Eyebrow Raised On Bucs Offense
September 12th, 2025
Baker Mayfield
Was last week’s ho-hum production by the Bucs offense (aside from Baker Mayfield’s three touchdown passes, including two to Emeka Egbuka) enough to raise questions?
Field Yates of BSPN thinks so, though he’s not jumping off a ledge. Yet.
Yates said he is feeling a “tinge of anxiety” about the offense. Tampa Bay only had 260 yards, 101 yards on the ground and 159 through the air. Mayfield was the team’s leading rusher with 39 yards.
Not optimal.
Yates has very little regard for Atlanta’s defense.
“Baker’s good,” Yates said. “He’s really good. But he threw for under 200 yards in Week One against a Falcons defense that I think is an inferior total defense and an inferior pass rush to the defense the Bucs face this upcoming weekend in Houston.”
All fair points. Add in the fact the Bucs will play a road game for the second straight week, that’s not good.
Still, Joe cannot discount the Bucs shook up the entire left side of the offensive line and had less than two weeks to prepare. Graham Barton, not-that Michael Jordan and Ben Bredeson were all either playing out of position or were a new addition to the starting lineup.
That had to play a factor to how disjointed the Bucs offense looked at times on Sunday.
September 12th, 2025 at 4:07 am
I have to agree on this one Joe. Was wondering how many snaps Bredeson has taken at center in the NFL. He looked way too slow when pulling. Give Jordan credit for jumping in to a starter role. He was not looking good at tackle and I didn’t think he was worthy of roster spot. But what do any of us really know due to the top secret nature of Bucs practices. Barton was battling and they put him in a tough spot. Even with all of his college LT experience.
Bottom line is that we need improvement there. We gotta have a running game and better pass pro.
Go Bucs!
September 12th, 2025 at 5:09 am
Hopefully Wirfs returns to the lineup soon and the run game gets going. Quick passes on first down will help here
September 12th, 2025 at 5:22 am
Yes and no.
Overall, the Falcons clearly came out better prepared and more like they were looking for a win than we did, especially at the beginning of the game.
No doubt the changes on our O-line played a factor in how we performed.
We still got the win, as ugly as it was.
Conventional wisdom is that the Texans’ defense is better than the Falcons’ D and we’re going to have our hands full this week.
I’m concerned, but willing to see how we do on Monday night before sounding the alarm.
September 12th, 2025 at 5:26 am
Yates should brush up on his NFL history before he goes public with foolish, empirically deficient, faith based remarks.
An easily discovered example to counter Yates take would be the 2003 Patriots. In their season opener they were blown out by the Bills, 31-0. End of the world, right?
Obviously, the Patriots showed little offense in their season opener, but they went on to go 14-2 and won the Super Bowl. In that injury plagued season, the Patriots started 42 different players in various positions. We Bucs fans should remember that when we go doom and gloom over the loss of a single starter or two.
The good/great teams overcome.
In a league where each week is as important as the next, the only thing that matters is the W. The Bucs got the all important win, and they looked far from great in getting it. But this was the first game for most starters, and the rust showed. If anything could be realistically taken from this Week 1 win, it’s that Bowles should play his starters in the preseason.
September 12th, 2025 at 5:45 am
If it was third week I’d be anxious but considering very few of our starters played in preseason consider it mostly rust. Bowles going on fourth early to me was not about getting that down alone but Him recognizing they needed to stay out there to get into game rhythm.
so rust and the oline change _ especially for the run game – seem to be indicated.
September 12th, 2025 at 6:22 am
Meh…chalk up the slow start to the fact that the starters barley, if at all, played in the very meaningful preseason games.
September 12th, 2025 at 6:33 am
It was week one with missing starters and a shuffled o line, we should be good.
September 12th, 2025 at 6:35 am
If the Bucs had to revamp the Oline because Heck wasn’t up to the task why is he taking up a spot on the 53? Makes no sense.
September 12th, 2025 at 6:42 am
My eyebrows were raised for sure. But I know better than to think our offense isn’t one of the league’s best. I bet Baker was over 260 pass yards. I lost that bet. I bet Mike over 100 receiving yards. I lost that bet. I saw Bucky running those deeper routes preseason and bet him over 50 yards receiving. +550. I lost that bet. But I bet most of my money on us winning. I didn’t bet the spread- just the win. -120. And I won! We were 1 of 4 stopping 4th down conversions. Our 4th down stop was game changing. So was our defense playing tough. Punt return. Winfield play. Offensive line kept us going. Offense finished strong!! And we are going to get better. Baker sure wasn’t on top of his game. But our team, and it took the whole team, won on the road against our biggest division rival. This is a good football team. But I’m not betting props on any individual props this week. I’m betting on the team! Because as good as Baker and Mike and Bucky are they aren’t as good as the rest of the team. And I’m betting I win that bet.
