The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have managed a 6-3 record despite a myriad of injuries on both sides of the football. One of the reasons: breakout rookie receiver Emeka Egbuka.
Tampa Bay wasn’t so lucky last Sunday after losing a nervy 28-23 home contest to the upstart New England Patriots. Quarterback Baker Mayfield took the stand postgame and called out his team.
“What I told the team, I told the offense after the game, at some point, when the stuff comes up during the week,” the former Cleveland Browns QB said. “Whether it’s mistakes or things we talk about. And then it shows up on Sundays, you have to have some pride about you.”
Head coach Todd Bowles clarified that Buccaneers players “took it the right way.” Egbuka spoke to the press on Wednesday and offered his response.
“We don’t have too many divas in this locker room who think they’re above the law or anything like that,” he said. “We know everyone has to do their [very best], whoever is on the field.”
If anything, Tampa Bay players were responding well. “People took great accountability, came in [Wednesday] and had a focused, locked-in session today,” Egbuka added. “[We] just have to continue stacking days throughout the week to fix everything that we need to fix before Sunday’s kickoff.”
Mayfield, despite missing veteran receivers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin against a stout New England defense, completed 28 of 43 passes for 273 yards for three touchdowns.
DON’T MISS:
“Our leaders have to be exceptional in those moments, and everybody else has to do their role, their job, whatever that is, at a very high level,” he added in his postgame rant.
“That’s the NFL; it’s professional football. We expect people to do their job at a high level. Nobody is perfect, but when it’s things you’ve consistently seen on tape and we’ve executed, you expect them to do it well.”
Tampa Bay will take on the 6-3 Buffalo Bills this weekend. Mayfield, Egbuka, and the offense will welcome back star running back Bucky Irving after a nearly two-month absence.