Mistakes have continued to plague the Bucs' season. Head coach Todd Bowles warns critical errors are derailing their playoff hopes, demanding immediate improvement.
The first question Tampa Bay Buccaneers' coach Todd Bowles was asked in his press conference after Sunday's 20-17 loss to the Dolphins in Miami-- Tampa's seventh in eight games-- was whether the team came out with the proper effort.
Bowles gave a short answer, as coaches are known to do after losses.
But that short answer summed up the entire game and, really, the entire second half of Tampa Bay's season.
"They came out with a ton of energy and a ton of effort and a ton of mistakes," Bowles said.
To Bowles' point, the team did make "a ton of mistakes" on both sides of the ball.
Defensively, the Bucs gave up nearly five yards per carry on the ground and allowed Quinn Ewers, a rookie who was one of the last picks of this year's draft, to throw a pair of touchdown passes and no interceptions, one of which a 63-yarder.
On offense, Tampa couldn't run the ball at all, with its leading rusher, Bucky Irving, gaining just 19 yards on nine carries.
Even with two receivers-- Chris Godwin and Jalen McMillan-- eclipsing 100 yards, Tampa still only scored 10 points in the first 59+ minutes.
Then, there was Baker Mayfield, who threw two key interceptions, which were his seventh and eighth picks over the last seven games.
Tampa still somehow has a chance to win the NFC South with a losing record, but Bowles knows that chance will be squandered if the team can't get it together by Saturday night.
"I think we have to erase that from our heads because we have to get ourselves together before we worry about anybody else," Bowles said. "Carolina or anybody else. We're just shooting ourselves in the foot at every chance. That starts with me. I have to coach them better.
"They have to play it better, and then we have to figure out how we can stop making our mistakes to move on," Bowles said. If we play and we do the things we did today next week, we won't be going anywhere."
Is it possible for Tampa to fix what needs to be fixed in less than a week?
"Everything's possible, and you always have a chance to play," Bowles said. "We just have to put it together and play, and that takes work, and we work hard. We do it right in practice. Can't explain it in the game, but we definitely as coaches and players have to look ourselves in the mirror, and we just have to work on the Bucs. Whatever Carolina does, they do. We have to work on the Bucs and stay working on the Bucs. We have to figure that part out."
The Bucs will face Carolina at home Saturday at 4:30 pm. The game will be broadcast on ESPN/ABC.