Following the Bucs’ 28-23 loss to the Patriots on Sunday, Tampa Bay’s players on offense were rather irritated talking about what just happened, as the team fell to 6-3 while New England improved to 8-2. We’ve seen this group fired up and angry before, but this felt different.

There was reason for the Bucs to be annoyed. It was the third straight game where the offense didn’t meet expectations.

Baker Mayfield missed some throws, receivers didn’t always get open, and the offensive line missed some blocking assignments. Tampa Bay was 5-of-13 (38.4%) on third down as a result. The biggest issue was that Tampa Bay’s offense was given several chances to take the lead in the fourth quarter and missed every opportunity.

“The game was there for the taking and we didn’t take it,” starting center Graham Barton said. “That’s what I’m talking about is those moments that you have to come up big. You have to execute when it matters most and we didn’t.”

Bucs WR Sterling Shepard and C Graham Barton – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The Bucs offense once again failed to get into a rhythm. An opening drive touchdown that resulted in an early 7-0 lead didn’t correlate into consistent play. When the game was in reach Tampa Bay’s offense only scored 16 points. The team’s final touchdown to give the Bucs 23 points was in garbage time late while Tampa Bay was down by 12 points.

Bucs Urged To Be Me More Accountable

Baker Mayfield didn’t go as far as to publicly calling out players by name, but he’s clearly not happy with how the unit played. It sounded like maybe the group was a little too comfortable with their early season success.

“[We] just did not execute good enough,” Mayfield said.  “[We have] to do all the little things right in critical moments and we did not do that today. That’s what I told the team and told the offense after the game. At some point, when the stuff comes up during the week, whether it’s mistakes or things we talk about and then it shows up on Sundays, you have to have some pride about you.

“You [have] to have the fear of that failure and messing up for your teammates when we talk about something, you [have] to have better 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. That was the case for us on offense today.”

Bucs rookie wide receiver Emeka Egbuka, who led the team with 115 receiving yards along with a touchdown, agreed with everything his quarterback had to say.

“Yes, absolutely,” Egbuka said. “It’s just what happens when you don’t execute. So, that’s the bottom line. We’ve got to be better and we will be.”

Bucs WR Emeka Egbuka – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Fellow rookie wide receiver Tez Johnson, who had two touchdowns in the game, is usually a man of many words. But following a disappointing outcome for this unit, he had very little to say besides getting back to the grind.

“I mean stuff like this happens,” Johnson said. “Like I said, we’ve just got to go back to work. We can’t blame [anybody] – all we can do is take ownership. Time to go back to work. The page is already flipped, so I mean, I don’t really know what to say [other than we have to] go back to work.”

The problem is that it isn’t “just happening” anymore for Tampa Bay. There have been three straight games where the offense looked stagnant. Three games ago Tampa Bay scored just nine points against the Lions in a lopsided loss in primetime, 24-9.

Two weeks ago in a 23-3 win in New Orleans, the Bucs offense only scored one offensive touchdown, relying on a great defensive performance to get the win. Sunday’s game saw the Bucs have two situations in the fourth quarter where they had the ball with a chance to score a touchdown and take the lead.

They failed on each occasion, squandering a third-and-3 and fourth-and-3 at the New England 27 at the two-minute mark in the fourth quarter, trailing 21-16.

What Went Wrong For The Bucs?

Tampa Bay’s execution issues appear to be fixable, but it’s also some of the same things that have led to stagnation on offense since scoring 30 points against the 49ers back in a Week 6 win.

“[We] just have to be better on the communication up front on certain fronts,” Baker Mayfield said. “How they are going to twist off, how we are [identifying] it, and then also just our third downs. We haven’t been nearly good enough, whether it is me missing some throws and different things like that. [Also] just making plays when they are there.

“We’ve obviously had a lot of third-and-long situations, which means that we have been in some behind-the-sticks situations, so we have to be better on early downs and then execute on third downs. Offensively, I am hoping our guys do get pissed off about this. This isn’t the end of our season. I know that. We still have very important games ahead of us, but games like this when you don’t win them – it should sting, it should really hurt.”

Mayfield also cited a too relaxed attitude after the team’s opening drive, which resulted in a 7-0 lead thanks to a 21-yard touchdown catch by Emeka Egbuka. Everything worked on that initial drive, but it quickly became a struggle throughout the rest of the game. Tampa Bay’s starting quarterback talked about the little things needing more focus in their next game.

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: USA Today

“There is a certain point – we are a good team, but to be great, when you score on the opening drive, you know what it looks like, you set the tone,” Mayfield said. “You’re not satisfied with it. You come back and in your head, it’s 0-0 and you go do it again. Right now, I think we are lacking that on offense. And it comes down to me – that is my job to get that fixed and I will do that.”

So what is that one thing the Bucs are lacking the most?

“Killer instinct,” Mayfield said.

Let’s see how the Bucs respond next week on the road against a 6-3 Bills team that is coming off an embarrassing, 30-13 loss at Miami.