By The Buccaneers Have the Talent to Escape 0-2. Now They Have to Stop Beating Themselves.
By Ken Filler | Tampa Bay Sports Journal
TAMPA — The Buccaneers have played two games. They lost in two different ways, made two different sets of costly mistakes, and arrived at the same result.
In Cincinnati, four turnovers helped turn a winnable opener into a 33-27 loss. Three consecutive fumbles led to 21 Bengals points.
The Buccaneers never punted, yet still lost. That is a hard sentence to write about a team with this much offensive talent.
Against Cleveland, the ball-security disaster did not repeat itself, yet the Bucs found another way to lose.
Drives stalled near the goal line, penalties cost them yards they could not afford to give away, and missed tackles helped the Browns rally for a 23-19 win.
Chase McLaughlin made four field goals. Tampa Bay scored one touchdown.
Different mistakes. Same result. The Bucs are 0-2 heading into Sunday’s home game against the 2-0 Minnesota Vikings.
The question is whether this team can play a complete game before the hole gets deeper.
Protect the football, especially against Minnesota
Week 1 cannot be filed away as an opening-day fluke. The Bengals scored 21 points after three straight Tampa Bay fumbles.
On one of those plays, Baker Mayfield lost the ball near the goal line, and Cincinnati recovered it in the end zone.
A promising Bucs drive became a touchback, followed by another Bengals touchdown.
Mayfield took responsibility afterward. “You have to know someone is behind you,” he said of the first strip-sack, adding that he needed to keep two hands on the ball.
That lesson will be seriously tested on Sunday.
Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores brings pressure from all, and Minnesota has blitzed on nearly 80% of its defensive snaps through two games. The Buccaneers cannot let pre-snap confusion become another loose ball after the snap.
Mayfield needs quick answers when Minnesota sends extra rushers. The line needs better communication. And every ball carrier needs to remember what happened in Cincinnati.
Finish the drives that Cleveland survived
The Browns loss will sting for a different reason.
Tampa Bay had chances to build a lead and chances to take one back. Instead, McLaughlin kept walking onto the field.
But a field goal is a consolation when an offense has already worked its way close to the end zone.
After Mayfield hit Tez Johnson for 49 yards in the fourth quarter, the drive ended with three points.
On the final possession, with the Bucs needing a touchdown, a holding penalty pushed them back before their last pass fell incomplete.
The answer is more precise football where space gets tight. Keep a manageable down and distance.
Give Bucky Irving a chance to threaten the defense on the ground. Let Mayfield make a decisive throw instead of asking him to rescue a drive after a penalty or a negative play.
The Buccaneers have shown they can move the ball. It has to make those yards count.
Stop giving opponents the play that changes everything
Bowles’ defense has had encouraging stretches. Cincinnati’s Ja’Marr Chase caught only two passes for 12 yards, and Cleveland rushed for just 44 yards.
Yet Mike Gesicki hurt the Bucs over the middle in Week 1, and missed tackles helped turn Cleveland completions into big gains in Week 2.
Now comes Justin Jefferson, who has 11 catches for 147 yards and two touchdowns through two games.
Kyler Murray is also expected back at quarterback.
The Buccaneers’ rush has to stay disciplined against Murray’s ability to escape. The secondary must bring Jefferson to the ground when he gets the ball.
A defense does not have to win every snap against players like that, but it also cannot let one missed tackle erase a strong series.
Bowles was blunt after Cleveland: “Nobody is coming to save us. We’ve got to fix ourselves, and we’ve got to fix it in a hurry.”
Mayfield described the offense’s frustration this week: “You can feel it. You can see it. We’re moving the ball at times, and then just shooting ourselves in the foot.”
Bucs fans see it, too. They saw a team good enough to hang around despite four turnovers in Cincinnati.
They saw a team good enough to lead Cleveland by 10 in the second half. Talent has kept the Buccaneers in games. It has not won one yet.
The way out of 0-2 begins with a game in which the Bucs protect the ball, turn scoring opportunities into touchdowns and make the tackle when it matters.
Minnesota will make all three difficult. That is why beating the Vikings would mean something.
No one in the Buccaneers organization needs to promise its season will turn around.
But the team does need to show up for four quarters on Sunday and show us it has learned something from the first two games.
