Baker Mayfield scores on a nine-yard run late to pull the Bucs within a touchdown Sunday in Cincinnati.
The Bucs defense looked weird to Joe yesterday, not so high up in the press box of Mike Brown Stadium.
The defense made some good plays, had some solid play, but in a lot of way looked like the same ol’ Bucs defense.
Speaking after the game, Baker Mayfield was asked about the defense. He liked how it played and, in fact, Mayfield said if not for him, no one would be complaining because he painted the defense into a corner with his three fumbles.
> “I thought the defense was good all day,” Mayfield said. “We gave them short fields to fight through against that offense.
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> “You can’t ask for them to be superheroes. They can’t make every single stop. We did not give them any advantage today and that comes back on the offense.”
One guy Mayfield was very bullish on this summer is Josiah Trotter. In some ways, Trotter is the defensive version of Mayfield; he also enjoys chirping at opponents and getting in their faces.
Perhaps because he thinks they’re kindred spirits; Mayfield has often told folks to watch out for Trotter when the regular season arrives.
And we all saw what Trotter did yesterday in Cincinnati, including his pick-six.
> “At that point in time, it was a momentum shift,” Mayfield said of Trotter’s huge play. “I’m pretty excited about what Trot’s been doing throughout practice and offseason training camp.
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> “I think you got a glimpse of that today.”
Joe can easily argue Mayfield’s turnovers sank the Bucs. That may have been Mayfield’s worst game with Tampa Bay. Certainly bottom-five. So the chances of Mayfield repeating that, well, Joe doesn’t think will happen soon.
So Joe is glad if Mayfield had that type of game in him, he got it out of his system in Week 1.