Orleans Saints Match Player Stats (Dec 7, 2025)
Tyler Shough rushed for 55 yards and two touchdowns, Devin Neal carried 19 times for 70 yards with a score, and the New Orleans Saints upset Tampa Bay 24-20 at Raymond James Stadium on December 7, 2025. Baker Mayfield completed just 14 of 30 passes for 122 yards with one touchdown and one interception as rain fell throughout the afternoon. Chris Godwin caught five passes for 55 yards to lead all receivers.
Table of Contents
Quarterback Numbers
Rain turned a promising start into a difficult afternoon for Mayfield. He completed his first eight passes, then went 6 of 22 the rest of the way.
| Stat | Tyler Shough (NO) | Baker Mayfield (TB) |
|---|---|---|
| Completions/Attempts | 13/20 | 14/30 |
| Passing Yards | 144 | 122 |
| Touchdowns | 0 | 1 |
| Interceptions | 1 | 1 |
| Passer Rating | 65.4 | 55.1 |
| Yards Per Attempt | 7.2 | 4.1 |
| Times Sacked | 3 (23 yards) | 0 |
| Rushing Yards | 55 | 42 |
| Rushing Touchdowns | 2 | 0 |
Shough’s rushing yards came from designed runs and scrambles. Both touchdown runs came on plays where the pass rush had him cornered in the backfield. He escaped pressure and scored instead of taking sacks.
His 34-yard touchdown scramble in the third quarter made him the first Saints rookie quarterback to rush for multiple touchdowns since Archie Manning against Dallas in 1971. The 55 rushing yards set a franchise record for rookie quarterbacks.
“It sucks,” Mayfield said afterward. “It felt like we just gave it away, or didn’t make the plays to win it. Just too many mistakes. Conditions aren’t an excuse because they had to play in them, too.”
The conditions worsened as the game progressed. Receivers dropped passes that would have been routine catches in dry weather.
Rushing Stats and Red Zone Failures
Tampa Bay outgained New Orleans on the ground 179 to 139 but scored just one rushing touchdown while the Saints scored three. Scoring efficiency made the difference.
| Rushing Leaders | Team | Att | Yards | Avg | TD | Long |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Devin Neal | NO | 19 | 70 | 3.7 | 1 | 21 |
| Tyler Shough | NO | 7 | 55 | 7.9 | 2 | 34 |
| Bucky Irving | TB | 15 | 55 | 3.7 | 0 | 32 |
| Rachaad White | TB | 11 | 53 | 4.8 | 0 | 11 |
| Baker Mayfield | TB | 6 | 42 | 7.0 | 0 | 16 |
| Sean Tucker | TB | 7 | 29 | 4.1 | 1 | 13 |
Neal’s 70 yards sustained possessions and kept New Orleans on offense. Irving and White combined for 108 yards without scoring.
Tucker’s one-yard touchdown run tied the game at 17 in the third quarter. Tampa Bay managed just one field goal after that despite continuing to gain yards on the ground. The Bucs reached the red zone twice and came away with eight points total.
Neal and Shough combined for 125 rushing yards, the most by Saints rookies in a game since Alvin Kamara and Trey Edmunds totaled 154 at Buffalo in November 2017.
Egbuka’s Drop
Fourth quarter, Tampa Bay down 24-17. Bucky Irving broke a 32-yard run to the New Orleans 28. Two plays later, Emeka Egbuka ran his route and got open at the goal line. No defender within five yards of him.
Mayfield threw high. Egbuka jumped, got both hands on the ball, dropped it. Seven points became three. The difference between tying the game and still needing a touchdown.
Chase McLaughlin kicked a 37-yard field goal. Tampa Bay trailed by four instead of having a chance to tie. The Bucs got the ball back one more time with 1:48 left and no timeouts. They didn’t score.
| Receiving Leaders | Team | Rec | Tgts | Yards | TD | Long |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chris Godwin | TB | 5 | 8 | 55 | 0 | 21 |
| Devaughn Vele | NO | 3 | 5 | 40 | 0 | 16 |
| Juwan Johnson | NO | 4 | 4 | 38 | 0 | 12 |
| Chris Olave | NO | 3 | 5 | 30 | 0 | 12 |
| Bucky Irving | TB | 2 | 3 | 26 | 1 | 24 |
Egbuka finished with two catches on nine targets. Two drops ended drives when conversions would have extended them.
Godwin’s five catches led all receivers but Tampa Bay scored just once through the air after Irving’s first quarter touchdown catch. The veteran wideout saw eight targets without scoring.
Defense and Turnovers
| Defensive Leaders | Team | Tackles | Solo | Sacks | TFL | PD | INT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christian Izien | TB | 8 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Kool-Aid McKinstry | NO | 7 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Demario Davis | NO | 7 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jordan Howden | NO | 6 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Vita Vea | TB | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Carl Granderson | NO | 5 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
Alontae Taylor intercepted Mayfield on Tampa Bay’s first possession of the second half. The Saints cornerback read the route at the Tampa Bay 57 and returned it 10 yards to the 47.
