Buccaneers have won all three of their games in dramatic fashion, but is it sustainable?

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers won yet another game in dramatic fashion on Sunday, walking off against the New York Jets with a game-winning field goal as time expired to snatch a 29-27 victory from the jaws of what would have been an absolutely disastrous defeat after they had led the game 23-6 earlier in the fourth quarter.

As our own John Breech noted, Tampa Bay is now the first team in the Super Bowl era (since 1966) to record a game-winning score in the final minute of the fourth quarter in each of its first three games of a season. The Buccaneers are also the third team since 1970 to record a game-winning score in the final minute of regulation in three consecutive games at any point in a single season, joining the 2017 Pittsburgh Steelers (Nov. 26-Dec. 10) and 1994 New York Giants (Dec. 4-18).

In case you're wondering, this is how they did it. 

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John Breech

In Week 1, the Bucs trailed the Falcons 20-17 with 1 minute and 4 seconds remaining in the game. They had first-and-10 at the Atlanta 25-yard line, and Baker Mayfield found Emeka Egbuka on a post route over the top of the defense, with the rookie catching it in the end zone with 59 seconds left.

In Week 2, the Bucs tailed the Texans, 19-14, with just over 2 minutes remaining in the game. Mayfield led Tampa all the way down the field and right to the brink of the goal line, when Rachaad White punched the ball in from 2 yards out with 6 seconds left on the clock.

And finally in Week 3, after the Jets returned a blocked field goal for a touchdown to take a surprising lead in a game the Bucs had led the whole way, Mayfield again led the Bucs down the field and into position for the victory, this time with a game-winning field goal from Chase McLaughlin as time expired.

The Bucs have won three games by a combined six points (three against the Falcons, one against the Texans and two against the Jets), and there has been a combined 1 minute and 5 seconds left on the clock when they got their game-winning scores. 

Given the close nature of these games and the quality of the opponents (the Falcons, Texans and Jets are a combined 1-8 on the season and just 1-5 in games not played against Tampa), it's worth wondering exactly how good this Buccaneers team is. 

While it seems like they have some magic fairy dust that allows them to win these type of games, it's worth noting that the Falcons had a potential game-tying field goal miss as time expired, the Texans had a chance to manage the clock better and give themselves more of a chance to drive for a game-winning score after Tampa got into the end zone and the Jets -- the Jets! -- staged a massive comeback to grab a late lead against the Bucs in the first place. 

Winning games that way is not exactly sustainable. Teams generally regress toward .500 in one-score games over time, and the Bucs have now started 3-0 in those games. If they keep playing things this close, they're probably not going to keep winning at this rate.