Todd Bowles dismissed the idea that the 26-7 loss to the Denver Broncos was a wakeup call for his Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“You don’t use that as an excuse. We’re already awoke. They just beat us,” the coach said after the game, which ended the team’s chance to start the season with three wins in a row for the first time since 2005. “They beat us, and we have to go back to the drawing board.”
The Bucs struggled on offense and also had issues on defense.
The Broncos (1-2) set the pace right from the start by winning the coin toss and choosing to receive the ball instead of waiting until the second half.
Rookie quarterback Bo Nix had a tough time in his first two weeks, but coach Sean Payton wanted to show that the Broncos would be aggressive against the Bucs.
“I wasn’t necessarily shocked by it. But whatever he wanted to do, that’s what we were doing,” Nix said. He completed passes of 22, 6, and 31 yards on the first three plays, leading to a 7-0 score after his 3-yard touchdown run.
Tampa Bay struggled to recover. The offense led by Baker Mayfield was outgained 352 yards to 223 and couldn’t find a rhythm, finishing just 3 for 11 on third downs and only scoring once — on Mayfield’s 6-yard touchdown pass to Chris Godwin in the second quarter.
Mayfield completed 25 of 33 passes for 163 yards, threw an interception that was returned 37 yards to the Tampa Bay 9-yard line, and was sacked seven times.
The Bucs’ offensive line, missing starting right tackle Luke Goedeke (concussion) for the second game in a row, allowed five sacks last week in a win against Detroit.
“There were a few pressures this week that were actually on me,” Mayfield said.
“Luke is a hell of a player. We do miss him, but we expect everybody in there to be able to execute. That’s why I’m going to take ownership of this,” he added. “The ball needs to be out and delivered to the right people.”
The Broncos also did a good job defending Bucs star receiver Mike Evans, who was mostly covered by cornerback Pat Surtain II. Evans was only targeted three times and caught two passes for 17 yards.
