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The\u00a0Tampa Bay Buccaneers\u00a0got off to a hot start this season, with a 5-1 record. Turns out they\u2019ll need every part of as they\u2019ve stumbled lately, losing 3 of their last 4 games to drop to 6-4, including consecutive losses the last 2 weeks.<\/p>\n
Even worse? Both of those losses have come after their bye in Week 11.<\/p>\n
After their latest setback, in a 44-32 road loss to the\u00a0Buffalo Bills\u00a0in Week 11, The Ringer\u2019s Bill Simmons questioned if there might be something physically wrong with 2-time Pro Bowl quarterback\u00a0Baker Mayfield.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would believe, if you gave me all the QBS and said one of these guys is hiding an injury, Mayfield would be my pick,\u201d Simmons said on\u00a0\u201cThe Bill Simmons Podcast\u201d on Sunday, November 16. \u201cIt\u2019s like, \u2018Oh, he has a torn labrum\u2019 or like some sort of really bad injury we don\u2019t know about. Because it also seems like he doesn\u2019t want to run with the same zest. So it\u2019s also like maybe he has like a hairline fracture of his left collarbone or something like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
While it\u2019s purely speculative to say Mayfield might be hurt, anyone who has watched him play over the last month has to wonder what happened to the freewheeling player who thrust himself into the NFL MVP conversation over the\u00a0first 6 weeks of the regular season.<\/p>\n
The numbers also back up that something has changed. Before the Bills game, Mayfield didn\u2019t have a single rushing yard in the previous 3 games after essentially (for him) running wild over the first 6 weeks.<\/p>\n
Against the Bills, Mayfield had 5 carries for 39 yards and his first rushing touchdown of the season \u2014\u00a0one he paid for dearly. Mayfield, who is still averaging 7.3 yards per carry, finished 16-of-28 passing for 173 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception in the loss to Buffalo.<\/p>\n
\u201cBaker\u00a0Mayfield\u00a0has now gone three straight games without a single rush attempt,\u201d\u00a0MB Fantasy Life\u2019s Ian Hartitz wrote\u00a0on his official X account before the Buccaneers played the Bills. \u201cWas averaging 26 rush yards\/game in Weeks 1-6. Popped up on\u00a0injury\u00a0report with a knee issue in Week 8, oblique added in Week 10. Probs playing through something we\u2019ll find out more about in January.\u201d<\/p>\n
If it turns out Mayfield has actually been playing hurt, it would be on brand for both how he approaches the game \u2014 he\u2019s one of the NFL\u2019s toughest players \u2014 and for how things have gone for the Buccaneers to this point in terms of injuries.<\/p>\n
\u201d \u2026 Bucs had six players get 500+ yards of offense last year, and two played Sunday,\u201d\u00a0Fox Sports NFL reporter Greg Auman\u00a0wrote on his official X account on November 16. \u201cThe other four \u2014\u00a0Bucky Irving,\u00a0Mike Evans,\u00a0Chris Godwin,\u00a0Jalen McMillan\u00a0\u2014 have played 10 of a potential 40 games this season.\u201d<\/p>\n
After getting off to such a hot start, Mayfield is on track to have his numbers dip significantly from 2024, when he threw for career highs of 4,500 yards and 41 touchdowns to go with 16 interceptions.<\/p>\n
At his current pace, Mayfield would finish the 2025 regular season with approximately 4,020 passing yards, 29 touchdowns and a career low 5 interceptions.<\/p>\n
Anyone who has played competitive sports at any level knows what it’s like to lose a game you feel like your team should’ve won. And all of us have been in a position where in the aftermath of that loss, we’ve said something about the game itself or the quality of opponent we just faced that, in retrospect, doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.<\/p>\n
I start with this qualifier because it’s important to keep that in mind as we take a look at what Tennessee Titans star Jeffery Simmons had to say after his team lost a heartbreaker on a\u00a0game-winning kick as time expired to the Houston Texans on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n
“I’m tired of losing. That team is not better than us. I don’t care what people say,”\u00a0Simmons declared postgame, per Jim Wyatt of TennesseeTitans.com. “They have some good players, but we should have won that game. We have to stop beating ourselves.”<\/p>\n
In total, that quote is comprised of 35 words and 5 sentences. 28 of those words and 4 of those sentences, I’m not prepared to dispute.<\/p>\n
I’m tired of losing –\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n\n