Todd Bowles isn’t ready to say whether Baker Mayfield will be back for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 7.
After Sunday’s 26-19 overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers dropped Tampa Bay to 1-5, the head coach said he’ll know more once he sees his quarterback on the practice field Wednesday.
Mayfield has missed three straight starts with a dislocated right thumb.
“I’ll probably have a better answer for you on Wednesday once I see him,” Bowles said after the game.
Asked what he saw from Mayfield this week, Bowles kept it short: “Not much.”
What Todd Bowles needs to see from Baker Mayfield
That’s the same tone Bowles struck before Sunday.
Mayfield didn’t practice all week, and Bowles said Friday he’d be encouraged when Mayfield had his helmet on at practice. When a reporter followed up after the game on whether “not much” meant Mayfield was out of play for Week 7, Bowles left the door open.
“Doesn’t mean it. It just means I need to see more,” Bowles said.
That puts the focus on Wednesday’s practice. If Mayfield is able to throw with his grip and velocity back, Tampa Bay has a tough decision. If he’s still limited, rookie Jalon Daniels will get his fourth straight start.
We already argued the Bucs were right to slow-play the return, and Wednesday’s work tells us how much longer that lasts, much like it did before the Steelers game.
The case for getting him back is easy to make after Sunday. Tampa Bay led 16-3 after three quarters, then watched two late interceptions help Pittsburgh come back. Daniels finished 22-of-43 passing for 164 yards, and the Steelers sacked him five times.
Bowles wouldn’t single out any one problem.
“We got to learn to finish ball games, and that’s all three phases,” he said. “You play that hard and you grab a lead, you got to keep it.”
He also made it clear how little room is left.
“We have no more margin for error,” Bowles said.
That matters for his own seat as much as the standings.
A potential Bowles firing before the Week 10 bye looms over Tampa Bay as an option, and an NFC South game against Carolina is the kind Tampa Bay can’t afford to lose.
So, is Mayfield playing in Week 7? Bowles doesn’t know yet. Wednesday will tell him, and every Bucs fan from Ybor City to Clearwater will be watching the practice report with bated breath.
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