{"id":206719,"date":"2025-10-07T11:04:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-07T11:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/206719\/"},"modified":"2025-10-07T11:04:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T11:04:08","slug":"the-nfl-teams-that-shouldnt-be-as-good-as-they-are","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/206719\/","title":{"rendered":"The NFL teams that shouldn’t be as good as they are"},"content":{"rendered":"

A little more than three minutes remained in their Week 5 game Sunday when the Seattle Seahawks made a critical error: They scored a touchdown, taking a late lead over Tampa Bay.<\/p>\n

Last season such a predicament would most likely have doomed the Buccaneers, who were 3-5 in games decided by one score or less and won just two games after trailing in the fourth quarter. <\/p>\n

Yet this season, the Buccaneers have transformed into one of the most clutch teams in NFL history. Over the final three minutes Sunday, quarterback Baker Mayfield threw a touchdown pass to take back the lead, and the Buccaneers defense intercepted a tipped pass, which set up Tampa Bay’s game-winning field goal as time expired. <\/p>\n

The win improved the Buccaneers to 4-1 \u2014 with all four wins coming via scores in the final minute of regulation, an NFL record. No other team in NFL history has started 4-1 while winning each game by three points or fewer.<\/p>\n

“You don\u2019t ever want to play games that close, but early in the year all these games are going to be tough, they\u2019re going to be one-score games,” coach Todd Bowles told reporters Monday<\/a>. “Last year we didn\u2019t pull them out. This year, we\u2019ve been finding a way to win.”<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

And yet Tampa’s path to 4-1, tied for the league’s best record, might not even be the most unlikely. <\/p>\n

Coming off a year in which its Super Bowl hopes were wrecked by a litany of broken bones and strained ligaments, the San Francisco 49ers found themselves staring down a similar problem after just Week 1 last month, when their starting quarterback, Brock Purdy, was sidelined by an injured toe. Star tight end George Kittle was added to the injury list next. <\/p>\n

In their most recent game, in Week 5, the 49ers were “wounded, down a bunch of guys,” linebacker Fred Warner said \u2014 and then two more defensive linemen went down to injury, as well. <\/p>\n

Despite the attrition, the 49ers won in overtime on the road against the Los Angeles Rams and are now 4-1. Their three-game winning streak has been led by backup quarterback Mac Jones. <\/p>\n

\"MacSan Francisco 49ers quarterback Mac Jones passes against the Los Angeles Rams in Inglewood, Calif., on Thursday.Marcio Jose Sanchez \/ AP<\/p>\n

“I just think it’s the way we coach everybody the same so when the next man is up, there’s no drop-off, for real,” cornerback Deommodore Lenoir said Monday. “In our room, when somebody go down, we never lose hope.”<\/p>\n

Fittingly, one of the marquee matchups of Week 6 is one few would have expected entering the season: San Francisco’s visit to Tampa. <\/p>\n

Despite their sterling records, both the 49ers and the Buccaneers have negative values in DVOA, an advanced statistic <\/a>that evaluates teams against league averages. Other metrics suggests these teams shouldn’t be this good, either: The 49ers have committed more turnovers than they’ve gained and have outscored their opponents by a total of eight points this season. The Buccaneers have cut it even closer, outscoring opponents by just three; the only teams with winning records that own worse point differentials are the Los Angeles Chargers and the Pittsburgh Steelers. <\/p>\n

Tampa’s ability to win despite trailing in the final minute of every victory thus far could be scrutinized as luck. Their three-point win to open the season against Atlanta came after the Falcons missed a game-tying field goal. In Week 3, the Buccaneers committed 14 penalties and gave up a 17-point lead, only to hold on against the winless New York Jets, who were playing without their starting quarterback. <\/p>\n

Yet the Buccaneers have also displayed toughness. They won Sunday while missing a top running back and two starting offensive linemen yet didn’t allow a sack.<\/p>\n

In the final two minutes of regulation, Mayfield this season has completed 15 of 20 passes for 169 yards, two touchdowns and a passer rating of 133.1. No other quarterback has led more than two fourth-quarter comebacks this season. Mayfield has four.<\/p>\n

“He understands what he\u2019s doing in two-minute [situations]. There\u2019s no panic, so there\u2019s no panic in anybody else,” Bowles said. “He really breathes life into everybody that\u2019s out on the field.”<\/p>\n

Tampa Bay’s Emeka Egbuka is now the only receiver in NFL history with at least 25 catches and five receiving touchdowns in his first five games, according to the NFL<\/a>. He also joined Ja\u2019Marr Chase, Terry McLaurin and Randy Moss as the only rookie receivers in league history to amass at least 400 yards through their first five games.<\/p>\n

“As long as we have time on the clock, we\u2019ve got a chance,” Mayfield said, “and our guys truly, truly believe that from the bottom of their hearts.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A little more than three minutes remained in their Week 5 game Sunday when the Seattle Seahawks made…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":206720,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[349,99],"class_list":["post-206719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206719\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}