Buccaneers' Baker Mayfield Acknowledges Offense's Search for Identity
Headed into the fifteenth week of the season, the Bucs have yet to put a complete game together offensively. Seeing one player have a great game statistically while others aren't involved at all can be frustrating, but recent games suggest the offense is on the rise. Mayfield gave his thoughts on the situation in his latest press conference.
When asked if he believes the offense has found its identity yet or if the team is still searching for their signature win, Mayfield responded, “Probably still searching for both, there’s been times where we had a great passing game and then obviously had some good running game the last few weeks, but we need to put it all together, play a complete football game”.
It’s true, there have been games in which Mike Evans puts up record numbers in the receiving game, but the offense and Rachaad White can’t get the ground game going. This team is in dire need of a balanced attack.
Mayfield continued his thoughts by saying “Three and outs, that’s one thing, you know between red zone scoring and three and outs, just continuing to have consistency within drives”. At the beginning of the season, this offense was the best at third-down success, since then, they have struggled to convert. ”I think that’ll be the big difference in us feeling, I guess, fulfilled about an offensive game, that it’s complete”.
Mayfield was then asked if it was too late on the season for that signature win, or if it is something that can push the team going forward. “It’s never too late for that” Mayfield responded. “Especially with the new system and guys like we talked about in the run game getting on the same page and there’s a big difference now so it’s not too late for that but yeah we need it pretty soon.” We knew the new offense would take time to develop and it’s shown, especially in the run game with its recent success.
This team is in the middle of the playoff hunt, currently in first place. Could the Bucs offense finally get that signature win that Mayfield discussed? If so, the time is now with four games left in the season.
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