The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are confident that they have the potential to build a strong offense.
Although it’s only one game, the Bucs only had to punt once during their 37-20 win over the Washington Commanders and scored on seven of eight possessions before backup quarterback Kyle Trask took a knee on the last two plays to end the game.
Trask’s presence at the end of the game, given he has only thrown 10 passes since joining the league in 2021, highlighted how well Baker Mayfield and the rest of the offense performed, especially against the NFL debut of No. 2 overall draft pick Jayden Daniels.
Mayfield completed 24 of 30 passes for 289 yards and four touchdowns. The Bucs also rushed for 112 yards, showing improvements after being last in rushing for the past two seasons.
Mayfield, receiver Chris Godwin, and coach Todd Bowles praised the play-calling of new offensive coordinator Liam Coen, who came from the University of Kentucky after former OC Dave Canales became the head coach of the Carolina Panthers.
“That’s a pretty hot first start, right, and again we left some meat on the bone out there. … But I think for our first game, I think Liam would probably say that he’s pretty happy with how he was calling things, and I think as players we are happy as well,” said Godwin, who caught eight passes for 83 yards and a touchdown.
“I think that we have the potential to be a really, really dominant offense, but it doesn’t mean anything if we do not go out there and put it on the field,” Godwin added.
“It was one game, and we are really happy with how many points we scored. But again, there were three possessions where we felt like we should have scored touchdowns.”
