It sounds disingenuous. Maybe a little trite. But it also can be true.

Despite watching the Bucs’ biggest defensive collapse of the season, blowing a 14-point, fourth-quarter lead to the Falcons last Thursday night, quarterback Baker Mayfield and offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard continue to want the blame — all of it — placed on their shoulders.

The Bucs managed a total of only two first downs over their final two possessions, which ended with an interception and punt.

“We were up two scores, and we had a chance to go put it away, so it is on us, it’s on me,” Mayfield said Wednesday. “Like I said after the game, I (have) to make those throws, I (have) to make those plays. Can’t turn the ball over, so that comes down to me.”

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Grizzard, a first-time play-caller, needed one more first down on the final possession to run out the clock. But after forcing the Falcons to use their second timeout after a third-down pass to Chris Godwin resulted in a first down, his offense went backward.

A run by Bucky Irving from the Tampa Bay 39-yard line resulted in a 4-yard loss. Mayfield then fired incomplete to Emeka Egbuka before being sacked on third down, forcing a punt with 1:49 to play.

“Yeah, 1,000% to echo what ‘Bake’ said, where you see the end of the game and it’s looked at like it’s the defense,” Grizzard said Thursday. “But ... especially once we got the ball back with the four-minute drill, to be able to hold onto the ball and not give it back to them and either get seven (points), three or whatever it might be, we ultimately let them down to put them back out there.

“We had a big third-down conversion to Chris on their sideline, and then we’re able to run the ball again, and that first-down run play went for minus-4. So, when you do that, you’re not putting yourself in position to ice the game away. They were not able to connect on the next throw to ‘Mek.’ Now, you’ve got third and 14, which everyone knows is a tough down.”

How do the Bucs bounce back from losses to the Saints and Falcons last week in a five-day span?

Fortunately, they got some help Sunday when New Orleans came from behind to beat Carolina. Although the Bucs and Panthers each have 7-7 records, Tampa Bay leads the NFC South because it has a better record against common opponents.

Any two wins in the final three games, which include two against Carolina, will give the Bucs the division title.

They benefitted from a few extra days off following the loss to the Falcons. They were able to have a full practice on Wednesday, something they haven’t done in about a month because injuries reduced them to walk-throughs indoors.

How do they shake losing five of their past six games? The NFL is a week-to-week league, and by mid-week all the focus is on game-planning for the next opponent. There’s no time to dwell on the past.

“The thing is the attention to detail from the meetings into the practice,” Grizzard said. “And if you were at practice (Thursday), I don’t think you’d feel like we lost those games, because at least personally — and I can’t speak for the entire team — whether you had a big win or it was a loss, by the time you get to (Thursday’s) practice in the middle of the third-down period, you’re not really thinking about it.

“... But because it’s so process-oriented, that you have to do the same thing every time, the same time every day for four or five days in a row, then it’s about, ‘What are we going to do to pick up the blitz on third down 10 minutes ago.’ And then, ‘What are we going to do in the red area tonight?’ So, nce you get to that part of it, you don’t really think of the loss side of it. It’s all about the Panthers and trying to get the win.”

Head coach Todd Bowles had some stinging criticism for his team following the loss to the Falcons and called it “unacceptable.” He insinuated that at this point in the season, a larger responsibility falls on the players.

Given his emotion last Thursday, Bowles was asked if it’s been tough to move on.

“It’s not tough at all,” he said. “You’re going to lose some games in this league. We’ve all lost some throughout our entire lives. You don’t like it that day, but you get up the next day, put your head down, you go to work, and you try to correct the little things, and you move on.”

Because the Atlanta game ended with the defense on the field, Mayfield said, the unit has taken most of the blame for the loss. You don’t escape criticism when you can’t stop a team on third and 28 or fourth and 14.

But Mayfield and Grizzard just refuse to see it that way.

“You’re up two scores, you have a chance to put the game away and you don’t,” Mayfield said. ”The easy thing to do is point at the defense, because in those situations it’s the last thing you see in the game. But if you look at the whole game, you look at the way it played, blame me, don’t blame Todd."

Up next

at Panthers, 1 Sunday TV/radio: Fox; 97.9-FM Line/OU: Bucs by 3; 45 ½

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