Joe cruised through the Tampa Bay postgame locker room this afternoon in Buffalo and found very little concern with how the team has lost three of its last four games.
Don’t get confused; there was no celebration vibe in the locker room, but it sure didn’t feel like a crushing loss was being endured by players. Players were pretty loose and matter-of-fact.
Joe already shared that Lavonte David insists the team hasn’t hit the midseason “lull” he was worried might happen, as it has in past years.
Co-captain Antoine Winfield, Jr. isn’t concerned.
“Definitely happy without how we came out fast and physical. We just got to make sure we carry that through the entire game,” Winfield said of the Bucs’ defensive play today.
Asked if he feels like the Bucs are in a swoon like they’ve been in past Octobers and Novembers, Winfield didn’t think that’s a thing. “Not necessarily. That’s just the ebbs and flows of how the season goes,” he said.
Graham Barton acknowledged the losing but thinks the Bucs are on the right track.
“We’re kind of on a skid right now. We’ve got to execute better in situations, but I don’t think we’re in a lull by any means,” Barton said. “I thought we were doing some good things.
“The mindset’s there. The intent is there. Like I was really proud of the way we came out today. We just didn’t get it done. You know, hopefully we’ll continue to get healthy and get some guys back, and just continue to push this thing and finish out strong.”
Safety Tykee Smith, who is having a heck of a season, was the most down guy Joe talked to about today’s loss.
“Same feeling [as last year],” Smith said of the Bucs’ miseason losses. “We just got to get back to the drawing board and try to get things turned around.”
Joe talked to Tristan Wirfs privately without recording the conversation. Overall, Wirfs feels like his team has a strong attitude and effort and simply lost to a very good team today. He noted the Bucs lost to lesser teams when they had midseason swoons in past years.
Baker Mayfield was very chill versus his postgame ranting of a week ago.
“I think the fight was there. The toughness, the fight was there,” Mayfield said. “It just came down to not making enough plays. And so, that’s one of those things, come out of this game really disappointed because guys fought hard, thought there were great plays within the game, throughout the game.”
Todd Bowles praised his team’s grit and waved off any suggestion the Bucs are repeating a pattern of past seasons.
“I think we’re in a good place mentally. We don’t go by the last couple of years,” Bowles said. “Every year’s a new year for us. We’re in a good place mentally. Our fight is oustanding. Our execution just needs to be cleaned up from that standpoint.”
Joe sure hopes the Bucs have a great feel for the state of the team.