The mood was unsurprisingly somber at One Buc Place Monday morning. That’s what a Sunday night beat-down on the West Coast, an overnight charter flight home from LA and an injury to the starting quarterback will do to you.
“It’s always bleak on the Monday after a loss, whether you’re undefeated or whether you haven’t won a game,” said Tampa Bay head coach Todd Bowles at his media briefing, following Sunday nights 34-7 thrashing by the Rams “Comfort may not be the right word, but we understand … where we are, and what we’ve got to do going forward – and everything is right in front of us.”
That includes the easiest part of their schedule following three straight losses to league powers New England, Buffalo and Los Angeles. Next up are six far less threatening games with a combined record of 16-28: the 3-8 Arizona Cardinals (Sunday), the 2-9 New Orleans Saints (Dec. 7), the 4-7 Atlanta Falcons (Dec. 11) , the 6-5 Carolina Panthers (Dec. 21 and Jan. 4) and the 4-7 Miami Dolphins (Dec. 28).
But also right in front of the Bucs is the cold reality they may have to play at least some of those games without the heart of their offense, Baker Mayfield.
The hard-nosed franchise quarterback has fended off an injuries– primarily to his knee and oblique – to this point. But he suffered a sprained left shoulder on an intercepted Hail Mary to end the first half, and missed the second half of the debacle in SoFi Stadium, returning to the field in street clothes and his left arm in a sling.
Mayfield talks with center Graham Barton in the second half. © Jayne Kamin-Oncea Mayfield had injured the shoulder earlier in the second quarter bulling forward for a first down – he was examined in the tent and returned to the game. But the force of heaving the Hail Mary pass on the run – throwing his entire body into the release with his right arm – appeared to have cause the injury to his left shoulder.
Mayfield was scheduled to undergo an MRI Monday afternoon, and Bowles was reluctant to say whether he might miss a game or several until more is known from the procedure.
“Too early to tell – we’ll wait for the MRI,” Bowles said. “When we come back (Wednesday), we’ll assess everything.”
According to an ESPN report late Monday afternoon, however, citing sources, stated that the MRI revealed "a low-grade AC joint sprain in his left shoulder but no additional damage." Another source informed ESPN that "the general feeling is that Mayfield is pretty fortunate to have not sustained a more serious injury." While his status for the Arizona game is still up in the air, the report says there "are no long-term injury concerns."
The one thing Bowles could say definitely was that he could tell how much pain Mayfield was in, judging from his expression and his willingness to play injured.
“When he goes out, he’s obviously really hurt, because he’s a tough guy,” Bowles said. “When he went in the tent, you could see it on his face (as) he came off the field. You kind of knew something happened right there.”
Bowles was also asked about the thought process about having Mayfield attempt a desperation heave with three seconds left in the half from his 37 – trailing 31-7 at that point – rather than punting and regrouping in the third quarter. He didn’t second-guess the decision.
“We’re trying to get a free shot and we’re trying to waste the three seconds,” he said. “It was either a foul ball or a Hail Mary. Either way, (Mayfield) was untouched when he threw the football – he just fell on his right shoulder, and his injured shoulder is his left shoulder. It’s unfortunate. Obviously, he was holding the pain in for a couple plays.”
The ultimate decision on whether Mayfield can play will be based on input from team doctors, the quarterback and what he’s capable of doing in practice. “The doctors decide and have something to do with it,” Bowles said. “He has a say-so, but more or less, the pain and what he can do kind of tells the whole story. So, he really doesn’t have that kind of say-so.”
If Mayfield isn’t able to compete on Sunday against Arizona – and it would seem like a longshot if he did – the call will go to veteran Teddy Bridgewater, now in his 11th NFL season after a well-traveled career with Minnesota, new Orleans, Carolina, Denver, Miami and Detroit. He’s thrown 75 touchdowns against 47 interceptions, with his best season coming in 2015 at 11-5 with the Vikings. Saints fans will always remember, however, his 5-0 relief performance in 2019 when Drew Brees was injured.
“He’s a different quarterback, so schematically, we’ll have to do some different things for him to make him feel comfortable within the offense and do a lot of things he likes to do,” Bowles said. “There are some similar things, but there are also some differences that way to make him more comfortable. He’s been here long enough to where if he had to go, we can tweak it the right way for him to be successful.”
It should help that tailback Bucky Irving is expected to return to action Sunday at 1 p.m., playing for the first time since injuring his shoulder and foot in Week 4. But Bowles did leave a little wiggle room on that situation as well.
““He’s going to practice all this week, and if he’s well by Friday, he’ll play on Sunday,” Bowles said.
And while they await the MRI results, they have to prepare for the possibility of losing Mayfield just when they need him most – to get the team back on track after its three straight losses to NFL powers New England, Buffalo and Los Angeles. That has left them in a tie for the NFC South Division lead at 6-5 with Carolina, and the Panthers will either move ahead or behind by a half-game depending on their game Monday night in San Francisco.
How much would it hurt to have to go without their energetic, offensive leader.
“It’s a big loss because of the way he’s been playing and carrying us the past few weeks – and even last year,” Bowles said. “At the same time, we all have confidence in Teddy. We know what he can do and we know what kind of confidence level he brings, too. It’s a different kind of energy, but yet energy that we all feed off of and expect.”
Meanwhile, here are other topics Bowles touched upon Monday:
(On the recent struggles in the passing game)
“I think it’s a little bit of everything. We definitely have to coach it better, and we’ve got to play it better. I think all of us as a whole, as a collective, we have to do our jobs better. That kind of covers the whole scope of it – it’s not just one thing, it’s everything involved in that.”
(On how WR Chris Godwin Jr. came out of the Sunday night game in his return from injury)
“He came out of it pretty [well].”
(On whether Godwin Jr.’s snap count will increase)
“Yes.”
(On if there are any injury updates on wide receivers Jalen McMillan and Mike Evans, and DL Calijah Kancey)
“All of them – ‘J-Mac’ (Jalen McMillan), Mike [Evans], and [Calijah] Kancey – have been working out and running, training hard, and working their best to get back. Sprint-wise, they’re doing well, but other than that, we’ll have to see. I think they’ll all be back before the season is out, I just can’t tell you when.”
(On his assessment of CB Zyon McCollum’s performance on Sunday night)
“He had a couple bad plays in the first half. I think the last three weeks, he’s got to correct a lot of things within himself. He’s one of our best athletes and best players, and he’s got to get himself out of that rut. We’ve got to help him get out of it. We rely on him to make some plays. He had a rough outing yesterday – he’s got to come back and recover.”
On what needs to happen for the team to fix some of the defensive issues)
“Just for them to continually hold each other accountable on the field. The coaches can say it, and our leaders can say it, but you’ve got to do it consistently – play in and play out. It’s getting done for the most part, but we talk about it all the time – we’ve got to coach it better, and they’ve got to play it better. At the same time, the accountability on the field and the trust…You can just talk. You don’t know who you’re trying to help out there – that has to be better. It’s gotten a lot better over the past few weeks. It’s been a guy here or there, but if one guy is out of whack, the other ten don’t matter.”
(On whether team leaders addressed the locker room postgame)
“Yeah, Lavonte [David] speaks up all the time. He spoke up at halftime and he spoke up after the game. [Antoine] Winfield Jr. speaks up. Vita [Vea] speaks up. Baker [Mayfield] speaks up. Tristan [Wirfs] speaks up. They all speak up, they all talk. We understand we’re in this together – no finger-pointing. We’ve got work to do, we know we’ve got work to do, but we know what’s in front of us.”