The Tampa Bay Buccaneers entered Monday night’s game against the Detroit Lions with a lot of excitement around their surging offense and franchise quarterback Baker Mayfield’s surprising MVP-caliber season. Unfortunately, Monday was a wake-up call for Mayfield and the Buccaneers.
The ugliest part of the loss may have been star wide receiver Mike Evans’ short-lived return from a hamstring injury, as he exited the game with a torn clavicle that is expected to cost him the majority of his season.
“Bucs HC Todd Bowles says WR Mike Evans suffered a broken clavicle and will miss most of the season,” the NFL reported.
Tampa’s offense struggled immensely both before and after Evans’ injury. After the game, Mayfield spoke with the media about some frustrations he had with the officiating, while still taking some ownership for things.
“Some plays could have had illegal contact downfield and some holding calls, but it’s no excuse for the ones that were there and I should have hit them all, so it’s a little give and take,” the quarterback said.
“Third-down defensive holding call that wasn’t called, also still pretty damn confused about the double review,” Mayfield added.
“A lot of things in that game were a little questionable. Lot of frustration at the end,” he said. “But, I work my ass off and put a lot into this game, so when things that I don’t deem fair, I’m going to let somebody know. That’s good, bad, indifferent.”
Tampa Bay is looking to get things back on track on Sunday against the New Orleans Saints, but now, both its first and second-string quarterbacks have found themselves on the injury report per one prominent league insider.
“Bucs QB Baker Mayfield was officially limited in practice today because of a knee injury. Backup QB Teddy Bridgewater (teeth) did not practice,” NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported on Wednesday.
Fans reacted to the news on social media.
“Teeth? Does he need teeth to play tomorrow night if Mayfield can’t?” one fan wrote on Twitter.
“Honolulu blue flu so strong, the opposing QB2 is reporting a teeth injury from a kneel down. That’s how much of a sucker punch the loss was to them,” another fan added.
“Assuming this means a dentist appointment or something bc otherwise im beyond confused,” someone else added.
It’ll be interesting to see if the quarterbacks are fully healthy in time for game against the Saints.
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.