Bucs QB Baker Mayfield: “We Sucked Today, I Sucked Today”

Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield was surely hoping to direct the offense to more than six points as the team brought back the Creamsicle uniforms. Instead of looking good donning the throwbacks, the team looked more like the “Yuccaneers” than a team that has made the playoffs in the last three seasons.

Mayfield revealed through his postgame press conference that he is owning up to his performance and getting the offense going starts with him.

Baker Mayfield Assesses Bucs’ Offensive Performance

When asked about what happened in the game, one where the Bucs managed just 251 total yards of offense in a 20-6 loss, Baker Mayfield did not shy away about how the team played.

“We sucked today,” Mayfield said. “I sucked today, we sucked today, it was awful — from the get-go. I mean, just — 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, so plain and simple we have to be better. The Lions are a good ball club. 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, and offense we just need to pick our [play] up — there’s really no other way around it.”

On the day, Mayfield was 19 of 37 for 206 yards while throwing zero touchdowns against one interception. After being a model of efficiency through the first four games, his play came crashing down. Throughout the game, Mayfield’s accuracy was questionable as when his receivers got open, he failed to connect with him. What really stood out were two deep balls to Trey Palmer that would have been touchdowns had he hit him in stride.

“Not only those two to Trey, but the tipped interception, Mike [Evans] was going to score a touchdown,” Mayfield added. “Just one of those days where I had everything we wanted, but didn’t hit it — didn’t execute. It’s frustrating as hell. We have to find ways to make it work and it starts with me, so we’ll fix it.”

Thankfully for the Bucs, there is no need to fix his hand. Mayfield has a bruised non-throwing hand, but the X-rays came back negative. “Yeah, X-rays are good, it just hurts. I took a nice metal facemask right to the hand, so it was good.”

Baker Mayfield Is Ready To Fix His Mistakes

Coming off the bye week, the Bucs’ offense in particular definitely looked relaxed and not aggressive in wanting to put points on the retro-themed scoreboard. The unit failed to get into a rhythm on the ground or through the air, and to Baker Mayfield, there is no reason that should have happened.

“I don’t know, but we’ll fix it,” Mayfield said. “I’ll fix it, I’ll fix my mistakes, I’ll fix what I was doing wrong and we’ll get it going. Zero excuse for our offense to come out and lay an egg like that — that was horrible.”

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: USA Today

His response to the issues the offense had should come as little surprise as he now dons a “C” on his chest as one of the team’s captains. He has quickly acclimated himself to his teammates and recently stated that he loves being the team’s quarterback. When asked why the team did not execute, Mayfield gave a similarly fitting quip.

“At a certain point, we gotta get pissed off as an offense. We should be putting a lot of points up on the board. It’s gotta be — we talk about the standard about winning around here, but offensively we need to look at it in a smaller picture. We should be putting up a lot more points than we have been, and so we need to be accountable with that — it starts with me and we’ll get that going.”

Getting pissed off paints a picture of just how unsatisfied Mayfield is about the team’s scoring output. Through five games, the Bucs are averaging just 18 points per game. Despite sitting at 3-2, the offense will need to put more points up if they want to be a playoff team. While they defeated the Vikings, Bears, and Saints who have a combined 6-12 record, they only scored 11 points against the Eagles and six points against the Lions who have a combined 10-2 record.

To be competitive, it starts with applying that mindset and carrying that over to game day. While Baker Mayfield sees it as starting with him, the ten players around him on the field need to heed his words and apply them. Only then will he and the Bucs’ offense start to click and keep up the model of winning that fans have grown used to seeing in recent seasons.