Just as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were starting to get healthy, quarterback Baker Mayfield went down with an injury of his own.
Mayfield suffered an AC-Joint sprain of his non-throwing shoulder and was forced to miss the second half of their loss to the Rams. The quarterback was shown in a sling on the sidelines and was speculated to potentially miss some time goig forward, however, after sitting out Wednesday’s practice he was back Thursday and Friday and could be available on Sunday.
With or without Mayfield, his message was clear this week. The Bucs offense can’t wait for players to get healthy to play better. As Bucky Irving and Ben Bredeson are set to make their return on the heels of Chris Godwins return, the offense is starting to get healthy. There’s also been sightings of Mike Evans and Jalen McMillan signalling their potential returns to the lineup as well. However, the Bucs need players to step up now when they are given the opportunity no matter how impactful others may be when they return.
“There's ways to look at it,” Mayfield said. “I think from a positive perspective, yes, we're potentially getting those guys back soon, but [we are] not waiting for that to happen. I think that's where we're at offensively [like], 'Let's not wait for this guy to make the play. Okay, he's back now, he's going to take the workload.' Let's have the attitude that I am going to be the guy that makes the difference, I'm going to make the difference-making block, whatever it is, run, catch. That's where we're at; we've shown that we can win with whoever is out there, so why not now? Let's not wait for some of these guys that have had a ton of reps to come back, you can do it, too. Instill that confidence [and] go out, trust yourself, and fly around and have fun. That's really what I am going to preach to the offense; that's what I'm looking for this week, is confident, fly around, let's go play our brand of football, and it's time to do that."
Outside of getting healthy, there's the Bucs need to be more mentally sharp with their focus. FOr the last three weeks it’s been a different guy on a different play at a different time causing issues for the offense. If the Bucs can lock down on the small details and just do their individual jobs it will go a long way towards getting the offense back on track and with the potential returns should provide a significant boost in production.
"Little things,” Mayfield said. “I think we did a lot of the little things right earlier on in the year, especially on offense. Whether it was two-minute drives, whatever it took to win the game, we were executing at the right time when we needed it, and I don't think we've translated that in the last couple. It goes back to fundamentals, doing the basic things right and doing them at a high level. That's as simple as that sounds. When you look at the tape, that's what it shows for us."
The games start counting more as we head into December, and the Bucs offense needs to get those little things fine-tuned starting Sunday’s matchup against the Cardinals, one that may or may not have Baker Mayfield at the helm.
"Where we are at right now, we're viewing the rest of these games must-win situations. [It is] just where we're at. I know it's not, theoretically, but that's how we're viewing it, that's how we're approaching it and for me, like I said, if I am physically able to go, then I'll do it, but I won't know that until I get practice reps and I am able to throw the ball later on in the week."