Baker Mayfield Said He Sank The Bucs’ Defense
September 14th, 2026
Baker Mayfield scores on a nine-yard run late to pull the Bucs within a touchdown Sunday in Cincinnati.
The Bucs defense looked weird to Joe yesterday, not so high up in the press box of Mike Brown Stadium.
The defense made some good plays, had some solid play, but in a lot of way looked like the same ol’ Bucs defense.
Speaking after the game, Baker Mayfield was asked about the defense. He liked how it played and, in fact, Mayfield said if not for him, no one would be complaining because he painted the defense into a corner with his three fumbles.
“I thought the defense was good all day,” Mayfield said. “We gave them short fields to fight through against that offense.
“You can’t ask for them to be superheroes. They can’t make every single stop. We did not give them any advantage today and that comes back on the offense.”
One guy Mayfield was very bullish on this summer is Josiah Trotter. In some ways, Trotter is the defensive version of Mayfield; he also enjoys chirping at opponents and getting in their faces.
Perhaps because he thinks they’re kindred spirits; Mayfield has often told folks to watch out for Trotter when the regular season arrives.
And we all saw what Trotter did yesterday in Cincinnati, including his pick-six.
“At that point in time, it was a momentum shift,” Mayfield said of Trotter’s huge play. “I’m pretty excited about what Trot’s been doing throughout practice and offseason training camp.
“I think you got a glimpse of that today.”
Joe can easily argue Mayfield’s turnovers sank the Bucs. That may have been Mayfield’s worst game with Tampa Bay. Certainly bottom-five. So the chances of Mayfield repeating that, well, Joe doesn’t think will happen soon.
So Joe is glad if Mayfield had that type of game in him, he got it out of his system in Week 1.
September 14th, 2026 at 7:06 am
Ha ha, if you Baker got that out of his system I got a bridge in Brooklyn you can buy. Baker is a turnover machine. We have a career of evidence.
September 14th, 2026 at 7:08 am
Mayfield is to blame for the fumbles but the defense barely made any stops when they needed it. You can give Bowles better weapons, heck give him AD and Garrett in their prime, when you have communication issues, breakdowns in coverage, guys playing 6-10 yeards off coverage even on the goalline, it doesnt matter. Pass rush cant do its thing when its pitch and catch
September 14th, 2026 at 7:13 am
Well…. the ‘O’ Line was nothing special
Todd Bowles defense has not changed a bit
Todd Bowles and the ‘Gang’ may be able to fool the Glazers, but they cannot fool the fans
Really, in the end, the Bucs did have some bright spots and they did improve overall during the game, but like last season, they are slow starters and make too many mistakes early ….. and simply cannot overcome late!!!
PS Why is Todd Bowles still here?
September 14th, 2026 at 7:14 am
The defense didn’t SUCK so that’s a plus. The concerning thing is Burrow literally didn’t break a sweat back in the pocket. The defense had the entire off season to figure out a way to pressure the Bengals and did absolutely nothing. If you think about it, this team had months to prepare, and this is the best they could come up with. Did they lose the game? No Mayfield did! Did they disappoint? Hell yes!
September 14th, 2026 at 7:15 am
the next two games are “easy” – absolutely MUST win games
September 14th, 2026 at 7:15 am
@Ben
I’ve always said that. It’s probably not gonna matter who they put on that D until somebody else comes in & takes over that D.
September 14th, 2026 at 7:17 am
It’s going to be the same old defence. We still have the same old head coach
September 14th, 2026 at 7:17 am
Dude needs to slide and protect the ball like Purdy and other QBs do.
September 14th, 2026 at 7:24 am
The reason it looked like the same old Bucs’ Defense is because it is.
You can change all 11 players, but if you keep the same coach and still run a scheme where you’re lined up way off the receiver, and you don’t anticipate zone attacks, and you have no pass rush, you’re gonna end up with the same result.
All we heard about during the off-season Was how much better the pass rush was going to be. I didn’t see it.
September 14th, 2026 at 7:29 am
Baker thinks he is Josh Allen. Baker is not Josh Allen.
Baker is not situationally aware and puts his wants above the team.
The team should give Baker a Code Red with soap in socks.
