The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are off to a 3-1 start, putting them in a good spot to aim for a fourth straight NFC South title.
“We had a good quarter, and that’s all it is,” coach Todd Bowles said Sunday after Baker Mayfield contributed to three touchdowns and the Bucs sacked Jalen Hurts six times in a 33-16 win over the Philadelphia Eagles.
“The season is four quarters,” Bowles added. “We’ve got three more quarters to go and we’ve got to show up and play like that every quarter.”
Mayfield passed for 347 yards and two touchdowns, while Mike Evans became the Buccaneers’ all-time scoring leader in this rematch of a previous NFC wild-card game they won 32-9 against the injury-plagued Eagles (2-2) last January.
After a tough game in a loss to Denver the week before, Mayfield completed 30 of 47 passes without throwing an interception. The offense scored a touchdown on its opening drive for the first time in 21 games.
Evans’ 2-yard touchdown catch capped a 10-play, 79-yard drive that set the tone for the Bucs, who outgained the Eagles 254 yards to zero while building a 24-0 lead.
“Wanted to get (previous week’s) taste out of our mouth, for sure,” Mayfield said. “Started fast because the guys were just locked in. We came out with a hair-on-fire mentality. Everybody was locked in on what the plan was and we executed. That needs to be the case every week. That’s how we need to start.”
Evans had eight receptions for 94 yards, moving past Martin Gramatica (592) to become Tampa Bay’s scoring leader with 596 points. Mayfield also threw a first-quarter touchdown pass to Trey Palmer and ran for a 1-yard touchdown on fourth-and-goal to make it 21-0 early in the second quarter.
