The Buccaneers only needed six plays to take a 7-0 lead over the Patriots at home on Sunday, but any thoughts that they would be moving the ball at will all day quickly went up in smoke.
They picked up two first downs while punting on their next three possessions and they were down 11 points by the time they got back to the end zone in the third quarter of the game. In his postgame press conference, quarterback Baker Mayfield pointed to complacency as the issue that the Bucs need to address in their coming games.
“Like I said, lack of execution. There is a certain point — we are a good team, but to be great, when you score on the opening drive, you know what it looks like, you set the tone, you’re not satisfied with it. You come back and in your head, it’s 0-0 and you go do it again. Right now, I think we are lacking that on offense and it comes down to me — that is my job to get that fixed and I will do that.”
When asked specifically what the offense is missing, Mayfield said “killer instinct” and they’ll need to find it before they get to Buffalo next Sunday if they want to ensure they remain the top dog in the NFC South down the stretch.