September 14th, 2026 at 7:36 am
The Bengals defense sunk our offense. Those turnovers were good plays by the Bengals. That strip sack was ferocious. Give your team 4 more chances to score and you will most likely win.
September 14th, 2026 at 7:37 am
In before Rod Munch! When will you admit that Rod Munch is one of the Joe’s? Anyway, this was a Mayfield special. Kind of like the Saints game where he threw 3 INT’s but somehow we managed to win, except we didn’t. Now, the good news is Mayfield was very efficient when he wasn’t trying to run the ball
September 14th, 2026 at 7:44 am
The D looked better than the second half of last year, but last year was so bad that this D was still only a bit below average. Burrow got pressured on maybe 3-4 dropbacks but otherwise had enough time to make all the plays he needed to. I expect they’ll look better next week but I won’t believe until they can stop a good offense.
September 14th, 2026 at 7:45 am
6-11 lost season keeping bowles.
Only have to watch him lose 10 more games so he can finally be fired
September 14th, 2026 at 7:49 am
“Fumbles” Mayfield didn’t help, but Todd Bowles sank the defense a long time ago. Same old stuff, different game.
September 14th, 2026 at 7:51 am
Baker pulled an Amber Heard and literally pooped the bed. We can hammer Zac Robinson all we want, but the fact is this team punted zero times. Zero! If the turnover machine wasn’t working overtime this may have been a different game. Baker needs to stand tall and get his spit together and not act like a thief of the Glazers money because I know he is better than that.
September 14th, 2026 at 7:56 am
Joe … ‘So Joe is glad if Mayfield had that type of game in him, he got it out of his system in Week 1.’
Auspicious bottom line Joe, to let Baker off the hook. Sorry, but our $165 million dollar man has plenty of those at the ready.
September 14th, 2026 at 8:02 am
Like he did last season. Like he did in the WC playoff loss. Am I the only one see the theme here? Hes not good. He will be worse this season.
September 14th, 2026 at 8:06 am
the reasons why baker is fumbling are not all on him. bad play calling, bad protection, pocket collapsing is part of the fumbling. he tries to make it all about himself but the oline was trash yesterday, is wirfs still hurt? and unprepared.
baker didnt hold on to the ball, thats the bottom line, but if all season is going to be running for his life with his hair on fire it will be more of the same a lot of the time. they need to get him out of the pocket where he cant see if they want to have time to throw downfield more and do it by design not as life saving scrambles.
robinson unprepared. offense unprepared. baker unprepared. oline unprepared. wirfs injured still?
September 14th, 2026 at 8:07 am
When Mayfield plays hero ball it’s either good or ugly like yesterday it was surprising to see the offensive line look bad against Cinnanati pass rushers.
The Bucs are going to have a tough time winning their division against good offenses. Their fumbles were really bad. Not a good start but it is early in the season to make corrections
September 14th, 2026 at 8:09 am
“Todd Says:
September 14th, 2026 at 7:29 am
The team should give Baker a Code Red with soap in socks.”
Code Red! Good one.
September 14th, 2026 at 8:10 am
Defense was actually playing a lot of 4-3 base yesterday. I found that interesting, But not yet impressed.
September 14th, 2026 at 8:12 am
Good for Mayfield to take responsibility for his part in this. He should. Now waiting for the same amount of responsibility from the head coach, OL and the defense.
I’d also like to know what was causing Mayfield to need to hold on. No one getting open? Lousy routes? Or was someone open but Mayfield didn’t see it?
Blaming Mayfield solely is idiotic.
September 14th, 2026 at 8:14 am
Hard to forget last season when the start of this season looks like a rerun.
September 14th, 2026 at 8:17 am
He did.
September 14th, 2026 at 8:18 am
That must have been a huge chip on his shoulder that caused him to fumble twice and throw a pick! Gonna be a long season.
September 14th, 2026 at 8:18 am
Did someone say the reason Baker fumbled is because of bad play calling. LOL.
He led the NFL in fumbles last year, he led the league in fumbles in 2024 when Liam Coen was here.
Baker is more similar to ATM than not.
