Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield is never one to shy away from speaking to the media after bad losses. He’s the leader of this Tampa Bay team and for better or worse, he will stand up and face the noise each and every week. That’s what he did after the team’s frustrating 28-23 loss to the Patriots on Sunday, a loss that came on their home field coming off a bye week.

Speaking specifically about himself and the Bucs offense, which failed to come through on a number of chances to take the lead in the second half on Sunday, Mayfield said he wants his guys to have a strong reaction to what happened.

“Offensively, I’m hoping our guys do get pissed off about this,” he said. “This isn’t the end of our season. I know that. We still have very important games ahead of us. Games like this, when you don’t win them, it should sting. It should really, really hurt.”

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: USA Today

But there was something else Mayfield said that raised some different alarm bells after Sunday’s game. After all, he had a similar message about the team being pissed off following its Week 4 loss to the Eagles. No, this time around, there was a different, deeper-cutting message that he had for his team, and it was centered around uncorrected mistakes – often around the little things within the game – that can cost them against good teams.

“When the stuff comes up during the week and when there’s mistakes or things we talk about and then it shows up on Sundays, you have to have some pride about you,” Mayfield said. “You’ve got to have the fear of that failure of messing up for your teammates. When we talk about something, you’ve got to have that responsibility and accountability for the guys around you and get it fixed. In tight ball games like this when you play a good team like the Patriots, little things will get you beat.”

There was a palpable difference in Mayfield’s demeanor in his postgame press conference following the loss to New England compared to other losses during his three seasons with Tampa Bay. There has been disappointment in his voice and attitude in the past, but it didn’t feel the same this time.

This felt more like some anger. Perhaps it’s an anger that comes from both the fact that he knows the Bucs can be better than they were on Sunday and the fact that one of the things it will take for them to actually be better is for some guys in the building to take some pride in their work, take their preparation to heart and correct mistakes that are correctable. Because not doing so? That’s selfish, and it’s irresponsible to the rest of the guys in the room.

Of course, Mayfield shouldered plenty of the blame himself for Sunday’s offensive performance. He said multiple times that it all starts with him. But it was clear that his sharp words were a call to action for his Tampa Bay teammates.

Baker Mayfield, Bucs Need To Have A Sense Of Urgency Going Forward

The Bucs badly need to take Baker Mayfield’s message to heart this week. Because as the veteran quarterback said, getting the little things wrong will get you beat against good teams. That’s what happened in their loss to the 8-2 Patriots, and it will continue to happen in the coming weeks if they don’t come back to work this week with a sense of urgency.

Tampa Bay is now 6-3, and while Sunday’s loss didn’t hurt the lead it has in the NFC South standings, it did prevent the team from building a larger lead. It also kept Todd Bowles’ squad from keeping pace in the race for high seeding in the NFC playoff picture. Not to mention, this was the start of a brutal three-game stretch for the Bucs, and they’ve started it off with a loss.

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: USA Today

Now, they head up to Buffalo to face a 6-3 Bills team that just got embarrassed by the Dolphins. Josh Allen and Co. don’t get beat like that often, and they will surely come out with something to prove when Tampa Bay comes to town. And from there, Tampa Bay heads west for a Sunday Night Football game against the 7-2 Los Angeles Rams, who have Super Bowl aspirations and look like one of the best teams in the NFL through 10 weeks of this season.

Coming out of their Week 9 bye, it felt like the Bucs just needed to survive this three-game stretch by winning two of three. Well, with Sunday’s loss on their home field, they’ll have to go do the seemingly impossible and pull off back-to-back wins in Buffalo and Los Angeles against two Super Bowl-caliber teams if they want to go 2-1 in this stretch. At this point, even 1-2 could be in question – especially if this team doesn’t pull itself together.

There has to be a sense of urgency now, and it seems like Baker Mayfield realizes that. It’s just a matter of time before we see if the rest of the team realizes it and acts on it as well.