Through his first five games this season, Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield had completed 72 percent of his throws for 1,164 yards with 11 touchdowns and two interceptions.
But the numbers have changed over the last three contests, particularly when it comes to interceptions. Mayfield has thrown seven of them in that span, with the Bucs losing their last two.
Playing the Chiefs on Monday night, Mayfield was asked in his Thursday press conference if the recent string of picks has bothered him.
“Yeah, it pisses me off,” Mayfield said. “I don’t want to turn the ball over. To me, that’s shooting our whole team in the foot. That’s not what I want to do, so yeah, it makes me angry.
“Obviously, that’s something I can directly fix and that’s what I’m going to do.”
Mayfield added, “There’s always a fine line of balancing the aggression and protecting the football.”
“When you have your shots, you have to take advantage of them but if they’re not there, do the safe thing, chuck it down, get out of the play, move on to the next down, and live to play another down,” Mayfield said. “And like you said, in a game like this, being smart with the football is the most important thing and going from there.”
Kansas City ranks No. 17 in passing yards allowed and has picked off five passes this year. Even as Tampa Bay is dealing with multiple injuries to key players at receiver, Mayfield must do a better job of preventing turnovers if the Buccaneers are to stay competitive in the NFC South.