September 14th, 2026 at 8:19 am
Did the glazers take one two many chips off bakers shoulders by extending him lmao
September 14th, 2026 at 8:20 am
It was shocking to me to see how loose both him and bucky were with the ball. I was thinking it even before they started giving the Bengals the ball. Seems like a coaching issue to me!
September 14th, 2026 at 8:20 am
The biggest issue isn’t the fumbling, it’s the lack of intensity the offensive and defensive lines. Lack of preparation and that falls on coaching. That’s their job to get this team ready to match the other team’s intensity. Get them fired up to play like it’s the only game left. Just not impressed with Bowels at all. You see how well coached team’s come out for the first game. Point in case N.Y. GIANTS AND 49’S.
September 14th, 2026 at 8:21 am
Pointing out the glaring failures of the o-line does not mean you’re giving baker a free pass, both things can be true at once. The o-line was trash. Baker also needed to make better decisions. The offense was a mess
September 14th, 2026 at 8:21 am
“You can’t ask for them to be superheroes. They can’t make every single stop. We did not give them any advantage today and that comes back on the offense.”
Baker and our offense threw Burrow and the Bengals 4 alley oops for extra opportunities. Our defense was essentially playing 2 different offenses.
-1st fumble was returned for 7. Dropped our win probability to 55%
-Buckys’ fumble gave Cincy the ball at our own 33 yard line which dropped our win probability to 25%
-3rd fumble ended in a touchback mean we, no Baker fumbled into our own goal to score(after Cincy gave us a PI & holding that took us from about the 30 inside the redzone) win probability sank to 9%
-The last fumble was the most egregious, but it did rob of us time and left us at a 1% chance of winning that game.
From end of our first offensive drive finishing with a FG to the final whistle we peaked at an 87% chance of winning that game to a flat 1% by the last possession of the game. Buc fans will still try to “yea but” this, even when the offense snapped out of it, they still stunk. Nobody respects Bakers’ ability to push the ball up field, even less so with Mike out of the picture and Bengals defense looked like the Eagles defense looked against us last year. Like they were just waiting to make the play while our guys ran through the motions taking all that underneath garbage.
12 of 23 completions at or behind the LOS, Idk whether that’s Robinson play calls or Baker being the usual checkdown Charlie. Over the course of the game, on a per pass play basis Baker had 4.3 seconds to throw from the pocket. Cincy wasn’t flash sacking this guy, in fact they were getting help from his Fred Astaire routine in the pocket. Puttin on the Blitz
September 14th, 2026 at 8:23 am
With 5:32 left in the half, Bain got completely locked up on the 5-yard line and couldn’t get off his block. It wasn’t Amarius Mims either—it was tight end Drew Sample (#89).Sample’s longer arms immediately hit him, locking him up at the snap. Because of the shorter reach, Bain couldn’t extend or shed the block, leaving him completely anchored while Brown ran right by him.
September 14th, 2026 at 8:24 am
Baker played pretty good minus the hardheaded stuff he keeps doing. Get rid of the ball quickly, slide, throw it away!
If he can incorporate those things he might be great! It’s getting frustrating seeing him think he needs to rumble into the end zone like that. Then that stuff also gets him injured. Seems like a coachable thing but nobody is trying to change that it seems like.
September 14th, 2026 at 8:25 am
No Shiite Sherlock. Both QBs sucked really. Overrated Hollywood looks Joe benefited from the aforementioned short fields. Joe,s pick six was unforced and he basically threw the ball to the wrong guy. Bakers fumble 6 was him being hammered from behind when he was trying to throw.
September 14th, 2026 at 8:25 am
Baker’s not wrong.
What I saw yesterday was 24 of 33 points scored off turnovers, and 7 scored on the offense, not the defense. You can’t turn the ball over four times and give up points every time you turn it over, and expect to win.
Frankly, it’s a testament to the defense that it wasn’t a total blowout.
September 14th, 2026 at 8:26 am
I expected the o-line starters to be a little rusty, but that was ridiculous. I expected Baker to be a bit rusty, like last year’s throwing behind and low at receivers, but 3 fumbles on opening day 2026? Hard to believe the starters actually practiced in the off season. Then again, the “hot” start of 2025 we were only winning games by 2-3 points.
