Can Baker Mayfield revive the Bucs' passing game? With the NFC South on the line, Tampa Bay faces a depleted Dolphins secondary in a must-win road test.
If there ever was a game for the Tampa Bay passing attack to right the ship, it might be Sunday when the Buccaneers (7-8) go on the road to take on the Miami Dolphins (6-9).
On Friday, the Dolphins announced that safety Minkah Fitzpatrick would miss his second straight game and defensive back Isaiah Johnson, who had been recently promoted from the practice squad, suffered a torn ACL in the teams’ last practice.
While Tampa Bay still has a shot at an NFC South title and a spot in the playoffs with two games left in the regular season, the Buccaneers have lost three in a row and six of their last seven. In those three losses the passing game has been anemic as quarterback Baker Mayfield has played through multiple injuries.
Mayfield has been held to less than 150 yards passing in two of his last three games and has only thrown for more than 250 once. Since Week 14, he is completing just 56 percent of his passes and has thrown four touchdowns to three interceptions.
Since a 34-10 victory against the New York Jets, who managed just 142 passing yards in the game, Miami’s defense has struggled mightily against the pass in two straight losses to the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals.
Aaron Rodgers completed 85 percent of his passes and two touchdowns and Joe Burrow completed 78 percent of his passes and four touchdowns against the Dolphins in their two straight losses.
The Dolphins also failed to register an interception against Rodgers and Burrow. On the season Miami is allowing 209.1 passing yards per game, 11.1 yards per pass. They have also given up 26 passing touchdowns on the season.
On the season Mayfield has completed 61.4 percent of his passes for 3,144 yards, 23 touchdowns and eight interceptions.
Mayfield has just one game passing for more than 300 yards (against Seattle in Week 5) and has failed to throw for more than 250 yards in 10 games this season.
Although the Dolphins’ secondary might be ripe for Mayfield to have a big passing game, wide receivers Mike Evans (303 yards, two touchdowns) and Chris Godwin Jr. (244 yards, one touchdown) did not practice on Friday and offensive tackle Tristian Wirfs has been ruled out for the 1 p.m. ET kickoff (FOX).
In their last three games Evans and Godwin have combined 25 catches for 268 yards and two touchdowns.