Sunday’s loss will not sit well with Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield. Coming into the contest 2-0 and looking to ride high against a 0-2 Broncos team, the opposite happened. Denver came in and saddled Mayfield and Co. with an embarrassing 26-7 loss.

After the game, the quarterback gave credit to the opponent – while acknowledging that the team has a lot of film to watch and will learn from defeat.

Baker Mayfield: “We Got A Lot Of Things To Get Fixed”

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: USA Today

The Bucs’ offense completely stalled against the Broncos’ defense on Sunday afternoon. They mustered only 223 total yards of offense, and Baker Mayfield had a quiet game where he completed 25 of 33 passes for 163 passing yards with a touchdown and an interception. Mayfield averaged just 4.9 yards per pass, and it was a game where he was blitzed heavily and sacked seven times.

The past two games have only asserted that the team needs starting right tackle Luke Goedeke to return, as it was tough sledding for an offensive line that misses his physicality and toughness that rubs off on the rest of the group.

Mayfield did not place blame on the guys signed to protect him.

“There were a few pressures this week that were actually on me – there’s some when we get into some of these tempo drives and two-minute thoughts – there’s a mindset of trying to fix the protections when they’re bringing some of these pressures and there’s also the mindset of snap the ball and get it out of your hands,” Mayfield said. “Not all of that is on the O-line. Luke is a hell of a player, we do miss him, but we expect everybody in there to be able to execute – that’s why I’m going to take a lot of ownership of this. The ball needs to be out and delivered to the right damn people…”

The execution was not there, and Week 3 was a big step back for a Bucs’ offense that came into the game fourth in the NFL averaging 28.5 points per game. Tampa Bay simply did not start fast and bring their best stuff.

That has to change.

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: USA Today

“All the credit in the world to Denver for coming in here – I think we will watch this tape, and you can probably tell on the tape how much they wanted it more than us,” Mayfield added. “For offense, we didn’t start fast in the first quarter, didn’t start fast in the third quarter – that’s the story of the game. We can’t throw an interception early on; it changes the momentum, but then we had a chance, scoring in the second quarter right there going into halftime knowing we are getting the ball back and then again, didn’t start fast in the third quarter.

“We got a lot of things to get fixed, but that’s the story of this league. We talked about it earlier this week – you have to bring your best stuff any Sunday – it doesn’t matter who you are playing. So, for us, get the things corrected. Luckily, we get to do it again next Sunday right here at home to get these things fixed.”

Sunday Was A “Good Lesson” For Baker Mayfield And The Bucs

When analyzing how the game went for the Bucs and the lessons the team can take from their first loss this season, Baker Mayfield understands that there is nothing else to do but accept it for what it was and move on to Week 4’s game against the Eagles.

“This is a good lesson for our team overall,” Mayfield said. “You have to prepare like you’re playing in a playoff game every week or else this can happen. We got our asses kicked – physicality-wise, execution-wise, all over the board for us. It’s a good lesson for our team, for the young guys who haven’t seen it before of what you need to be prepared for, how detailed we need to be and for it to happen this early on, I’m going to take the positives from it and take this one on the chin. There’s nothing else to do besides that and go from there.”

Bucs HC Todd Bowles and Broncos HC Sean Payton – Photo by: USA Today

Mayfield is not the only one who sees it that way.

So does head coach Todd Bowles, who admitted at his post-game press conference that it was a “complete team collapse.”

“[It’s] a long season,” Bowles said. “You know, we took it on the chin today. They beat us, flat out. They outcoached us; they outplayed us. It’s going to be a long season for us. We weren’t extra high the Monday we came in after Detroit, we can’t be extra low tomorrow once we watch the film on this game. We have to move on to the next one. There’s a lot more tough games to be played – a lot of football to be played and unfortunately, we didn’t win this one.”

The Bucs will quickly be moving forward and focusing on hosting the Eagles, but Sunday’s embarrassing loss is an early-season reminder to not get too up or too down.