September 12th, 2025 at 6:43 am
If everything wrong with us got 23 points on the road, Houston is about to score 13 at home.
September 12th, 2025 at 7:06 am
With all the injuries on this team heading into Atlanta I expected a tough game. Shouldn’t be surprising they struggled at times on offense. For some reason the offense looks rusty the first couple games anyway. Couple the early season rust with a make shift offensive line and you see the results. All things considered it wasn’t that bad. Defense on the other hand usually starts out strong. Until the injury bug decimates the secondary. Past experience dictates when Wirfs comes back the defense will fall apart due to injuries. But by then the offense will gel and they’ll be scoring 30pts a game. It’s a bucs life. This team is far too talented to not string together multiple complete games where they’re firing on all cylinders. Somehow Baker seems to get this team through it with sheer will
and leadership.
September 12th, 2025 at 7:07 am
Maybe just maybe Atlanta played well on Defense.
Maybe Wirfs being out had an impact.
Maybe no preseason play by Baker and many starters meant they were rusty.
Maybe it was a new OC learning how to drive the bus.
Wait until week 3 before assuming a trend.
And in the end, the only thing that matters is to have one more point than the opponent.
September 12th, 2025 at 7:21 am
If our kicker was on, we’d have scored 27. If Mayfield hadn’t overthrown Otton when he was wide open, we’d have scored 34. Not bad for week one with a makeshift offensive line.
September 12th, 2025 at 7:24 am
Baker was rusty and left a lot of air yards off the stats sheet. Probably gonna take some time before Grizz gets truly comfortable calling plays, he’s still learning.
September 12th, 2025 at 7:37 am
The whole league was sloppy
September 12th, 2025 at 7:45 am
How many plays did the offense run in preseason? The D is always ahead of the offense to start the season. All you have to do is look at everyone else week 1 except Jets vs. Steelers.
September 12th, 2025 at 7:51 am
Garro, pretty sure that Bredeson played 4 games as starting center for the Giants before he got with the Bucs when the Giants center went down with an injury.
Never watched a snap of him back then.
September 12th, 2025 at 8:18 am
He did.
September 12th, 2025 at 8:20 am
Rams 14 – 9 Texans
So maybe they have a pretty good defense, but how about that offense?
People keep bringing up a sloppiness of the Bucs/Falcons game. The Rams/Texans game was the absolute opposite of the Bills/Ravens game.
September 12th, 2025 at 8:35 am
This isn’t a new phenomenon, we had 6 games like this last year and went 1-5 in those games. All but 1 of those games(Denver) last season were 1 score games. OL was healthy for all these games
2023, same deal with 6 games with 200 yards. I’ve mentioned it here before and got dogpiled by comparisons to other QBs or anything else that’d excuse production.
Baker isn’t a QB you ask to consistently pick a defense apart from the pocket which is fine, but he’s good for solid QB play here and there. When our run game, and by extension our screen game isn’t clicking our pass production suffers like it did Sunday.
It’s not just because or opening weekend. Not because we didn’t have Wirfs, because we’ve had games like that with Wirfs in the lineup.
Also why I chuckle when you guys claim such and such WR disappeared or hasn’t been producing because the QBs job is maintaining his connection with those guys. There was a game last season, where we didn’t have Mike/Chris and not only did we pass for <200 yards, WRs were barely getting shots to make plays because the ball was not coming their way.
Hope this helps and I hope Sunday was the only game we struggle to get our pass game off the ground.
September 12th, 2025 at 8:40 am
Losing Tristian is a much bigger deal than a lot of people say. He’s pivotal for this offense to be a top 5 offense. Without him we simply aren’t as good. Same with Godwin, who has the rare ability to reliably get first downs and move the chains. The good news is we will get healthier
September 12th, 2025 at 9:15 am
Wondering if the same articles are being written about Joe Burrows and the Bengals???
Joe Burrow Stat Line
C/ATT YDS AVG TD INT SACKS QBR
14/23 113 4.9 1 0 3-18 52.1
I actually preferred Coen quick hits to what was rolled out last weekend, but at the end of the day Bucs won and really that is what matters most.
