\n\t\t\t\t\t\tBaker Mayfield and the Buccaneers still need to work on their killer instinct.A week after Mayfield and coach Todd Bowles complained the team lacked finish in a loss to New England, the Bucs were more productive on Sunday, but it wasn’t enough as they fell 44-32 to the Buffalo Bills.Critical errors and insufficient playmaking in all three phases cost Tampa Bay as Mayfield slipped further out of the MVP discussion. The Bucs (6-4) have lost three of four.\u201cThe fight was there, the toughness. It just came down to not making enough plays,\u201d Mayfield said.The Bucs rushed for a season-best 202 yards, led by Sean Tucker, who had 106 yards and scored three TDs, one of them receiving.Mayfield scrambled for 39 yards and a touchdown, and finished 16 of 28 passing for 173 yards and a TD while overseeing an offense that was missing receivers Chris Godwin and Mike Evans and running back Bucky Irving.\u201cGuys fought hard,\u201d Mayfield said. \u201cThere were great plays within the game, throughout the game. But you got to look at the tape to see what really got us beat.\u201dThe Bucs still lacked finish on offense, their defense was unable to contain Josh Allen \u2014 who had three touchdowns passing and three more rushing \u2014 and Tampa Bay\u2019s kickoff coverage unit allowed a combined 234 return yards.Mayfield said the Bucs \u201cneed to be really critical of ourselves\u201d for losing a game in which they squandered the lead five times.With the Bucs up 26-21, Mayfield took the blame for his overthrown pass that Bills safety Cole Bishop intercepted in the third quarter. The Bills capitalized on the next play, with James Cook scoring on a 25-yard catch.Mayfield responded by capping the next possession with a 28-yard touchdown pass to Tucker. But the Bucs’ final two possessions ended with a three-and-out and Mayfield losing a fumble.Tampa Bay won the turnover differential 3-2 and enjoyed a 10-minute edge in time of possession.Losing a game with those advantages \u201cis hard to do,\u201d Bowles said. \u201cField position and big plays.\u201d\u201cThe effort was there, but the playmaking was not,\u201d Bowles said, while suggesting part of the blame rested with the defense. \u201cWhen you score 32 points, you\u2019re supposed to win.\u201dTampa Bay, which lost top cornerback Jamel Dean to a hip injury in the first quarter, continued to give up too many explosive plays. Bills running back Ty Johnson turned a screen pass into a 52-yard touchdown, and Allen found Tyrell Shavers deep for a 43-yard score.Last week, the Bucs gave up three touchdowns of 55 yards or more against the Patriots.Bowles remains confident his team has the right mindset as it prepares to face the NFC West-leading Los Angeles Rams in prime time next weekend.\u201cWe are in a good place mentally,\u201d Bowles said. \u201cOur fight is outstanding. Our execution needs to be cleaned up.\u201d\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tORCHARD PARK, N.Y. \u2014 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers still need to work on their killer instinct.<\/p>\n
A week after Mayfield and coach Todd Bowles complained the team lacked finish in a loss to New England, the Bucs were more productive on Sunday, but it wasn’t enough as they fell 44-32 to the Buffalo Bills.<\/p>\n
Critical errors and insufficient playmaking in all three phases cost Tampa Bay as Mayfield slipped further out of the MVP discussion. The Bucs (6-4) have lost three of four.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fight was there, the toughness. It just came down to not making enough plays,\u201d Mayfield said.<\/p>\n
The Bucs rushed for a season-best 202 yards, led by Sean Tucker, who had 106 yards and scored three TDs, one of them receiving.<\/p>\n
Mayfield scrambled for 39 yards and a touchdown, and finished 16 of 28 passing for 173 yards and a TD while overseeing an offense that was missing receivers Chris Godwin and Mike Evans and running back Bucky Irving.<\/p>\n
\u201cGuys fought hard,\u201d Mayfield said. \u201cThere were great plays within the game, throughout the game. But you got to look at the tape to see what really got us beat.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Bucs still lacked finish on offense, their defense was unable to contain Josh Allen \u2014 who had three touchdowns passing and three more rushing \u2014 and Tampa Bay\u2019s kickoff coverage unit allowed a combined 234 return yards.<\/p>\n
Mayfield said the Bucs \u201cneed to be really critical of ourselves\u201d for losing a game in which they squandered the lead five times.<\/p>\n
With the Bucs up 26-21, Mayfield took the blame for his overthrown pass that Bills safety Cole Bishop intercepted in the third quarter. The Bills capitalized on the next play, with James Cook scoring on a 25-yard catch.<\/p>\n
Mayfield responded by capping the next possession with a 28-yard touchdown pass to Tucker. But the Bucs’ final two possessions ended with a three-and-out and Mayfield losing a fumble.<\/p>\n
Tampa Bay won the turnover differential 3-2 and enjoyed a 10-minute edge in time of possession.<\/p>\n
Losing a game with those advantages \u201cis hard to do,\u201d Bowles said. \u201cField position and big plays.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe effort was there, but the playmaking was not,\u201d Bowles said, while suggesting part of the blame rested with the defense. \u201cWhen you score 32 points, you\u2019re supposed to win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tampa Bay, which lost top cornerback Jamel Dean to a hip injury in the first quarter, continued to give up too many explosive plays. Bills running back Ty Johnson turned a screen pass into a 52-yard touchdown, and Allen found Tyrell Shavers deep for a 43-yard score.<\/p>\n
Last week, the Bucs gave up three touchdowns of 55 yards or more against the Patriots.<\/p>\n
Bowles remains confident his team has the right mindset as it prepares to face the NFC West-leading Los Angeles Rams in prime time next weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are in a good place mentally,\u201d Bowles said. \u201cOur fight is outstanding. Our execution needs to be cleaned up.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers still need to work on their killer instinct.A week after Mayfield and coach…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":49318,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[9909,31568,8739,22207,31570,916,18742,31569,15728,135,31567,137,136,11273,2393,10438,1456,8733],"class_list":["post-49317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-baker-mayfield","tag-bowles","tag-bucs","tag-buffalo-bills","tag-finish","tag-game","tag-loss","tag-next-possession","tag-sean-tucker","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-bay-buccaneer","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-team","tag-time","tag-touchdown","tag-week","tag-yard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49317\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}