Insult and injury combined to produce a nightmare of epic proportions for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday Night Football of Week 12, as nobody could have predicted the Buccaneers getting annihilated in the fashion that they did by the Los Angeles Rams, falling 34-7 to new (and quit clear) MVP favorite Matthew Stafford.
The whispers calling into question Baker Mayfield's MVP candidacy and the legitimacy of the Buccaneers as a Super Bowl contender were a unanimous roar even acknowledged by the Tampa Bay faithful in the aftermath of a 27-point defeat that may as well have been a 54-point drubbing, such was the early dominance of Sean McVay's ruthless troop.
For the Buccaneers with their easy schedule ahead and a less than impressive group of teams among them in the NFC South, the playoffs are still an expectation. The bigger worry, however, is the health of Baker Mayfield, who could be seen clutch his left shoulder in agony - after several grimaces in that general direction - following a doomed heave late in the first half.
The Buccaneers need to show guts
Mayfield is injured, and while the injury is currently classified as a low grade sprain with whispers that the former No. 1 overall pick could push through the pain to play against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunady, the answer should be obvious to Todd Bowles and the Buccaneers. They have to shut him down.
This injury, if the early reported diagnosis is correct, is far less serious than the one Mayfield suffered in his final season with the Cleveland Browns in 2021 when he fought through a partially torn labrum. However, Mayfield's situation now is similar to what it was then. Mayfield is angred, battered, bruised, and potentially driven to push himself through something that he should not, risking his own health and even professional perception as a top quarterback by playing through something clearly hampering him.
The Buccaneers can survive without Mayfield against the Cardinals for a week. Not only could they potentially beat a very weak NFC team with one of the best backup quarterbacks in the business, Teddy Bridgewater, under center, but even if they were to lose, it wouldn't completely doom them from a playoff spot either - no more than their loss to the Rams with an obviously injured Mayfield did.
But if he were to aggravate the injury and miss games against the New Orleans Saints, Atlanta Falcons, and, heaven forbid, Carolina Panthers twice? Then the Bucs would be royally screwed. Bowles and the organization have to make sure they do what the Browns - a gutless franchise - never had the intestinal fortitude to do and that is to simply save the headstrong Mayfield from his own self.