Buccaneers Fall to Denver Broncos 26-7 in Week 3

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have started the last four seasons with consecutive wins, but they are still looking for their first 3-0 start since the 2005 season. This time it was the visiting Denver Broncos who denied that third straight victory, controlling the action on both sides of the ball in a 26-7 decision at Raymond James Stadium on Sunday. It was the first win for the Broncos and their rookie quarterback, Bo Nix, after an 0-2 start.

“They out-played us, they out-coached us, they out-hit us and they won the game,” said Buccaneers Head Coach Todd Bowles. “We didn’t take them lightly. We didn’t play well, we’ve got to coach it better and we’ve got to play it better. That starts with me.”

Tampa Bay fell to 2-1 but maintained a share of first place in the NFC South after Philadelphia’s comeback win in New Orleans on Sunday. The Buccaneers will be at home against next Sunday against those same Eagles.

“All the credit in the world to Denver for coming in here – I think we’ll watch this tape and you can probably tell on the tape how much more they wanted it than us,” said QB Baker Mayfield. “Our offense, we didn’t start fast in the first quarter and we didn’t start fast in the third quarter. That’s the story of the game. … From the first quarter, it just felt flat. We’ll learn our lesson and go from there.”

Under nonstop pressure from Denver’s pass rushers, Mayfield was held to 163 yards on 25-of-33 passing, with one touchdown and one interception, and he was sacked seven times. The Broncos secondary, led by Pro Bowl cornerback Pat Surtain II, provided tight coverage all day, forcing Mayfield to throw short underneath passes on most of his dropbacks. The Bucs’ leading pass-catchers were TE Cade Otton and WR Chris Godwin, with seven and six catches, respectively, but neither topped 60 yards while WR Mike Evans was held to two catches for 17 yards.

“We’ve got to block it better,” said Bowles. “We’ve got to block it better and then sometimes you’ve got to get rid of the ball. It’s a combination of both. We’ve got to play better all the way around.”

Mayfield took the responsibility for some of the problems with pressure on offense.

“There were a few pressures today that were actually on me,” he said. “When we get into some of these tempo drives, trying to have two-minute-ish thoughts, there’s a mindset of trying to fix the protections when they’re bringing some of these pressures, and there’s also the mindset of snap the ball and get it out of your hand. Not all of that’s on the O-Line.”

Nix, meanwhile, had his best game as a pro, completing 25 of 36 passes for 216 yards. After a couple deep gains on the game-opening touchdown drive, he too threw a majority of his passes within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage, but he had more time to operate the offense, as he wasn’t sacked and was hit just twice. On the occasions that Nix waspressured, he showed off his speed and elusiveness, escaping the pocket to record 47 yards and a touchdown on the ground.

“We got pressure; the ball was coming out quick,” said Bowles. “And when we did get pressure we didn’t tackle well. And he broke a couple tackles and got out of the pocket – that was the most disappointing thing, the tackling.”

Rookie RB Bucky Irving gained 70 yards on nine carries, but the Bucs’ early deficit made it a pass-heavy script in the second half and the team finished with just 16 carries for 91 yards. Meanwhile, Denver ran it 28 times for 136 yards, with practice-squad promotion Tyler Badie leading the way 70 yards on nine totes.

The Buccaneers also lost the turnover battle for the first time this season, with Denver S Brandon Jones intercepting a pass in the first quarter and recovering a fumble in the fourth. Lavonte David was responsible for the Bucs’ one takeaway, causing a fumble by RB Javonte Williams in the first half that was recovered by DL Logan Hall. The Bucs’ offense briefly got in a groove after that with a touchdown drive but they couldn’t sustain it.

“You have to prepare like you’re playing in a playoff game every week, or else this can happen,” said Mayfield. “We got our asses kicked, physicality-wise, execution-wise, all over the board for us. It’s a good lesson for our team, for the young guys who haven’t seen it before, for what you need to be prepared for, how detailed we need to be. For it to happen this early on, I’m going to take the positives from it and takes this one on the chin. There’s nothing else to do besides that, and go from there.”

CB Jamel Dean led the Bucs’ defense with 13 tackles and nearly made a diving interception of a deflected pass in the second half. CB Zyon McCollum added six tackles and had two of the team’s five passes defensed after breaking up four passes in last Sunday’s win in Detroit. However, the defense as a whole had too many missed tackles for Bowles’ liking.

“I’ll look at the film and see that, but I know we missed quite a few tackles,” said Bowles.

The Broncos dominated on both sides of the ball in the early going and rushed out to a 14-0 lead, marking the first time since a Week Four game against Kansas City that the Tampa Bay defense allowed two touchdowns in the first quarter. Nix drove Denver 70 yards on the opening possession and ran the ball in himself for a three-yard score, and a Brandon Jones interception with a 37-yard return set up a nine-yard touchdown drive. The Broncos went for it on fourth-and-inches and scored on a pitch to RB Javonte Williams. Denver tacked on a pair of Wil Lutz field goals in the second quarter but between those two drives the Bucs did regain some on a Lavonte David forced fumble that Logan Hall recovered, leading to a 67-yard touchdown drive featuring two big plays by Irving. Chris Godwin held on to a very difficult catch on a six-yard fade to score for the third time in as many games this season.

The Bucs’ offense couldn’t maintain that momentum after halftime, stalling out at midfield and then letting the Broncos drain eight minutes off the clock with a 79-yard field goal. That drive, which took the game into the fourth quarter and gave Denver a 23-7 lead, included an incredible 22-yard scramble out of trouble by Nix. Things didn’t get any better in the fourth quarter, as the Bucs’ two extended drives ended in a failed fourth down and a lost fumble deep in Denver territory.

“It’s a long season,” said Bowles. “We took it on the chin today. They beat us, flat-out. They out-coached us and they out-played us. It’s going to be a long season for us. We weren’t extra high the Monday we came in after Detroit; we can’t be extra-low tomorrow once we watch the film on this game. We’ve got to move on to the next one. There’s a lot more tough games to be played and a lot of football to be played, and unfortunately we didn’t win this one.”

The Broncos started the game with the ball at their 30 after a Jake Camarda touchback. Nix’s first pass of the game was a back-shoulder pass to WR Courtland Sutton for 22 yards. Nix threw on the second play of the drive, too, with a play-action rollout and short toss to FB Nick Adkins for six yards. On the next play, WR Josh Reynolds got behind the defense on a flag route and caught a 31-yard pass over his shoulder, down to the Bucs’ 11. After a delay-of-game flag pushed the ball back to the 16, Sutton ran left on a keeper but was corralled by McCollum after a gain of just two. Two plays later, on third-and-two, Nix rolled right again and with the coverage dropping into the end zone was able to take it in himself for the three-yard score.