Record-wise, Baker Mayfield and the Bucs were perfect through the first three weeks of the season. There were problems and plenty of mistakes, but they overcame them each time and did enough to pick up some hard-fought wins and enter the final weekend of September with a 3-0 record.

But the 3-0, defending Super Bowl champion Eagles were in town, coming to Raymond James Stadium looking for some revenge after their recent struggles against the Bucs. And not only did they get that revenge, but they reminded Tampa Bay of a tough truth: It’s difficult, if not impossible, to overcome a slow start and mistake after mistake to win games when you’re playing against the elite of the elites.

Tampa Bay fell behind 14-0 in the first quarter and went into the locker room down 24-6. It was 31-13 deep into the third quarter. There was a blocked punt returned for a touchdown, drops, misfires and missed blocks on offense and not enough resistance from the defense. Outside of two Chase McLaughlin field goals, anything that could go wrong seemingly went wrong. And it put the Bucs in a precarious situation against a team like the Eagles.

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: USA Today

The Bucs did what they do and fought back, getting within 31-23 before ultimately losing 31-25 after the Eagles took a safety as time expired. And while it was another display of resilience from Baker Mayfield and the Bucs, the slow start was too much to overcome. And that was the big lesson of the day.

“We fight. I’ve talked about it. The standard is fight back,” Mayfield said in his postgame press conference. “We don’t stop fighting until the game is over. That’s the positive take out of it, but the negative is directly related to that. We talked about starting fast and we quite obviously did the opposite today, so we’ve got to fix that. You can’t expect to beat teams of that caliber when you start slow like that.”

That was the prevailing feeling in the locker room, too. Mayfield said as much, pointing to some wise words by longtime captain and 14-year veteran linebacker Lavonte David, who spoke to the team after the game.

“Lavonte hit on it postgame with everybody, and I couldn’t have said it better myself,” Mayfield said. “This group’s too damn good to start slow. And until we take accountability to that… It should piss us off. Even though it’s Week 4, this should piss us off. We’ve talked about starting fast, playing better ball, and we did not do that today.”

Baker Mayfield Wants The Bucs To “Come Out Swinging”

Unsurprisingly, Baker Mayfield is right. The Bucs should be pissed off with themselves for the way they came out of the gates Sunday afternoon in what was a big game between two 3-0 teams. The slow start and subsequent loss could come back to bite them if they follow through on their goals and find themselves fighting not just for a playoff berth, but for higher playoff seeding. The Eagles now own the tiebreaker over them, and while it’s still Week 4 and there is a long way to go, this was certainly a disappointment that the team will have to sit with for a bit.

But then comes the more important part of the task. Tampa Bay will have to sit with this loss and the way it started the game for the rest of the day and maybe even into Monday. But then, the team has to rally back and learn from it. Life moves fast in the NFL, and Mayfield and Co. will have a chance to right some wrongs with a better start when they meet the 3-1 Seahawks in Seattle next Sunday afternoon.

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield Photo by: USA Today

Mayfield made mention after Sunday’s loss that the Eagles came out and punched them in the mouth. And while they eventually responded, the veteran quarterback and three-year captain of the Bucs said this is too good of a team to need that kind of wake-up call. Instead, they should be coming out with the first punch.

“We were just kind of lifeless to begin with in the first half. We got punched in the mouth going into halftime,” Mayfield said. “You look at the scoreboard and you’re like, ‘All right, what’re we gonna do now?’ We’re too damn good to wait to get hit in the mouth. We’ve got to come out swinging. We’ve got to play better.”

And it’s crucial that the team responds to that charge from its quarterback and captain. Tampa Bay is now 3-1 for the third straight season. In 2023, 3-1 turned into 4-7 with a 1-6 stretch between October and November. Last year, 3-1 turned into 4-6 with a 1-5 stretch between October and mid-November.

With a tough run of games continuing in the coming weeks with the trip out to Seattle to face the 3-1 Seahawks, a home game with the 3-0 49ers and a Monday night game on the road against the 3-1 Lions, the Bucs can’t let this 3-1 start go the way the last two have. If they want to push for more than just a fifth straight NFC South title and challenge for one of the top seeds in the NFC, avoiding the midseason slump and wrapping up the division earlier is key.

And to do that, it’ll take these pissed-off Bucs responding to what happened Sunday afternoon at Raymond James Stadium and coming out each and every week with some more fire.

We’ll see if that starts in Seattle.