Bucs came back “mentally tougher” and “ready to play” after the bye

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ – It didn’t matter that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had suffered four straight losses before Sunday’s game against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium, and their playoff hopes clung to literally every game from then on.

If the Bucs (5-6) were to get back in the win column after a much-needed bye to gain any lead over the Atlanta Falcons (6-5) in the NFC South, it would be with style and some changes.

Result: Quarterback Baker Mayfield and Co. delivered a good dose of theatrics in the 30-7 win.

The Bucs have the easiest schedule remaining, according to ESPN’s Football Power Index, and face the Carolina Panthers (3-8) on Sunday (4:05 p.m. ET, Fox).

“We hope (the win over the Giants) boosts confidence,” said Mayfield, who engineered four touchdown drives. “We believe that we still sit and control our own destiny. But it won’t just happen. So we have to go through it week by week. And you find the recipe for success within your work week – The focus and the way we came out and started quickly. They try to replicate that week after week and build on it.

When Mayfield took the ball on second-and-10 and saw that his best option was to keep it and try to run the ball in for a touchdown, he muscled his way past Giants’ Cor’Dale Flott into the End zone before making a play He imitated quarterback Tommy DeVito’s touchdown celebration and then said: “New York fans love Tommy here. I’ll give them something they like.”

Cornerback Jamel Dean joked after the game: “He’s going viral, right?”

“We have a quarterback who can do everything,” Dean said. “It makes us excited because we see we have a different type of quarterback. We have a quarterback who is going to put it all on the line.”

In the fourth quarter, Mayfield ran downfield to provide a block on a 56-yard run by running back Bucky Irving. Not even a quick trip to the blue injury tent for a stinger (he said, “It’s good”) could dampen Sunday’s excitement.

“He just invigorates the whole team,” cornerback Zyon McCollum said.

Irving beamed: “I love Baker, man. He’s a guy who wants to win football games. He is competitive. These are the guys you want to have around you.”

Mayfield completed passes to 11 different receiving targets, tying a franchise record set by Tom Brady in 2020, even in a game where everyone was inclined to put it in the hands of the franchise’s all-time leading scorer, wide receiver Mike Evans has been out for the last three games.

“When Mike was hurt, (Mayfield) trusted a lot of other guys,” coach Todd Bowles said. “Now that Mike is back, he can spread it out more easily without having to think and look at who is there, and everyone understands what he is doing, so everyone is on the same page.”

But it wasn’t just Mayfield. The Bucs’ worst rushing attack in the league a year ago (88.8 yards per game) produced 156 rushing yards, and Tampa ranks 10th with 128.1 rush yards per game this season.

During the bye week, some changes paid off, resulting in four rushing touchdowns from four different players on Sunday. They gave the elusive Irving the lion’s share of touches as both ball carrier and pass catcher, and he finished with 151 yards from scrimmage, 48 more rushing yards than expected, according to Next Gen Stats.

Then they put arguably their strongest downhill runner, Sean Tucker, at the goal line, even though he was their least experienced rusher, and they didn’t wait until the fourth quarter to use him. They even used defensive tackle Vita Vea as a blocker, which led to an opening drive, a fourth-down conversion and a touchdown.

“Bucky made some incredible plays,” Mayfield said. “Sean obviously played well, but then Rachaad (White) showed in man coverage that he has the ability to get a player wide and get him into the red zone – that’s a really good play. So all three of those guys have done some stuff. “So we’ll continue to lean on them.

And then, on defense, with a nearly fully healthy roster — minus starting nickelback Tykee Smith, who has been dealing with a knee injury the past three weeks — Bowles was finally able to use both outside starting cornerbacks for the first time since Week 6 Dean suffered a hamstring injury that landed him on the injured list, while McCollum quickly recovered from a hamstring injury sustained in Week 10 before the bye week.

“I didn’t even know I was going to play,” McCollum said. “This is the fastest moment in my life to recover from a hamstring injury. … It felt like the band had gotten back together.”

The Bucs claimed Mike Edwards, a third-round draft pick in 2019 who won a Super Bowl with the team in 2020, off waivers during the bye week. The hope was that he could patrol midfield as an additional defensive back, which has been a vulnerable spot for the Bucs all season.

He came into the game in dime packages on third-down situations that the Bucs had been unable to perform all season due to injuries. Edwards’ presence also allowed Bowles to attack defensive backs – two plays with Edwards on the field resulted in sacks. Edwards would then take over the role from Jordan Whitehead when he left the game with a chest injury.

“It all starts with Mike Edwards,” Bowles said. “Mike allows us to do certain things. He allows Antoine (Winfield Jr.) to be Antoine and Jordan to be Jordan. He allowed the supporters to release some things for us, and I guess the D-line lets up when you know it. “You had a safety valve back then. I can imagine many things. So it really helped us, and I know it doesn’t look like it helped us because he was at the back, but he really helped us up front and let the guys go calmly.”

Sunday marked the first time since Week 3 and just the fourth time this season that the Bucs didn’t give up a passing touchdown. The Bucs also had four sacks on the day – by Vea, Calijah Kancey, Anthony Nelson and Winfield, with inside linebacker Lavonte David forcing a fumble that Kancey was able to recover. Vea and Kancey, the Bucs’ defensive tackles, now have a combined 11 sacks this season.

Mayfield said it was the type of performance they were looking for in all three phases, despite having a problem with fumbles, which Bowles noted.

“The guys focused on the little things,” Bowles said. “Overall we implemented both sides of football. I still could have finished the game a little better, but they came back mentally tougher and ready to play.”