Buccaneers QB Baker Mayfield Finds Optimism After Three Straight Losses

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were a surprise team to start the season. They had one of the better starts, and even more so when considering their expectations early in the season.

The Buccaneers started the season 3-1, and even responded with a loss to the Philadelphia Eagles with a win over the New Orleans Saints, a very tough defense to play.

Since that impressive win over the Saints, though, the Buccaneers are 0-3. They've lost to the Detroit Lions in a poor offensive showing, the Atlanta Falcons in a tight NFC South battle and, most recently, the Buffalo Bills on a Thursday night showdown.

Averaging just over 12 points per game in that stretch, the Buccaneers offense has been less than desirable over that stretch. With weapons like Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, they should be just a bit better than they've been, and the team knows that.

Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield spoke after the game and talked about the three-game losing streak.

“Losing three in a row sucks. There’s no way around that," Mayfield said. "It’s a sh—ty feeling. But we showed fight tonight. That’s the one thing that we can hang our hats on. We gave it everything we had there at the end."

The Buccaneers might have given everything they had offensively at the end, but it wasn't enough. They were playing the Bills, who haven't been the Super Bowl-contending team they've been in years past. The Bills are also littered with injuries defensively. This was a big opportunity for the Buccaneers to turn things around and get a huge confidence boost by beating Josh Allen and the Bills.

However, the Buccaneers fell short. Still, it's good for Mayfield to be optimistic about the performance, and now they get a mini-bye week as they have a bit longer than normal before their next game.

In the loss, Mayfield completed 25 of his 42 pass attempts, which resulted in 237 passing yards and two touchdowns. The Buccaneers' offense put up 302 total yards of offense compared to the Bills 427 total yards of offense.

Fortunately for Tampa Bay, three of the next four matchups are more than winnable. The Buccaneers are 3-4 on the season, and they could easily be 6-5 after the upcoming stretch of the season. They play the Houston Texans, Tennessee Titans, San Fransisco 49ers, and Indianapolis Colts in the next four.

It'll be interesting to see how they perform as the season rolls on and how they approach the issues and inconsistencies on the offensive side of the ball.

Stick with BucsGameday and the Locked On Bucs podcast for more coverage of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers throughout the 2023 season.

Follow BucsGameday on Twitter and Facebook

Add us as a preferred source on Google