Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield was certainly hoping to lead his offense to more than six points when the team brought back the creamsicle uniforms. This team looked more like the “Yuccaneers” than the team that made the playoffs the last three seasons, rather than looking good wearing a throwback.
In his postgame press conference, Mayfield acknowledged his performance and said he would start the attack himself.
Baker Mayfield evaluates Bucks’ offensive performance
Bucks QB Baker Mayfield – Photo courtesy of USA Today
When asked what happened in a game in which the Bucs lost 20-6 and had just 251 yards of total offense, Baker Mayfield wasn’t coy about his team’s play.
“Today was the worst,” Mayfield said. “I was terrible today, we were terrible today, we were terrible from the beginning. I mean, you can’t play like that. We didn’t start fast and we picked things up in the middle. We didn’t do that well and we didn’t finish strong all the way, so just plain and simple, we need to do better. The Lions are a good baseball club. If we played like that, we We’re going to lose every time. I thought our defense and special teams did a great job again. The offense just picks their team. [play] There’s really no way around it. ”
On the day, Mayfield went 19 of 37 for 206 yards with one interception and zero touchdowns. His first four games were a model of efficiency, but his play fell apart. Mayfield’s accuracy was questionable throughout the game, and he struggled to connect when receivers were open. Most notable were two deep balls to Trey Palmer that would have resulted in touchdowns had he hit them in stride.
“Not just the two to the trey, but the chip interception, Mike, [Evans] I was going to score a touchdown,” Mayfield added. “It’s one of those days where I had everything I wanted and I just couldn’t achieve it and I couldn’t do it. It’s very frustrating. We have to find a way to make it work and it starts with me. , we will fix it.”
Thankfully for the Bucks, his hands don’t need to be fixed. Mayfield has a bruise on his non-throwing hand, but X-rays came back negative. “Well, the x-rays are good, they just hurt. Good thing he grabbed a nice metal face mask right away.”
Baker Mayfield is ready to right his wrongs
Coming off the bye week, the Bucks’ offense in particular was definitely relaxed and didn’t seem too aggressive to put up points on the retro-themed scoreboard. The unit was unable to find a rhythm on the ground or in the air, but for Baker Mayfield, there was no reason that should have happened.
“I don’t know, but we’ll figure it out,” Mayfield said. “I’ll fix it, I’ll fix my mistake, I’ll fix what I did wrong, and we’ll move forward with it. There’s no excuse at all for laying eggs. That was awful.”
Bucks QB Baker Mayfield – Photo courtesy of USA Today
His reaction to the offense’s problems isn’t all that surprising since he wears a “C” on his chest as one of the team’s captains. He said he quickly warmed up to his teammates and loves being the team’s quarterback these days. Mayfield made an equally apt quip when he was asked why the team didn’t run.
“At some point, we have to get angry as an offense. We have to put a lot of points on the board. There’s no question about it — we’re talking about winning criteria here, but the offense In terms of things we need to look at it in a smaller perspective. We need to score much more points than we have in the past, so we need to take responsibility for that. It starts with me, We will promote.”
The fact that he’s angry speaks to how dissatisfied Mayfield is with his team’s scoring ability. Through five games, the Bucks are averaging just 18 points per game. Despite sitting at 3-2, If the offense wants to be a playoff team, it needs to score more points. Although they beat the Vikings, Bears, and Saints, who had a combined record of 6-12, they only scored 11 points against the Eagles and six points against the Lions, who had a combined record of 10-2.
Being competitive starts with applying that mindset and bringing it to game day. Baker Mayfield thinks it starts with him, but the 10 players around him on the field need to listen to his words and put them into practice. Only then will he and the Bucs’ offense start to take off and maintain the winning model that fans have grown accustomed to seeing over the past few seasons.