People mention the Otton miss and it looked like neither one was on the same page, Otton looked lost and Baker didn’t look good. I remember one pass to White and if he was not caught from behind it would of been a big hitter. Would like to see more passes to the backs early on to get this offense rolling and to change the narrative. Wouldn’t it make sense to do quick hitters with an offensive line being juggled around?
September 12th, 2025 at 9:28 am
Warren Brooks Lynch. Baker is good for solid QB play “here and there? And you hope Sunday was the only game we struggle to get our passing game off the ground? Our passing game won the game you silly, silly little rascal.For far too many here it’s past the point ridiculous trolling Baker Mayfield the way you do.
September 12th, 2025 at 9:31 am
When the run game is established, the Bucs offense will score more points. Hopefully the kicker will put all the miscues behind him and get back to being reliable up to 55 yards.
Go Bucs
September 12th, 2025 at 10:05 am
Yates is a yahoo. Even a mere fan like me knows me about the NFC South than he does. Falcons are NOT chopped liver! This next game? I can’t get a feel for it yet. I had a strong one with Atlanta. I am concerned about the zebs though. Bucs have got to bring their A+ game MN. Let’s go Bucs, 2-0!!
September 12th, 2025 at 10:06 am
*more about…sheesh, old age.
September 12th, 2025 at 10:19 am
Baker was off target on some throws that would have produced serious amounts of completion yardage. Allowing for the rust from no preseason, hopefully that gets corrected quickly. Thankfully he connected when he had to especially to #2.
Houston game will be tricky, don’t know how they’re going to stop us when Wirf’s, Godwin and then McMillan get back…
September 12th, 2025 at 10:35 am
Kenton,
Baker has played in 35 games for us, me pointing out that 13 of those games including Sunday where he threw for 200 yards, in a passing league in 2025 that’s pathetic production, but with the right plays on the right side of the ball we can still win games.
September 12th, 2025 at 10:36 am
Offense missed Liam Coen badly
Bucs kept a inept coordinator and average head coach instead of promoting the coach responsible for their 2024 success
Running on obvious 1st downs and putting your unit in a bad down & distance is not smart. Having a makeshift o line is not going to help the run game or offense
Bucs will regret not firing Todd Blows and promoting Coen
September 12th, 2025 at 10:42 am
This fan, for one, is slowly getting psyched about listening to a game starring the WR Trio of Terror, and Bake. Throw in Grizzard calling an inventive Offense. An Offensive Trio of Terror? The Bucs? When’s the last time we had such a beast? Go Bucs, 2-0!!
September 12th, 2025 at 11:18 am
Baker missed a bunch of throws in the first half . Badly missed wide open Otten which would have been +50 yards and a TD, Mikey which would have been +30 yards and Shep which would have been +30 yards. That’s 110 passing yards on three throws. And Rachaad having such limited touches is criminal. One target? C’mon.
September 12th, 2025 at 11:21 am
WBL- do you reckon the internet is a tool that some of us use to check facts? Last year Baker threw for over 200 yards 13 times. Burrow did it 15 times, 3 did it 14 times and Baker was in 5th place with 13. You’re grasping for straws WBL while Baker is slowly cementing his legacy.
September 12th, 2025 at 11:43 am
Kenton, I don’t give a rats ssa about those QBs not named Mayfield because they don’t impact every game the Bucs play.
Stay on topic. You stated the pass game won us the game. I disagree, I feel they did their JOB of putting enough point on the board to help us win.
Our 3 TD drives, we started on the our own 48, ATLs 32 yard line, and the final scoring drive on our own 37. Any capable starting QB should be able to get some types of point with that starting position. Shoutout to our defense and return teams because they played as big a role as our offense.
Furthermore, your boy Baker has 39 of 107 games he’s started thrown for <200 yards in the modern NFL, literally a third of those came as part of this team. Mayfield brought that to Tampa with him. You can refute it all you want, but it’s part of HIS game.
Joe Burrow in his career has passed for <200 yards in 13 games over 6 years.
Mayfield has done that in 2 years with us.
Stop taking Mayfield critiques so personal, it’s giving off that you may be a little mentally weak when it comes to hearing things you disagree with.
September 12th, 2025 at 11:58 am
Sacks take points off the board and stop drives.
A big special teams play creates momentum.
Interceptions stop extended drives, stop an opponents momentum and quiet the crowd at an away game.
