6 Bucs Who Must Step Up Over The Final 6 Weeks: Offense

Despite a three-game losing streak after the bye week, the Bucs are still above .500 at 6-5 and have a half game lead over the Panthers in the NFC South. Tampa Bay returns home for a three-game home stand where the team needs to right the ship and make a playoff push in December and January.

The Bucs will face three lesser teams against the 3-8 Cardinals, the 2-9 Saints and the 4-7 Falcons over the next three weeks. All of those teams will be starting backup quarterbacks, too. Tampa Bay can pick up some more NFC wins, which will help when it comes to playoff seeding in the conference, and victories over New Orleans and Atlanta can help the team reclaim the NFC South crown for a fifth straight season.

Pewter Report’s Scott Reynolds will take a look at six Buccaneers who need to step up on offense and defense in over the last six games of the season if the team is going to win the division again and make the playoffs for a sixth straight year. We are kicking it off with six players on offense, followed by six defensive players on Friday.

6 Bucs Who Must Step Up Over The Final 6 Weeks: Offense

QB Teddy Bridgewater

Will he play or won’t he? That is the question surrounding Teddy Bridgewater, who is taking the starter reps in practice this week while Baker Mayfield is resting his injured non-throwing shoulder. The Bucs’ backup quarterback may make his first start since the 2022 season on Sunday if Mayfield can’t go – or if Mayfield and the team believe it is better to rest for a week to be better prepared for the rest of the season.

Bridgewater’s last start at quarterback came in Miami while offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard was the Dolphins wide receivers coach. So, there is some loose familiarity between the two in a game situation. Bridgewater had a good first quarter against Pittsburgh back in the preseason where he threw two touchdown passes and that is the guy Tampa Bay needs under center against Arizona if his number is called.

Should the 32-year-old Bridgewater play against the Cardinals he needs to be on top of his game and deliver for a Bucs team desperately needing a win to end a three-game losing streak. Losing to a 3-8 Arizona team would be disastrous for Tampa Bay’s playoff hopes as well as the team’s confidence down the stretch.

QB Baker Mayfield

Whether Baker Mayfield plays against the Cardinals or waits a week to return to action versus the Saints, when he returns to the huddle the Bucs need the best version of their starting quarterback. Mayfield didn’t play his best in the last two losses at Buffalo and at Los Angeles. He completed 57.1% of his passes for 173 yards with one touchdown and one interception against the Bills and was just 9-of-19 (47.4%) for 41 yards and one touchdown with two interceptions.

The good news is that Mayfield was more mobile at Buffalo, scrambling for 39 yards and a touchdown on five carries. But he also got hurt on a scramble versus the Rams. Yet his ability to pick up first downs with his legs is invaluable to the offense and is a big reason why the team got out to a 5-1 start at the beginning of the year.

The Bucs need Mayfield to get healthier, stay healthy and be more accurate on his passes. That makes making better reads, avoid interceptions, taking the checkdowns when nothing opens up downfield and scrambling when the opportunity arises – just protecting himself better when he does.

RB Bucky Irving

Sean Tucker and Rachaad White have proven to be capable of handling the workload at running back during Bucky Irving’s absence from the starting lineup. But now that Irving’s foot and shoulder have healed up, he is ready to return to action against the Cardinals. Irving loves football and did not handle his first major injury well. Playing again with his teammates should help his state of mind – and the team.

Irving should have some fresh legs that can benefit the Bucs down the stretch. His knack for making defenders miss typically leads to long runs and big plays in the passing game that energizes the crowd. Irving broke his silence about his struggles with his injuries on Wednesday and seems like he is in a better place.

With three games at home and the Bucs needing to rattle off three wins to make up for a three-game losing streak, the chants of “Bucky! Bucky! Bucky!” at Raymond James Stadium could be what Tampa Bay needs down the stretch. Irving does not need to carry the offense in December and January – just help spark it.

TE Cade Otton

When Cade Otton arrived in Tampa Bay as a fourth-round pick in 2022 he suffered an early dropped pass or two during Tom Brady’s final season with the team. Brady told the rookie tight end to wear some gloves to help prevent some drops, which he did for the rest of the season. That helped as Otton caught game-winning touchdowns against both the Rams and the Saints.

Since Brady left, Otton has taken the gloves off and gone back to catching passes bare-handed. For the most part it has served him well – except for this season when he is had the ball ripped from his hands on two occasions from smaller defensive backs, who were wearing gloves. The latest one turned into a pick-six in Los Angeles.

Otton is playing in a contract year and it is not going so well, as he does not have a single touchdown this season. Perhaps it is time for Otton to wear some tacky gloves again to help him become more sure handed as a receiving tight end.

LT Tristan Wirfs

Tristan Wirfs has only given up two sacks this year, but they have come in the past three games – one versus New England versus Elijah Ponder, and one last Sunday against outside linebacker Jared Verse in Los Angeles. Wirfs had no business giving up a sack to Ponder and he allowed a season-high four pressures against the Patriots with a Pro Football Focus pass protection grade of 67.7, which was his season-low.

Last week in L.A., Wirfs again allowed four pressures and set a new season-low with a 64.4 PFF pass pro grade against Verse. Wirfs has fared well as a run blocker this year, and he helped the Bucs run for well over 100 yards in each of the last three games. But he needs to get back to his All-Pro form as a pass protector, especially if Teddy Bridgewater, who is not very mobile, is under center, or the injured Mayfield decides to play against Arizona.

The Bucs need Wirfs to get back to being dominant both in the running game and in pass protection down the stretch as the team makes its playoff run. He is certainly capable of it, even if he is dealing with a minor shoulder injury right now.

WR Emeka Egbuka

After starting the season with four games with over 65 yards receiving, including a pair of 100-yard games versus Philadelphia and Seattle, and five touchdowns, Emeka Egbuka has cooled off. The rookie receiver has struggled to get open against double coverage since Mike Evans went down with a broken collarbone against Detroit in Week 7.

Egbuka has had just one game with over 60 yards receiving in the last six weeks, and that was a six-catch, 115-yard performance against New England after the bye week. That was the only time where he is caught a touchdown in the last six games, too. Egbuka has had more success against zone coverage rather than man coverage, where he’s struggled to get open.

Offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard needs to script more targets for him where he can get open with rub routes or mesh concepts as the first-round pick is not the fastest receiver off the snap. If the Bucs are going to make a playoff run, they cannot count on Chris Godwin Jr. being effective down the stretch as he is not anywhere close to being back to his old form after his ankle and fibula injuries. Egbuka needs to step up and produce at the end of the season like he did at the beginning of the year for Tampa Bay’s playoff push.