September 14th, 2026 at 8:26 am
I’m with Joe re Baker getting this out of his system. Baker is a proud guy, and he was humiliated yesterday. Hopefully, he’ll adjust; he’ll certainly remember.
September 14th, 2026 at 8:26 am
Clearly Baker needs to stop being macho man, take sacks, and slide when he runs. He also needs to be strictly coached that way. The O line, running backs, and tight ends need to block. Receivers need to be given good routs to run and they must run be crisply and precisely. Players must protect the ball or sit on the bench. When the ball hits receivers in the hands the ball must be caught. The clock can not run down to zero on every play. Movement on the line penalties must be rare. Oh, Offense coaches need to do their JOB. Baker had a lot of help sinking the Defense and the work of the special teams. Bakers fumbles were because Baker made bad decisions after others had not done their JOB. The defense and the special teams guys saw the same things we did. Do you think they are happy about
September 14th, 2026 at 8:30 am
Apparently Baker does something really well because the folks that KNOW just paid him $165 million. Baker is here to stay. Try being a Bucs fan instead of an anti-Baker fan boy.
September 14th, 2026 at 8:35 am
Don’t offend Trotter with Baker comparisons
September 14th, 2026 at 8:35 am
I love how everyone acts like they weren’t soooo pissed at the Trotter pick! They all wanted their guy with that pick…he was gonna be slow, and lost and terrible in coverage! He seemed to me to be one of the few who actually made plays…Vita, Cancey, and Bain were non existent
September 14th, 2026 at 8:41 am
It’s funny how some “Bucs fans” complain about Baker and call him a turnover machine when Mahomes, Allen & Jackson and others have about the same turnovers as Baker and some years have more than Baker. Funny how that works…
September 14th, 2026 at 8:43 am
And Sam Darnold had the most out of all the qb’s last year. Oh and Sam won a superbowl that year. Sounds kind of like a “team” problem.
September 14th, 2026 at 8:46 am
Glad to see Baker admit, because that’s a fact!!!
The fumbles were 1000% ON HIM and nobody else.
Dude was back there thinking he could onto the ball until sunset in the pocket and rolling right in the pocket.
He hung his O-line out to dry and dumb posters trying to blame Wirfs for having a bad day and causing the sacks. Utter ridiculousness!!
September 14th, 2026 at 8:47 am
“It’s funny how some “Bucs fans” complain about Baker and call him a turnover machine when Mahomes, Allen & Jackson and others have about the same turnovers as Baker and some years have more than Baker.”
125 turnovers in 121 starts and 124 total games played. None of that is funny.
September 14th, 2026 at 8:47 am
That may have been Mayfield’s worst game with Tampa Bay. Certainly bottom-five. So the chances of Mayfield repeating that, well, Joe doesn’t think will happen soon.
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did you forget the Dolphins game last year?….2 fumbles-1 lost fumble, 2 INTs…Dolphins game was just as bad….
imo, baker has 3 more of these type games up his sleeve….
GO BUCS!!!!
September 14th, 2026 at 8:48 am
2-8 in our last 10 games. Bowels is 36-37 as the HC including playoffs.
Faker is 28-27 as the Bucs QB1 including playoffs. See the pattern???
These are the hand picked leaders that Licht brought in. The results suck.
On any other NFL team the HC\DC would be launched already as well as the clueless GM.
Glazers are in sleep mode just using the Bucs as a cash cow for their investments abroad.
What a shameful period for this franchise. We’ve been derailed into irrelevance.
September 14th, 2026 at 8:51 am
Baker did better than Burrows in completion %, in average pass yardage, passer rating and interceptions, but his fumbles hurt. It is one game. The whole team needs to raise it up a notch.
September 14th, 2026 at 8:55 am
As usual WBL you leave out what the other qb”s are doing. How convienant. Apparently the coaches and owners don’t really give a rats butt what you think because Bake is here to stay regardless of all the bull spit you have said over the last 3 years. He IS our quarterback for years to come.🤣
September 14th, 2026 at 8:57 am
Baker has 48 turnovers in 52 games here…
Bucs should not be giving a QB like him franchise $$$
September 14th, 2026 at 9:00 am
Like I said WBL he great Josh Allen has had 121 turnovers. Funny how that happens when you look at the whole instead of one little cherry pickin part of the game. But you are good at that.
