When the Tampa Bay Buccaneers announced they’d be wearing the classic Creamsicle uniforms, it didn’t mean for the offense to morph into the downtrodden Bucs teams of yesteryear in a 20-6 loss to the Detroit Lions.
Baker Mayfield not only donned the Creamsicle, but he also wore the loss on Sunday.
“We sucked today,” Mayfield said following the game, via the team’s official website. “I sucked today, we sucked today, it was awful from the get-go. We can’t play like that. We didn’t start fast, we didn’t pick it up in the middle and we didn’t finish strong. Plain and simple, we have to be better. The Lions are a good ballclub, but if we play like that we’re going to lose every time. I think the defense and special teams did an amazing job yet again.”
Mayfield completed 19 out of 37 passes for 206 yards, suffered an interception, and was sacked once. The Bucs’ offense was inconsistent on Sunday, with no significant running game. They only managed a single three-and-out during the game, and couldn’t produce more than two first downs on a drive until their last desperate attempt when they were down by two scores.
Mayfield couldn’t find the mark deep, missing rookie Trey Palmer twice, and his INT could have gone for a big gain to Mike Evans had it not been tipped at the line.
“Both the pass to Trey and the intercepted throw that Mike would have scored were unfortunate,” Mayfield commented. “It was just one of those off days. We had all the right elements but failed to deliver, which is incredibly frustrating. It’s up to us to find solutions and I need to take the lead on this. We’ll make the necessary adjustments.”
Mayfield has performed well for a good part of the season, although he fell short against NFC contenders like Philadelphia and Detroit. The Bucs have demonstrated they can defeat weaker teams like Minnesota and Chicago, and compete with rivals like New Orleans. However, when given the opportunity to prove themselves against potential top-tier teams, they lost by 14 points.
While Mayfield accepted responsibility for Sunday’s defeat, it was a group effort. Despite limiting Detroit to 20 points, the defense failed to prevent 9 of 16 third down attempts, many of which were third-and-10-plus, and did not generate a turnover. The offense’s inability to establish a running game is undermining their performance. Furthermore, Todd Bowles’ choice to punt on a fourth-and-2 from his team’s end zone while trailing by 14 points in the final quarter resulted in a time-consuming drive for the Lions.
Mayfield, however, stated that it’s the responsibility of the offense to score points, something they’re not doing often.
Mayfield stated, “There comes a time when our offense has to get frustrated. We should be scoring a lot more points than we are currently. We often discuss the winning standard here, but offensively, we need to consider the finer details. We should be achieving a higher point tally than our current score and we need to take responsibility for this. It all begins with me and I assure you, we will improve.”
