The Buccaneers lost their third straight game on Thursday night, but head coach Todd Bowles found some things to like about his team’s effort.
After Baker Mayfield’s Hail Mary attempt fell incomplete to ensure a 24-18 win for the Bills, Bowles said at his press conference that the Bucs “fought our tails off” to give themselves a shot in a game they trailed by 14 points for much of the second half. They may not have had to fight quite so hard if they avoided committing 11 penalties and making other mistakes before mounting their comeback effort.
“We’ve got to be better,” Bowles said, via the team’s website. “Just concentration. We’ve got to be better. The effort was there; I’m proud of the effort. They fought their tails off tonight against a very good football team. We’ve got to stop the penalties, shooting ourselves in the foot, and we’ll be able to win some football games.”
The loss dropped the Bucs to 3-4 on the season, but eight of their final 10 games are against teams that do not currently have a winning record. That gives them a chance to make something out of the second half of the schedule if they can avoid the self-inflicted wounds of Thursday night.
