The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are 0-4 as they head into a short week against the electrifying Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys offense, and they have to hope that the Cowboys defense is the antidote to their offensive problems. Because the Buccaneers were anemic again on Sunday, losing 17-14 to the Green Bay Packers in a game that was close on paper but, in actuality, the Bucs never looked like a team that was going to break their winless streak.
Baker Mayfield did not draw the start for the Bucs in Week 4 after suffering an injury late in the loss to the Minnesota Vikings. Rookie Jalon Daniels could not lead the Buccaneers to victory in his NFL debut, throwing two interceptions to just one touchdown and failing to even register 150 passing yards.
When you look at those numbers, it is very easy to assume that Daniels was even worse than Mayfield and not the solution at all. But the thing is, despite Daniels' struggles, the Buccaneers were no worse offensively than they were in any of their other games this season.
Jalon Daniels was not worse than Baker Mayfield in his Buccaneers debut
Plus, there were times in which the Tampa Bay Buccaneers offense was moving the ball more fluidly than they were under Baker. Daniels showed a better chemistry with star receiver Chris Godwin Jr., he was better at navigating the pocket and escaping for yardage, and he had a franchise-record 55 rushing yards on eight carries to actually be the best threat on the ground with Bucky Irving inefficiently racking up 61 rushing yards on 16 totes of the rock.
Jalon Daniels did not look like a franchise quarterback, but he wasn't significantly worse than the Buccaneers' actual franchise quarterback. Baker Mayfield has to look at that game and realize that he has been playing just as badly as Daniels, an undrafted rookie who has more developmental upside than he does. Daniels was not all bad, and he actually did a better job than Baker of locating players in high leverage situations and dealing with pressure.
The Buccaneers offense and overall team doing this badly with either quarterback really points towards coaching being the underlying issue. Todd Bowles and Zac Robinson are a disaster holding this team back. Baker isn't the No. 1 problem, even if he is a disappointment. The Bucs are going to keep losing with this coaching staff, and it doesn't really matter who is under center at this point.
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