TAMPA — Baker Mayfield was down to a couple receivers he couldn’t tell apart even from the names on the back of their jerseys. With sensational rookie Emeka Egbuka leaving the game with a hamstring injury, the Bucs were nearly out of healthy targets against the 49ers.
TAMPA — Baker Mayfield was down to a couple receivers he couldn’t tell apart even from the names on the back of their jerseys.
With sensational rookie Emeka Egbuka leaving the game with a hamstring injury, the Bucs were nearly out of healthy targets against the 49ers.
Before Sunday, second-year receiver Kameron Johnson, from tiny Division II Baron College, had never had a reception in an NFL game.
Tez Johnson, a seventh-round pick from Oregon who at 154 pounds is the league’s lightest player, had never scored a touchdown.
But don’t cry for the Bucs’ battered receiving corps. Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Jalen McMillan and now Egbuka may all be out. But Johnson & Johnson meant no more tears for Tampa Bay.
Kameron Johnson caught four passes for 64 yards, including a 34-yard touchdown for the first reception of his career. Not to be outdone, Tez Johnson made a fingertip grab of a 45-yard TD from Mayfield to lead the Bucs to a 30-19 win over the 49ers.
Tez Johnson wasn’t satisfied with the TD that gave the Bucs an eight-point lead in the third quarter. He also did a round-off back handspring in the end zone in celebration.
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The capacity crowd at Raymond James Stadium began chanting, ‘MVP! MVP! MVP!
“I’m going to tell you a funny story,” Tez Johnson said. “When I score and I hear MVP, I’m thinking about me. I asked Shep (Sterling Shepard), ‘They’re chanting MVP?’ He was like, ‘Yeah.’ I said, ‘but I ain’t do nothing this year.’ He said, ‘They’re talking about Baker, Tez!’ I was like, ‘Welp, that explains it.’ But he is MVP. The one where he got the first down and he said he blacked out. But that’s just Baker. Pump faking everybody. Oh my God. He’s a dog."
Mayfield passed for 256 yards and two touchdowns. But the reason for the chant is what happened two plays before he put the game away with the bomb to Tez Johnson.
Facing third and 14 at the Tampa Bay 41-yard line, Mayfield dropped back to pass and somehow stepped out of tackle attempts linebackers Trevis Gipson and Bryce Huff, then pump faked his way upfield before breaking tackles from cornerbacks Upton Stout and Renardo Green and then lurching for a 15-yard run and a first down.
“I was in disbelief just like everybody else,” Bucs head coach Todd Bowles said of Mayfield. “It happens every other week or so when he makes those types of plays and you pray he doesn’t get hurt or anything happens to him. But he has a knack. He has a knack that you can’t teach or coach and it was an unbelievable play.”
The Bucs improved to 5-1 for only the third time in franchise history. Perhaps fortunately for them, the only other team that might be more injured is 49ers, who lost All-Pro linebacker Fred Warner to a gruesome season-ending ankle injury Sunday.
The fact that Mayfield and the Bucs haven’t blinked is a tribute to the depth in the receiver room.
“I truly and genuinely trust the guys that are in there,” Mayfield said. “They’re ready. We talked throughout the week, and those guys are on the same page. That’s real. I trust these guys even though some of them might not have played a lot of ball. ... The defense played great. Special teams as well. That’s complementary football.”
The Bucs got plenty of help from the defense, which allowed quarterback Mac Jones to pass for 347 yards but sacked him six times and intercepted him twice.
But Egbuka had carried the Bucs through the first five games as the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Month and had two catches for 24 yards before injuring his hamstring in the third quarter.
Most weeks, Kameron Johnson doesn’t get any reps on offense as the team’s primary kick returner.
“Not a whole lot (of reps) with Kam,” said Mayfield, “but like I said, B-Mac (receivers coach Bryan McClendon) gets those guys right and Kam studying the playbook, knowing exact depth, steps on route, things like that. Guys getting on the same page. That’s high-level football.”
Kameron Johnson couldn’t believe he was so open on his second-quarter TD to give the Bucs a 20-13 lead.
“I was just in shock,” he said. “I saw the safety press down on Cade (Otton) and I thought he was going to bump off him. But lo and behold, he never bumped off and I was just running and I was like, ‘Oh Lord, let me see if Baker will make eye contact’ and sure enough he did and I was wide open. It was a walk-in touchdown.”
What did he think of Tez Johnson’s TD and celebration?
“Insane,” he said. “He tracked it perfectly. He did the perfect celly. The flip was the same. He looked like an acrobat out there. I wish I could do something like that. It was crazy.”
Mayfield was asked if he could replicate Tez Johnson’s backflip.
“No. I mean, if I weighed 142 pounds, I’d give it a try, too,” he said. “But I haven’t weighed that since sixth grade.”
As he was wrapping up interviews, Tez Johnson said he hadn’t looked at his phone but couldn’t wait to call his mom, knowing she’d be in tears.
“(We’re) the Johnson and Johnson brothers,” Tez Johnson said. “You know what I mean?
“Our games are similar. Obviously, he’s a little bit bigger, a little beefier than me. But that’s my dawg. I love him.”
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Category: General Sports
