Baker Mayfield takes blame for Bucs embarrassing loss to Falcons

It appeared as though the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were moving in the right direction after starting the season off on the right foot.

Turns out the steps the team were taking was leading them toward a steep cliff.

Positive momentum that was gained at the start of the season has been squandered, as the Bucs fell from first place in the NFC South after Sunday's loss to the Falcons. That's just the kicker, though, as everything that led to the loss is what fans are concerned with in the wake of what happened.

Everything that felt good a few weeks ago is slowly revealing itself to be nothing more than a mask hiding some ugly truths about the team. The run game continues to be nonexistent, the offensive line looks horrid, and the offense generally looks terrible.

Tampa Bay has scored 19 points since coming out of its bye week, something that has resulted in back-to-back losses. That lack of production is something Baker Mayfield seemed less than thrilled about when trying to digest yet at the podium in Week 7.

Baker Mayfield takes blame for Buccaneers Week 7 loss to Falcons

While praising the defense in his postgame comments, Baker once again called out of the offense and took blame for the loss.

"Offensively we have to be better, and I'm going to wear that one for us," Baker said. "It's my job as the quarterback and leader of the offense to push these guys to finish drives, not have these penalties, and make sure we're helping our defense out."

Just looking at the box score would indicate a rather solid game by Mayfield. He finished the game with almost 300 yards passing and had a dynamite 40-yard touchdown pass to Mike Evans. The Bucs offense peaked early, though, as it mustered up nothing of value after that big play and squandered three huge turnovers by the defense.

Three times the Bucs forced turnovers with the Falcons knocking on the goal line door, and all three times the offense failed to do anything. Penalties were an issue too, with Tampa Bay committing nine of them for a whopping 66 yards -- most of which happened on offense and at the most inopportune times. Despite possessing the ball for more than 30 minutes the offense scored 13 points and finished 0-for-2 in the redzone with only two rushing first downs.

It was an all around pitiful performance by the offense, but no matter what Baker says at the podium these sorts of games keep happening. Until the play on the field changes, nothing else really matters.

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