Bucs love how Mayfield, offense are bouncing back
TAMPA — The honeymoon with Baker Mayfield may not be over, but Bucs fans got to see Sunday what happens when the whirlwind courtship they enjoyed with the emotional quarterback goes sour.
Following the 20-6 loss to the Lions, easily Mayfield’s worst performance of the season — he missed two potential touchdown throws to Trey Palmer and had another to Mike Evans batted down — he fumed in the postgame media conference.
In stronger terms, Mayfield said he was awful. The offense was lousy. Players on his side of the ball need to get upset about it and start pulling their weight.
“That’s what you’ve got to love about the guy is, he attacks it the right way,” offensive coordinator Dave Canales said Thursday.
“We lost the game. He handled it the right way and just really is leading, as a captain on this team, really leading this team to say, ‘Guys, our standard is here.’ We’re really pressing toward the standard, so his demeanor this week has been fantastic, and that’s one of the reasons why I love the guy.”
Despite the two-touchdown deficit, Canales said Mayfield fought to the bitter end.
“I love having him in there, his experience, and he’s fiery,” Canales said. “You know, and even just going into that last drive, there was no quit. He’s standing in there trying to make tough throws all the way to the end to see what we could make happen out of it.”
Mayfield completed a seasonlow 51.4% of his passes (19 of 37) for 206 yards and no touchdowns. His one interception led to a Lions field goal.
Maybe it was the heady 3-1 start combined with a bye week that affected Mayfield and the Bucs the most. Mayfield spent the time away doing a series of national TV interviews and was the guest picker for ESPN’s “College GameDay” show at the Red River Rivalry between Texas and Oklahoma.
Everywhere he went, back pats followed for Mayfield exceeding expectations with a Bucs team that had been picked to win only a couple games this season by some NFL pundits.
Mayfield returned to practice Wednesday and Thursday on a mission, Canales said, and teammates have followed his lead.
“The seriousness that the guys came out with [Wednesday] together in the huddle, a couple times at practice I’m watching them talk,” Canales said. “They’re talking and they’re taking ownership of this thing. My highest vision for our offense — my highest view for us longterm — is a group that can work those things out together in the huddle. It kind of gave me chills a couple times.”
Canales said he’s looking to players such as Mayfield and center Robert Hainsey to take control of the offense.
“We give them a plan they’re excited about. Hopefully, we give them plays they love. And from there, they’ve got to take ownership and really drive it and be out there on Sunday where it’s them playing,” Canales said. “They’re not an extension of me. They’re not an extension of their coaches. This is their team. This is their offense and their defense and their special teams, and I believe we’re heading in that direction.”
Mayfield, who is playing for his fourth team in the last 15 months, said in past seasons he might have overreacted to a bad performance or loss. But those experiences have helped him keep an even keel while working to correct mistakes.
“You never want to have a snowball effect, good or bad,” Mayfield said. “You know, obviously you want to build momentum, but no game, no play is the same. It’s a one-to-the-next-one mentality, and that comes with a lot more experience. But at the same time, you’ve got to learn from your mistakes instead of harping negatively on it.”
Mayfield isn’t the only one who returned to work eager to correct mistakes. Backup quarterbacks Kyle Trask and John Wolford have helped Mayfield prepare for what they hope will be a bounce-back game Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons (3-3).
“He’s doing a great job with Kyle and with John Wolford,” Canales said. “They have their own little pod. They have their own little group, and they’re studying first and second down. They’re studying third down, and they’re shooting us thoughts and ideas.
“When they come up with something that we have something similar, I always default on their build because they can see it and imagine it. He’s been fantastic that way. He’s got great command of the calls. He’s got great command of the answers from Game 1. He got us to quick answers versus these exotic blitzes that led us to some success.”
It’s a long season, and the Bucs are still atop the NFC South with a 3-2 record heading into Sunday’s game, which could go a long way toward helping Mayfield and his team separate in the division.
“We’re still hungry,” Mayfield said. “All of our goals are in front of us. It starts with, big picturewise, you have to win your division first to get where you want to go. We’re still in control of our destiny when it comes to that.
“We’ve got a big one for us, so we’re not hitting the panic button. We know we can play better. We’re not looking around like, ‘Oh, no. What’s the deal? How do we fix this?’ We know what we need to fix, and we have the group to be able to do that.”