Baker Mayfield wasn’t a happy quarterback after Sunday’s 20-6 loss to the Lions, dropping the Bucs to 3-2 on the season.
And why should he be?
Mayfield made a pass to a wide-open Mike Evans in the first quarter, but it was a big play at the line that could have turned into an interception. He also had two overthrows to an open Trey Palmer down the field. All three could have been touchdowns.
Instead, the Bucs were kept out of the end zone and the team’s run game was often hampered at the line of scrimmage by the No. 1 ranked rush defense. They held Tampa Bay to just 46 yards. After the game, a visibly shaken Mayfield said the offense needed to be “angry.”
“At some point, we have to get angry as the aggressors,” Mayfield said. “We need to score a lot of points. There’s no doubt about that – we’re talking about criteria here about winning, but on the offensive side we need to look at it in a smaller perspective. We need to score more points than we did before, so we need to take responsibility for that. It starts with me and we’ll take it forward.”
Current Bucks Ground Game They rank 29th in the league, averaging just 78.8 yards per game. That’s barely an improvement from a year ago, when Tampa Bay ranked last in the NFL by averaging 75.6 rushing yards per game.
After Wednesday’s practice, Mayfield reiterated that comment but clarified it, suggesting he wasn’t angry, just determined. And he sees the same level of determination from his teammates.
“We’re just fundamentally executing,” Mayfield said. “If you watch this movie, you’ll see that it’s never a good game or a bad game. This movie is never as good or bad as you think it is.” Things get decided. Like I said, it’s infuriating, but you’re proud of your job of executing and fulfilling your job on each play.
“We had a good practice today. There were no la-la speeches. The players know what we have to do. That’s why we’re a veteran group. Everyone worked hard to fix it. I understand what I need to do. Like I said after the game, I’m going to fix myself and everyone else is doing the same. I’m not worried about that. ”
Even if they lose, all of the Bucs’ goals are still in sight.
A win against an NFC team like Detroit last Sunday would be welcome, but a win against an NFC South rival like Atlanta this Sunday is a must. The Bucs currently have a half-game lead over the Falcons, who are 3-3 in the division, and a win would move Tampa Bay to 2-0 and maintain sole possession of first place in the division.
“We still have a hungry spirit and our goals are all in front of us,” Mayfield said. “Overall, to get to where we want to go, we have to win in our division first. We still control our own destiny. We have big things to come. [coming up on Sunday versus the Falcons] For us. We’re not pushing the panic button. We know we can play better. That’s a good thing. It’s not like I’m looking around and saying, “No, what’s going on?” How do I resolve this? We know what needs to be fixed and we have a group that can do it. ”
Bucs head coach Todd Bowles responded to Mayfield’s “upsetting” comments and welcomed them. He said he thinks the team plays with the intensity and pride it needs each week and will probably bounce back from the loss a little bit.
“In some cases, you should be angry every week,” Bowles says. “I think we’re angry. I think we’ve got to be smarter and play more disciplined football as far as understanding what we have to do. And everyone has to go out and do their own thing. We’ve got to do the job. We’ve got to coach it better and play better, but that includes getting angry and that entails.”
Bowles said the team came out of Sunday’s loss to the Lions relatively unscathed from an injury standpoint, including Mayfield, who hit his left hand on his helmet during the game.
Asked Wednesday about the bruise on his non-throwing hand, Mayfield said it was “golden in color.”