September 14th, 2026 at 9:00 am
Those quotes say we not I . baker is usually the first to take ownership of messing up. from the offensive line to the wrs excluding emeka not getting open to poor te play to bucky having the worst fumble out of the 4 . I am starting to get worried that Godwin is starting to look like 33 year old cooper kupp . Is he he getting separation on his routes?
September 14th, 2026 at 9:03 am
Trade Baker to the Browns for you know,who. Not really but at least Baker looked better than the guy who replaced,him In Cleveland.
September 14th, 2026 at 9:05 am
2 things Faker Mayfield will be remembers for in Tampa, 1) He signed the biggest contract in NFL History. 2) He will be the worst decision made in NFL History
September 14th, 2026 at 9:07 am
According to PFF
Baker Mayfield had an average tine of 3 03 to throw the ball
That’s above the NFL average
This backwards fanbase need to admit:
Baker Mayfield is not a good NFL QB
He’s not even an average QB
The Glazer’s made their greatest mistake by extending him
And all of his pathetic fans are always making excuses for him
They blame it on the HC, OC, OL WR, RB, the defense
This is ours IGNORANCE
September 14th, 2026 at 9:07 am
Mr. Robinson should have a ball boy in practice with a bullhorn count out loud up to four Mississippi and order Baker to run or throw the ball at four Mississippi. .
September 14th, 2026 at 9:12 am
Get within 6 with 3 minutes left. Bowels great defense let’s up two plays right in fg range. No doubt them turnovers killed them but finally kinda get back in and trash defense can’t make a stop. 3 points. 3 points. 12 yards off. TE wide open no pressure. Same old same old.
How’d coen jags look?
Can’t believe this guy is still a HC here
September 14th, 2026 at 9:16 am
Turn on the sports talk shows
You know who they aren’t talking about
THE BUCS
NOTHING
YOU know why Because it’s the same story every year
Hype in preseason
Look like a middle school team in the first game
September 14th, 2026 at 9:18 am
“Signed the biggest contract in NFL history”
👆🏼Is this a post on Browns fan site about Deshaun Watson?
September 14th, 2026 at 9:20 am
I guess I saw the game different. I saw a week 1 game w no preseason reps play in a tough environment (a team w SB aprirations) play pretty well . I’m encouraged , obviously you can’t have 4 turnovers and win so that’s something for Baker to clean up. The D will get to the QB next week. The line will block a hair better and cut out the penalties in time . Special teams was better. This out of conference game was just a starter for the team and ZR. I stand by 11-6 , a few simple adjustments and we will get there
September 14th, 2026 at 9:20 am
You can’t win turning the ball over more than your opponent. FACT!
Personally, I wouldn’t change a thing about Baker’s game. He’s a gritty, never-give-up competitor. He needs to work on protecting the football.
The defense was “meh”! Anzalone needed to check his cleats, Bain was non-existent, and I am so tired of DBs celebrating after overthrows! There was little pressure and the play-calling on three straight TE seam/post routes was as the kids say, “Sus”!
And, as usual, the run-game becomes an after-thought even with Bucky averaging 5+ ypc.
It was a game that I thought was winnable, one that we gave away, IMO.
Brightside? We got our one loss out of the way. Now, onto 16-1!!!
September 14th, 2026 at 9:27 am
One more thing to consider about Bakers give aways ,, you can’t do that and win but it is a matter of good fortune sometimes,, the last drive in Buffalos game winning drive Cook fumbles fighting for extra yards and a hustling O lineman falls on the ball 10 yards downfield and and from the Houston 35 Josh throws a inexplicable pass to Houston defender in the end zone ,, right in the guys hands and he drops the ball,,, a few plays later Josh throws the game winning TD , not a big difference between Allen being a hero or a bum
September 14th, 2026 at 9:28 am
I have become a card carrying Baker Boi. I am glad he is our qb, and I believe he gives us the best chance to win significant games compared to attempting to replace him with God knows what and mid-round draft picks.