Reddick dropped Penix for a loss at a crucial point in the game – saved 4 points as Atlanta settled for a field goal.
Against Atlanta, Johnson was instrumental in creating an opportunity for the offense – which had struggled. You could feel the momentum shift in the stadium.
2 out of 3 ain’t bad – but damn if our corners could only catch, the game wouldn’t have been that close. Time of possession matters.
September 12th, 2025 at 12:25 pm
@WBL – yeah, the ‘eye-test’ alone is all you need to see with this ‘so-called’ comparison with Burrow. I mean, NO ONE would ever put Baker on the same planet as him.
@Smarter than Joe – yeah, they sure as hell didn’t mind pushing Bruce out the door for Bowles’s turn. So, I don’t know what the hell they were waiting for with a 38-year old proven offensive GENIUS (O’Connel-like) in Cohen. They have been extremely patient with Bowles (who’d already been a HC), so why the hell they couldn’t offer up that same kind of patience with Cohen!? He’d already developed an unbelievable relationship with YOUR Franchise QB. They wanted their cake and to eat it, too! That’s why they fricken PANICKED trying to reach-out to him, after realizing that he was on his way to JAX. They should’ve either already offered him the job in the first place, instead of freaking TF out over the whole entire thing and then getting their feelings hurt, & etc. There is only ONE reason for why they were scrambling around like that during the final moments, when Cohen refused to answer his phone… They were going to offer him. They really screwed up and they KNEW-IT. I mean, WHY else would they freak-out THAT BAD like that, whenever they’d discovered he had escaped their grip!? You DON’T let the man leave in the first place, when you already have HIM inside YOUR own building. Especially, over a 63-year old, middle of the road, DEFENSIVE-HC. Just a miserable decision and move. Just Horrible. And, it doesn’t make any sense… You give Bruce the boot like THAT, and then you fail to do the same with your other ‘old-timer’ head coach!? BS. Makes ZERO sense.
September 12th, 2025 at 12:32 pm
More than anything, no preseason playing time for the real starting offense was the culprit.
September 12th, 2025 at 12:43 pm
WBL. We converted 50 percent of our 3rd downs. Last year we led the league in that category. 50 percent is top of the league most clutch type numbers. Our QB has thrown more TD passes than any QB in the league since the start of 2023. That’s along time in the NFL. Let’s talk about that.
September 12th, 2025 at 12:59 pm
Kenton, we’re not talking about conversion rates or any other metric you need to pull out of you keister to reach for a comparison of Baker to QBs who are clearly more consistent than with their.
The article is talking about throwing for <200 yard games and you’re spiraling out of control because I came in and mentioned how that’s been apart of Mayfields’ game since he was drafted 1st overall.
You wanna QB to compare him to? on his best day he can be Tony Romo from the pocket and on at his worst he’s Blake Bortles minus being 6’5 230lbs. That’s just my opinion tho
September 12th, 2025 at 1:48 pm
Most of our starters got little to no play time this preseason, baker didn’t play a single snap. That’s why things looked a little rough, it will be fine.
September 12th, 2025 at 2:04 pm
Just think HOW EXCITED this fanbase would be right now, had the FO made the bold (correct) moves of promoting Cohen to HC (instead of allowing him to go to their ‘in-state’ rival), AND trading for Micah Parsons (versus allowing him to go to their ‘in-conference’ contending rival). Ya think maybe THEN, the organization would have had all of the ‘national’ coverage and following that they’ve been clamoring for!? The Packers have been doing a lot more “unPacker-like” things of late, as they’ve built THEIR Roster (and we have a nucleus of aging players too, with not a lot of time on their side). It’s starting to REALLY ‘pay-off’ for them, too! First, they made the move for Jacobs at RB (when the already had TWO pretty damn good ones). Then, of course, the Parsons trade… A once in a LIFETIME type of opportunity. They POUNCED and the ‘good-ole’ Bucs stayed pat.
September 12th, 2025 at 2:08 pm
If you are starting a lot of rookies, the starters need preseason playing time.
When you are mostly bringing back an experienced winning lineup, protect your starters.
Maybe, if you are starting the season against a top five team, you put in your starters for the first series or first quarter in preseas week three. But, you still have a two week layoff until the next game unless you are playing in the league season opener, so how much will it help?
The Bucs knew they were playing Atlanta, they know the Atlanta team, and they know the Bucs veterans and there health.
It worked for the win, so I have no complaint about healthy players with some rust.