It feels like all the Bucs know how to do is play from behind the eight ball with slow starts in the first quarter. They were down 7-0 after the first quarter in Week 1. Tampa Bay immediately went down 7-0 in Week 2, and though they were able to tie it up on the next drive, they lost the first quarter 10-7.

Week 3 was the first time the team got its act together, though the Bucs went down 3-0 on the opening drive before pulling away. Then Week 4 was a nightmare as the Bucs went down 14-3 in the first and trailed 24-6 at halftime. Tampa Bay has been outscored 34-13 in the first quarter through Week 4, so it's definitely been a problem that the team needs to address.

The Bucs have constantly needed to play catch up in each of their games. There's an adage in football that sometimes players need to get hit first before getting into the game. This year, the Bucs have been waiting to get hit so they can throw a punch back instead of landing the first blow.

Baker Mayfield: Bucs Have "Got To Be The Aggressor"

So going into to Sunday's game against the Seahawks, which is a difficult environment to play in on the road with Seattle's 12th Man fan base, the Bucs have to be the ones controlling the tempo and pace of this game.

"Got to start faster," quarterback Baker Mayfield said on Wednesday. "Got to be the aggressor, not wait to get going, whether it gets chippy or get hit in the mouth once. We got to come out swinging. So, that's the thing that we're looking to get fixed. It's a it's going to be a good test on the road."

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: USA Today

Tampa Bay's offense has shuffled the deck on the offensive line due to who's been available so far in four going on five games. This will be the second game in a row where they'll have there traditional left side of Tristan Wirfs at left tackle, Ben Bredeson at left guard and Graham Barton at center with Luke Haggard likely starting at right guard and Charlie Heck back again at right tackle.

With that group playing together for the first time last Sunday, it led to some of the slow starts for the unit.

"When you don't have continuity within the players it's a little difficult," Mayfield said.  "It starts up front with with the rotating guys that we've had and hopefully going into this week having the same group being able to to handle that better. But yeah, just some miscommunications. A lot of them, you go back to the Jets game when we had, I don't know how on many third downs, had got some and then penalties killed us. A lot of shooting yourself in the foot and then just making sure we're on the same page with the game plan."

Seattle ranks second in the league with an average of 8.8 points in the first quarter so far this year. Tampa Bay ranks in the bottom third of the league in the first quarter, averaging just 3.3 points.

It Comes Down To Execution

The Bucs offense still believes it can overcome any defense and any score in the game regardless of what the defense is doing. Tampa Bay's defense has been great in the second half, but has come out of the gates limping with scores allowed on every first drive. Mayfield insisted that it has no impact on what they have to do as an offense.

"It really doesn't," Mayfield said. "We still have to go out there and execute knowing that it's it's early in the game. Got to go out there and just accomplish the game plan. We talked about the priority calls early on, the first third downs, red zone calls, things like that. So, just just got to be um like I said, starting fast and that that you know, hand in hand if knowing exactly what we're going to get to on those first situational calls and go from there."

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

"It can be drawn up a lot of ways," wide receiver Emeka Egbuka said of the slow starts for the offense. "But I think execution boils down to it as well. We never feel like there's anything the other team can do to stop us. All the errors that you see on film can be prevented or we just didn't execute the right way. There's a couple plays where the receivers have got to make catches. We've got to make guys miss. Everybody has to get to their blocks. It's a group effort, it takes all 11 and we just need to make sure we get off to a fast start."