I am also glad he got the deal and will be our qb for the foreseeable future. I evan have been gifted Baker Mayfield socks.
We lost that game because Baker played like crap. He cost us the game. It’s ok to say it, because it’s true.
But like all good Baker Bois, we move on and will wait for them to pummel the Browns and the it will be “Yeah but it’s the Browns so it doesn’t count”. Pretty sure the Chargers would have been happy to have one more point than the Cardinals yesterday.
Week 1 is a liar
September 14th, 2026 at 9:29 am
I’ll be free on Sundays for the next few months
September 14th, 2026 at 9:31 am
Bucblind is the perfect name for you. Very much blind to reality.
Bowles and Baker suck out loud. Both got their bag and said deuces.
Four more years of losing football. Thanks Glazer kids!
The Pom Pom squad loves the culture!!!!
September 14th, 2026 at 9:33 am
Lakeland, he is HERE to stay
Maybe you should go find a team and owner you can respect.
September 14th, 2026 at 9:42 am
This team has been Charmin soft under Todd and nothing I saw yesterday changed that opinion. It’s not a great look that the toughest guy on the field is a WR with coming off of two devastating injuries. Maybe Trotter get there. Bane was invisible. But they’re rookies. The team got pushed around, especially in the trenches. We’re not a physical team. We don’t scare anyone.
September 14th, 2026 at 9:47 am
This is who Baker is if you haven’t figured it out over the past 3 years. He will be top 5-10 in the league for turnovers at QB, preventing his team from reaching the level they could have if he just made better decisions.
He isn’t worth $55 mil and he should be thanking his lucky stars he got that extra year on the contract because he will never be paid this much again.
I don’t necessarily blame the Bucs, there aren’t guaranteed options that are better at QB, but there’s a lot of GMs who wouldn’t have caved on the contract and trusted that if they are forced to draft and pick up the best FA we next year it wouldn’t have been much/any worse. I for one will be counting down the days until this contract is over so at least we can start the QB funding process and not delay it any longer.
September 14th, 2026 at 9:51 am
Wow there sure are a bunch of unrealistic Mayfield nuthuugers here….
September 14th, 2026 at 10:03 am
Well I’m a fan. Bought season tickets in 1985. You don’t speak for me. Baker had a bad game. That doesn’t mean he suddenly became J. Winston. Big deal. This wasn’t like the Rams game last year. Down 21-3 the Buccaneers fought back. Made a game of it. But teams don’t win games when they turn the ball over 4 times. I liked the energy and the fight. Not worried about Bain. I remember how bad Sapp looked his rookie year. We lost because we made mistakes. We did not look out classed. Our cornerbacks played well. We still have trouble guarding tight ends. Vea looked unfit. The receivers looked really good. Bucky’s fumble was awful.
September 14th, 2026 at 10:05 am
So we are all drawing hasty conclusions from Preseason game,3 aka week one. So i will throw fuel on the fire. 1. If you want to find a worse contract than Baker look no farther than the Brown outs and,D Watt coming next week. 2. Bee is using Chicago as proof that drafting a rookie QB works. Ok i will counter that with Titans,and Dolphins young QBs getting beat by veteran journey men. Throw in Veteran Wentz relieving 5’10 Kyler (still waiting on a nickname,HeavyF). 3. Now to support the too high QB cap space theory Dak got beat again by young Hollywood Looks Jaxon to support the young QB theory.
September 14th, 2026 at 10:15 am
Anzalone is washed and that is why Lions did not keep him……….
