Todd Bowles is clear about what the Tampa Bay Buccaneers need to do to turn their season around.
He believes that while he and his staff can make some adjustments, getting a few injured starters back on the field, reducing turnovers, and cutting out other mistakes would help the team.
However, more than anything, Bowles says the Bucs need to stick together and stop making mistakes that hurt themselves.
The three-time NFC South champions have lost three straight games and four of their last five, dropping their record to 4-5 at the season’s halfway point after a strong 3-1 start.
The offense, which ranks among the top in the league in yards and points, has performed better than expected.
On the other hand, the defense, which has allowed 30 or more points in four of the last five weeks, has been less dependable than the other defenses Bowles has led, which helped the Bucs reach the playoffs four years in a row.
Despite their struggles, the Bucs have generally played better on the road. They handed the NFC-leading Detroit Lions (7-1) their only loss so far and took the Kansas City Chiefs (8-0) to overtime before losing 30-24 on Monday night.
“We did a lot of good things, but not enough to win the ballgame,” Bowles said after watching the Chiefs drive down the field for the game-winning touchdown in overtime. “We have to do the little things to win the ballgames.”
The Bucs also lost in overtime on the road to Atlanta. At home, they’re 2-3, and Bowles’ message remains the same: The key to changing the season is not making big changes to the lineup, but focusing on the little things that can make the difference between winning and losing.
“Right now, it’s about us. It doesn’t matter who we play,” said quarterback Baker Mayfield. “We need to focus on doing our job and finding ways to win. That’s all that matters.”
Despite the loss to the Chiefs, where the Bucs kicked an extra point instead of going for a possible game-winning 2-point conversion in the final seconds of regulation, coach Todd Bowles felt the team showed signs of improving.
“We had fewer mistakes in this game. This time, they beat us. We didn’t really beat ourselves,” Bowles said on Tuesday.
“It came down to the end, but we’re not going to lose too many of those if we keep playing like this,” Bowles added. “As long as we’re playing this hard and making fewer mistakes, we feel good about our chances every week, no matter who we play.”
Mayfield leads the NFL with 23 touchdown passes, and the Bucs are ranked fifth in the league in total offense, averaging 377.8 yards per game under first-year coordinator Liam Coen.
Tampa Bay is also fifth in scoring, averaging 28.8 points per game, up from 20th (20.5 points) last season, when the team managed to turn things around in the second half, winning five of their last six games to win the division with a 9-8 record.
Mayfield is second in the league in passing yards with 2,389, but he has also thrown nine interceptions, seven of which came in the past four games.
