A bitter Week 10 home loss left a bad taste in Baker Mayfield‘s mouth, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback hopes his teammates feel the same.
The Bucs dropped to 6-3 after falling, 28-23, to Drake Maye and the New England Patriots (8-2) in a battle of MVP candidates. After the game, Mayfield harped on a need to improve on third down and playing behind the sticks before issuing a stern message to the offense about their outlook for the rest of the season.
“Offensively, I’m hoping our guys do get pissed off about this,” Mayfield told reporters. “This isn’t the end of our season, I know that, [we] nonetheless have crucial video games forward of us. However video games like this, when you do not win ’em, it ought to sting, it ought to actually damage.”
Mayfield did all he might in a recreation the place Tampa Bay by no means led, posting a 28-of-43 outing for 273 yards, three touchdowns and no turnovers towards a tricky Pats protection. His stats had been strong however to his level, the group’s inefficient play cannot be ignored.
Regardless of successful the time of possession battle (32:25 to 27:35), the Bucs went 5-of-13 on third down, although the Pats did not fare a lot better (5-of-14). Nevertheless, the Pats did do extra with their alternatives, tallying extra yards (435) on fewer performs (59) than Tampa (66, 371).
Solely time will inform if the Bucs reply to their fearless chief’s remarks with a fury. However, for now, Mayfield and Co. may have the subsequent week to ruminate on what went flawed Sunday earlier than going through one other MVP candidate subsequent week in Josh Allen after they tackle the Payments in Buffalo.
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