September 14th, 2026 at 10:17 am
Week 1 has always been tough for teams ,, the QB didn’t play in preseason, the WR didn’t play in preseason (Hurst did), the good D players didn’t play in preseason ,, the OLine didn’t play in preseason and hasn’t played together since Coen,, look at teams (and QBs ) the laid eggs,, Dak, Stafford, Baker , Jones, and everyone’s beloved #1 QB Herbert , even Burrow didn’t look that great . The difference between week 1 and 2 should be night and day,, watch the turnovers , clean up the penalties and 41-13 over Cleveland ,, We will look back on the week 1 loss on the road to Cinci and say,, we can actually a lot better . 11-6 still on the table
September 14th, 2026 at 10:22 am
This Baker fan makes no excuses for yesterday. It was all on him. The defense was a lot better than last year. Considering it was against a very good offense and it was their first game with all the new pieces, they played fine and there’s a lot of positives to take away from this game on that side of the ball. There were positives on offense and special teams as well. All Baker has to do is take a deep breath and be more patient. The game turned on his fumble at the goal line. There were way too many defenders to beat to score on that play and it wasn’t a do or die situation. It was first and 5 on that play coming off a penalty against Cincinnati. If he had gone down before contact, it would have been second and two. That’s rookie like lack of situational awareness. He has to decide that he’s going to play within his limitations and in consideration of the situation and be more selective as to when he puts it all on the line and when to play it safe. I hope this was just a matter of him trying to do too much in order to prove he was worth the money.
September 14th, 2026 at 10:34 am
How do you waste $165 million on nothing????
Glazer kids said hold my beer.
Baker will never be more than what he was yesterday.
A courageous troglodyte with a turnover habit.
First string money invested into second string intelligence.
September 14th, 2026 at 10:41 am
Oscar, yes, I’m a Baker fan and this was on him. What concerns me the most is not one of our team leaders played well. Seeing how a defensive line played we weren’t coached well either. Have to give a golf clap to the special teams coach though. Good start! Also, to Trotter maybe you should be one of the team leaders!
September 14th, 2026 at 10:48 am
Been saying this since late 2024 when THIS same Oline got exposed vs the Cowboys. It’s overrated on passing downs. Against better teams, 3rd and 10s will be a nightmare for us.
Regarding the Defense…It’s amazing when an offense turns the ball over 4 times, and yet this fan base still circles back to Bowles being the problem…oh and why his defense can’t stop the Bengals on short fields… we held the Bengals to how many field goals yesterday? They had 2 TD scores in the game, only 1 long drive that led to 6, the other was a short field from the first Baker fumble. 1 on the scoop and score from their def. The rest? 4 field goals.
NOTE: The Bengals strength is their offense and its one of the more dangerous passing units in the entire league. Def actually made it a game by hold them to field goals. Again, late in the game, 30-20, the sack fumble on Baker mid-field, recovered by the Bengals was brutal at that point in the game. The fact that this team never went away is a testament to the Bucs team we “may” have this season. Bengals last possession, just poor tackling by Scott and Anzalone in the open field. The nice Higgins catch over the middle put us away. Robinson, Baker, and this def are a better than what we saw.
September 14th, 2026 at 10:57 am
OK to me Baker still looks like he’s not himself. I’m wondering if they’re lingering injuries by the way, he still has a sleeve on his left arm
September 14th, 2026 at 10:59 am
Bucblind,
I agree with you 100%
Baker Mayfield isn’t going anywhere, not with his contact
There’s not a GM in the NFL, that will take on his contract
The Bucs are stuck with him, he’s their garbage
It’s sad to say
September 14th, 2026 at 11:11 am
The fumbles are 100% on baker he didn’t protect the ball. But our offensive line is way overrated it is not good at all. It fooled us all summer into thinking our defensive line was going to be great. There not they were just going against our trash o line. It made them look a lot better than they were. The linebackers were suppose to be our strong spot Bowles said they were a weak link. Honestly are best unit on defense yesterday was suppose to be our worst the secondary. They played damn good limited there wide receivers to nada. The tight end killed us and that was on the linebackers. How many bad angles did Voss Dennis wearing a blonde wig take yesterday. He looked like he was on rollerskates. Going to be a long year if that’s as good as he is. But the good news we only lost by 6 and had 4 turnovers
September 14th, 2026 at 11:15 am
“I have become a card carrying Baker Boi. I am glad he is our qb, and I believe he gives us the best chance to win significant games compared to attempting to replace him with God knows what and mid-round draft picks.”
We should still be looking at the draft to come away with his eventual successor, because there’s no way Baker will last till 2029 when we can cut ties him with minimal financial penalty.
This guy isn’t trending upward at this point in his career, and until he proves otherwise his best statistical year was 2024. Even then, Baker hasn’t done anything in his career Blake Bortles didn’t do in his.
