As a proud nod to his home state, Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield wore a Texas Rangers hat to the podium for his weekly session with reporters Wednesday.
And while winning a championship would be nice, or being prolific with runs, there’s a more realistic way for Tampa Bay to borrow from the Rangers’ formula for success this week: Pick up a much-needed road win.
Tampa Bay (3-4) has lost three straight, and the offense has struggled to get points on the scoreboard, averaging just 12.3 points per game in those three losses. The Bucs will try to end that streak Sunday in Houston, where the Texans are also 3-4 and have dropped two of three, the last coming against the previously winless Panthers.
“Go on the road, backs against the wall against a team that has played I think better than everybody’s expectations,” Mayfield said Wednesday. “It’s going to be a fight for us, so go in and try to find a way to win in a tough environment and get this thing turned around.”
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The Bucs are only a half-game behind the Falcons and Saints atop the NFC South standings, so they’re very much still in the thick of things as they seek a third straight division title. But momentum is going in the wrong direction right now, so there’s an urgency to get back on a winning track, especially in a winnable game.
“You don’t want to say urgency, because we play with urgency. We’ve got to play smarter,” coach Todd Bowles said. “Obviously, we want to start faster. We’ve been working on that, doing certain things to do that. We understand that every game is valuable to us. … We’ve just got to focus back on the things we do well and not have the MEs [mental errors] and understand what we’ve got to do to win.”
Scoring earlier would help toward scoring more. The Bucs are one of nine NFL teams yet to score a touchdown on an opening drive this season, and they’ve managed only one field goal on those drives. They have 13 first-quarter points all season, tied for 29th out of 32 teams in the opening period. For getting a spark, for instilling confidence and asserting control of a game early, an improvement there would be helpful Sunday.
“Huge. I’d love to score a touchdown every opening drive,” offensive coordinator Dave Canales said Thursday. “Whether that’s the play types or execution, that’s a huge area of growth for us. … I just know personally the more we get comfortable with what we are doing, we will play fast from the first snap to the last. I don’t see that from us right now. We’ve got a long way to go still in that regard.”
The Bucs have room for improvement on defense as well. They rank in the top 10 in points allowed, tied with the Texans for sixth, but can be much better in specific areas. They’re last in the league on third downs, and while they have the league’s best turnover margin, none of their starting four defensive backs have an interception yet. It’s bad enough that 11th year defensive lineman Will Gholston got his first career interception — in his 160th game — before a starting DB got one.
“We can get a lot better,” Bowles said. “Any time Will Gholston has more interceptions than our starting secondary, you want to get better in that area. He has bragging rights right now. I don’t know if that’s a compliment or an insult.”
Is Bucs’ Cinderella story done with third straight loss?
The Houston game will start a run for the Bucs of facing three rookie quarterbacks in five weeks, but C.J. Stroud hasn’t played like most rookies, with just one interception all season. The Texans have the fewest turnovers in the league with just four, and they’ve allowed only 15 sacks, despite an offensive line that has seven players on injured reserve and four others limited by injuries in practice this week.
Outside linebacker Shaq Barrett, with just two sacks in seven games, said he can’t think about things like the advantages of facing a rookie until he starts getting to the quarterback on a more regular basis.
“We just have to start getting there first, then I’ll start licking my chops once I’m already getting sacks and stuff,” he said. “Right now, it doesn’t matter who we are going against. I only got [a sack] two times. Quarterbacks shouldn’t be worried right now, but once we get it going again, we should put some fear in some quarterbacks.”
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The Bucs have another rookie quarterback the following week in the Titans‘ Will Levis before a difficult trip to San Francisco to face the 49ers. Ending the losing streak, staying near the top of the division and getting back on track are crucial, but the focus starts on playing better on both sides of the ball.
“There is always something you can improve on, but especially right now,” Mayfield said. “For us, we take that accountability. You have to look yourself in the mirror after each game and each practice, see how I can get better and improve and help this team out.”
Greg Auman is FOX Sports’ NFC South reporter, covering the Buccaneers, Falcons, Panthers and Saints. He is in his 10th season covering the Bucs and the NFL full-time, having spent time at the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman.
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