What Happened?
February 23rd, 2026
Offense was never the same.
The Super Bowl happened two Sundays ago. And all the while watching that game, and in the aftermath almost daily, Joe wondered to himself, “What the hell happened?”
In Week 5 the Bucs traveled to Seattle to face the eventual Super Bowl champs. There, the Bucs offense thrashed the mighty Seattle defense. On the road.
And don’t give Joe the knee-jerk reaction to injuries. The Bucs were hobbled that day. Mike Evans was out. Chris Godwin didn’t play the entire game because he was hobbled and had just three catches. There was no Luke Goedeke or Cody Mauch.
The Bucs offense thrashed the Seahawks. Thrashed. The Bucs racked up 426 yards of offense. Had 38 points that afternoon against maybe the best defense in the NFL.
Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield had 370 yards passing. He never got close to that after that game.
Emeka Egbuka had 163 yards receiving in his homecoming. Only once (loss to New England) did Egbuka have more than 65 yards in a receiving in a game the rest of the season.
Cade Otton averaged 20 yards a catch that day. He never got close to that again.
Rachaad White had 41 yards rushing and a pair of touchdowns, half his season rushing touchdown total (four).
What the hell happened?
The Bucs offense was never the same after that day. Again, the Bucs offense was riddled with injuries for that Seattle game, both at the skill positions and on the offensive line. Yet that didn’t slow down the Bucs offense against a fantastic defense.
Yes, the Bucs went on to win a couple of more games before the bye after clobbering Seattle on offense. But it was never the same.
Joe would like to know what the hell happened? Hopefully, as Joe prepares to fly to Indianapolis this morning, Joe learns the answer to that question this week at the combine.
2025 Season Rewind:
In week 5, #Buccaneers WR Emeka Egbuka became the 1st player in #NFL history to have 25+ catches, 400+ receiving yards, and 5 receiving TDs in his 1st 5 career games. pic.twitter.com/VmV3OtseYa
— NFL Stats (@NFL_Stats) February 18, 2026
February 23rd, 2026 at 12:40 am
The Bucs had a solid win the next week, beating San Fran by double digits and then they got blasted by the Lions on prime time TV (like they usually do). Baker got banged up and the Bucs got exposed a bit. The next week the Bucs beat up the Saints but mostly on D, then came the bye and then the season fell apart. I really think the season ran through Baker. If he stayed healthy perhaps he could have minimized his mistakes and Grizzard may not have gone turtle in the play calling as the season unwinded. Of course some will say that Grizzard went turtle on play calling because Bowles told him to control the clock with the run, that could be true but I think a big part of it was baker was hurt, could not scrambe too much for a long stretch of games and was limited with the deep ball thanks to all the injuries he accumulated behind that soft interior OL.
February 23rd, 2026 at 1:45 am
If Baker was truly hurt that bad, and we’ve all hits he’s taken that few quarterbacks would ever get up from, why didn’t they do something about it? At some point Mngmnt has to step in. Bridgewater fell apart as soon as he took the field. I’m not sure of deadlines and dates but they could have traded for an actual QB. They also could’ve laid it on the line with the HC and OC. It never happened and it was standard status quo, freeze in the headlights and go down in flames in classic Bowles’ style. Many other teams would not have let this complete collapse happen. And now what? Why in the world does anyone think this is going to get better??? I hope it does but I sure can’t see it.
February 23rd, 2026 at 2:04 am
The above posters said it, Mayfield got too battered to perform to that standard and the OC and front office didn’t do enough to prevent or mitigate it in the form of OL depth or a worthwhile back-up. I would add that Grizzard got lucky against a seasoned NFL vet/McDonald because of lack of film to study/NFL coordinator beginner’s luck.
That doesn’t mean the the Bucs aren’t the best team in the NFL. They beat those parade-participators in their own house with half their starters out. Hello? The Bucs are obviously the best at football to anyone who knows football. Sheesh…
February 23rd, 2026 at 2:07 am
My guess is the O.C. the Wizz Grizz outsmarted himself and thought he would change up the offense after the bye because teams had it on tape now. So he’s go8ng to be super smart and switch it on up to hot a** trash