September 14th, 2026 at 11:17 am
Since Joe brought it up… the Bengals have a weird Stadium in general. No walk around concourse on the field side. Weird sight lines even from the “best” seats in the house. Different size Jumbotrons (what?!?). Very little to NO replay. No Stadium Wi-Fi. Once again I would like to remind everyone how lucky and spoiled we are to have our Stadium RJS. We all take it for granted. I think it would be cool if the Joe’s could do a post game article about the away game Stadiums and towns they attend.
September 14th, 2026 at 11:19 am
Let’s face it. Not many people here or anywhere for that matter had the Bucs winning this game. If the Bucs had one less turnover they probably come away with a W! If they had 2 less than for sure! So…if BM6 protects the ball better, good things will happen ! That goes for Bucky too. He seems to have the ball taken from him a bit too often too. 16 more regular season games to play! Clean up that problem and all should be good.
September 14th, 2026 at 11:22 am
Bakers worst game!? He was much worse end of last season playing through injury and throwing picks.
He was mostly on target with his throws, Otton bad drop, Egbuka slightly underthrown on that deep ball but he would have caught it had the defender not got in there.
Baker had to scramble a bunch and unfortunately the Bengals D was fired up and got him from behind for fumbles. If 2 of those fumbles are recovered by the Bucs, they probably win and no one has Bakers worst game even near their mind. Bad turnovers, Baker cost it, but unlucky.
September 14th, 2026 at 11:28 am
I like that Baker takes ownership for his play. Maybe coaches need to have him carry a football all week. Coaches and players get a fixed number of attempts to strip the ball.
Don’t expect Baker to have another game like this again.
Trotter played great. Remember on draft day there were some ‘experts’ who were down on him. Kid has a motor, is very active and has great football instincts.
Ted Hurst had a good debut. He’ll be a solid contributor.
Bucky’s back.
Middle of the field is still soft in our defense. Can we cover tight ends?
Wirfs looked broken and the O-line has to take it’s share of blame for not protecting Baker.
Godwin is back.
Cade Otton still needs more consistent hands.
Bucs need to come out with more fire at the start of the game.
No shame. Our divisionis 0-4. Maybe 3-14 can win this division?
September 14th, 2026 at 11:28 am
all I remember were long drives… when Mayfield fumbled going into the end zone, there was no 3 and out then punt. I believe they put together a long scoring drive. Yeah Mayfield lost the game, he had a lot of help from the Overrated O-Line, enough blame to go around but 4 fumbles is hard to overcome. Get better Mayfield, Get better O-Line. You put a QB in harms way, and a QB will find it.
Question, did Burrows have to scramble around or did he ever really get touched except for that one time.
September 14th, 2026 at 11:36 am
Baker- “You can’t ask for them to be superheroes. They can’t make every single stop. We did not give them any advantage today and that comes back on the offense.”
When will Baker realize that it’s NOT all on his shoulders, HE doesn’t necessarily need to be a superhero! He needs to learn that sometimes a quarterback just needs to throw the ball away and move on to the next play.
I appreciate his moxie and effort, he just needs to grow up or mature a little bit. We would have probably won the game if he didn’t make just ONE of his fumbles.
September 14th, 2026 at 11:56 am
Falcons, Bengals, Giants last night all these teams had awful defenses in recent years and turned it around
Todd has been here 7 years and the pass defense still sucks more than Melania on Epstein Island
September 14th, 2026 at 11:59 am
The Bucs wont win any games with a -3 TO ratio.
Defense still STINKS. We can NEVER get off the field.
September 14th, 2026 at 12:24 pm
I am issuing a challenge to all of the fans who are happy to say seasons over as long as Bowles is coach I would say put your money where your mouth is and don’t consume the product. If I think a ford is a crappy car I’m not buying ford. If I think my football team is terrible and not happy with ownership or management I don’t watch or care to watch. Hated Napier as gators head coach didn’t watch a game last year. Anymore it feels like fans are trying to be espn analysts too much, speaking about everything as guaranteed or definite, it’s honestly annoying. But the only way I know of for you to get your message to ownership is stop buying Bucs. Imo if you don’t do this you are just a crybaby who loves to complain