Baker Mayfield
Career low.
It wasn’t like the Bengals played the game of the century Sunday along the banks of the Ohio River when they outlasted the Bucs by six points, 33-27.
The Bucs moved the ball throughout the game. The only way Cincinnati got the ball was either on kickoffs of Baker Mayfield’s Christmas presents (Bucky Irving, too).
Speaking on “First Things First,” seen on FS1 weekdays, co-host Danny Parkins said he had “concerns” about the Bucs after watching that game because the Bucs’ offense was “shockingly sloppy.”
Fellow co-host Greg Jennings said the game was lost by Baker Mayfield, who Jennings admitted he’s not a big fan of because of ball security issues.
“That’s Baker,” Parkins said. “He’s had that problem since he’s been in Tampa.”
Joe actually agrees with Parkins on the sloppy offense. It looked like these guys had never played together before, which is exactly what Parkins said disturbed him because the Bucs brought back the offense nearly intact from last season.
But man, it drove Joe nuts seeing the sloppy blocking and the turnovers (of course). Joe nearly jumped out of his chair when Cade Otton committed a false start coming out of a timeout. A high school kid would be pulled off the field for that.
Look, Joe is not overreacting here. With just a little smarter play, the Bucs could have won that game. So Joe sees no reason to freak out and run Bowles this morning and bench Mayfield.
The Bucs’ franchise quarterback has never had three fumbles in a game before Sunday. So Joe isn’t expecting a repeat of that anytime in the near future.
Did you learn more about Bengals or Bucs? @DannyParkins weighs in:
“I came away a little bit more concerned with the Bucs… I felt like there were more giveaways than takeaways… I thought the Bucs offense was shockingly sloppy.” pic.twitter.com/D0RpY55PaL