Three plays after the turnover, Shough scored his first rushing touchdown. New Orleans led 14-10 and never gave up the lead.
“Coach Staley making a really good call, seeing the formation and you know just play makers going to make plays and just jumped the route, knew what it was, saw it and just went for it,” Taylor said.
Carl Granderson stopped Bucky Irving for a seven-yard loss on a fourth and one pitch in the first quarter. That failure gave New Orleans the ball at midfield. Later in the half, Demario Davis stopped Sean Tucker on another fourth and one attempt.
Vita Vea sacked Shough once and tackled him behind the line twice. Christian Izien led all defenders with eight tackles after replacing the injured Tykee Smith.
Fourth Down Decisions
Tampa Bay went for it on fourth down seven times. They converted twice. Seven attempts isn’t aggressive coaching. It’s desperation disguised as boldness.
| Down Conversions | New Orleans | Tampa Bay |
|---|---|---|
| Third Down | 5/11 (45.5%) | 3/13 (23.1%) |
| Fourth Down | 0/1 (0%) | 2/7 (28.6%) |
| Red Zone | 2/3 (66.7%) | 1/2 (50.0%) |
The seven fourth down attempts set a franchise record. Three came on fourth and one. All three failed.
“We couldn’t get a fourth-down play,” head coach Todd Bowles said. “We couldn’t make a fourth-down play and that’s disheartening.”
Tampa Bay converted just 23.1 percent of third downs, which forced them into fourth down situations repeatedly. New Orleans converted 45.5 percent of third downs and rarely faced fourth down decisions.
Three Plays That Swung It
First play of the game. Mason Tipton returned the opening kickoff 54 yards to Tampa Bay’s 45-yard line. Six plays later, Devin Neal scored from three yards out for his first NFL touchdown. The 7-0 lead forced Tampa Bay to play from behind.
Third quarter, Tampa Bay’s opening possession. Baker Mayfield’s pass intended for Kameron Johnson was intercepted by Alontae Taylor at the Tampa Bay 57. Shough scored three plays after the turnover on a 34-yard run. New Orleans led 14-10.
Fourth quarter, third and eight from the 13. Logan Hall and Vita Vea both had clean shots at Shough in the backfield. He avoided both defenders, scrambled left, and scored from 13 yards out. That touchdown made it 24-17 with 8:26 left and held up as the final margin.
Weather Impact
Rain started light in the first quarter and increased throughout the afternoon. By the third quarter, the field had turned slick enough that players lost their footing making sharp cuts. Every possession carried fumble risk. The 63,125 fans at Raymond James Stadium watched players slip on what had become a mud-streaked surface.
Tampa Bay threw 30 passes despite the conditions and completed 14. New Orleans threw 20 passes and completed 13. Taysom Hill fumbled on a direct snap in the first quarter but recovered his own mistake.
Team Stats Comparison
Tampa Bay held advantages in first downs, total yards, and possession time but couldn’t convert them into points.
| Category | New Orleans | Tampa Bay |
|---|---|---|
| First Downs | 16 | 19 |
| Total Yards | 260 | 301 |
| Yards Per Play | 4.7 | 4.4 |
| Time of Possession | 27:48 | 32:12 |
| Penalties | 10-82 | 7-49 |
| Turnovers | 1 | 1 |
Ten penalties for 82 yards cost Tampa Bay field position on multiple drives. Their failures on third and fourth down kept them from turning yardage into points.
New Orleans averaged 4.7 yards per play compared to Tampa Bay’s 4.4. The Saints scored touchdowns in the red zone. The Bucs kicked field goals.
Division Race
The loss dropped Tampa Bay to 7-6, tied with the Carolina Panthers for first place in the NFC South. Carolina sat at 7-6 after their bye week.
Tampa Bay had lost four of five games after starting 6-2. Four days later, the Bucs hosted the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday Night Football and lost 29-28 on a last-second field goal. That dropped them to 7-7 and third place in the division.
New Orleans improved to 3-10. The Saints had been eliminated from playoff contention weeks earlier.
“Our guys have a lot of adversity this year and they’ve grown through this journey,” Saints head coach Kellen Moore said. “Tyler having that ability to run the football obviously played a factor into it.”
Coaching Approaches
Todd Bowles went for it on fourth down seven times and converted twice. Three failed fourth and one attempts in the first half gave New Orleans favorable field position each time.
Josh Grizzard called 30 pass attempts in steady rain. That resulted in 14 completions and multiple three-and-outs.
Kellen Moore trusted his rookie quarterback’s ability to run when passing lanes closed. The read option forced Tampa Bay’s linebackers to hesitate, creating running lanes Shough exploited on both touchdown runs.
“I thought resiliency was awesome,” Moore said of Shough. “Really good first drive for us. I thought we got stuck there for a while, much of the second quarter was a little lethargic there, and we weren’t executing at a very high level. So, then for our guys to respond in the second half, certainly with the run game but then making plays when he had to.”
Full box score details and play-by-play breakdowns are available on Pro Football Reference and ESPN, with additional coverage from Tampa Bay and New Orleans official sites.
