The Tampa Bay Buccaneers this offseason were seen as a Super Bowl dark horse, and one that can genuinely challenge the likes of the Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Commanders, Detroit Lions, and Green Bay Packers for the NFC.
And through two weeks, Tampa Bay sits at 2-0 after two road wins over the Atlanta Falcons and the Houston Texans, both thanks to game-winning drives by Baker Mayfield.
Todd Bowles’ team has gotten off to a good start, but it is early in the season, so we fully expect them, like other teams, to improve.
And for Mayfield, the fact that the team is winning while not playing its best football isn’t something that’s lost on him.
“It’s good to see that we haven’t even played close to our best ball in all three phases and we’re still finding ways to win, on the road, and that’s really important, is to not lose sight of that,” Mayfield said. “We’re finding ways to win, but also we do need to get things fixed, some of these games, can make it easier on ourselves and try, and put teams away earlier. But that is a good team that we played. So, we expected a hard-fought battle, it’s nice to be on the right side of it.”
Baker’s message scary for NFL
The sign of a good team is to win when you aren’t playing well, and for Tampa Bay, being 2-0 after two road wins can’t be scoffed at.
But it is also clear that things have to be fixed, and make no mistake about it, they will.
Injuries nearly derailed the Buccaneers last season, and Luke Goedeke and Calijah Kancey are blows to the Buccaneers, but Mayfield proved he can overcome them. The fact that there is still so much room to grow and the team is still winning will please Bowles as they look ahead to the New York Jets in Week 3.
The Buccaneers look every bit the team we thought they would be in the offseason, and that is a rather scary thought for the rest of the NFL.
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