Giving the reigning MVP a short field is a faulty formula for Bucs There were nine lead changes in Sunday's game against the Bills but only one constant for the Bucs: They can't stop giving up the big play on defense. Or for that matter, special teams. Josh Allen and Baker Mayfield put on another entertaining slugfest in the Bucs' 44-32 loss to the Bills. But Allen showed why he's the NFL's reigning Most Valuable Player, throwing for 317 yards and three touchdowns while running for three more scores. In watching his team lose for the third time in four games, checking the calendar for what's become an annual holiday swoon, Todd Bowles knows he has to find a way to stop the bleeding on defense and soon. In the end, it wasn't much different from last Sunday when the Bucs defense yielded four plays of more than 50 yards. Except this time, the kickoff coverage was so poor, Allen played on half a football field. "Sometimes it's coverage, sometimes it's pass rush," Bowles said. "But at the same time, it's got to get fixed. We're playing hard and then we have lapses here and lapses there and we give up a play. That's what happened in the second half. That's what happened two times in the first half. "If we're covering, we're not getting to the quarterback. If we get to the quarterback, we're not covering long enough. It's got to be a lot on the coaches, starting with me from the defensive side of the ball we'l get that fixed going forward. The effort was there but the playmaking was not." For much of Sunday, the Bucs appeared content to trade punches with Allen and the Bills. They did it by finally unleashing underrated and underused running back Sean Tucker, who rushed for 106 yards and two touchdowns, including a 28-yard burst while adding a TD reception. The Bucs ran 39 times for 202 yards against one of the NFL's worst rushing defenses. But it was mitigated by not covering kickoffs and a big mistake by Mayfield. With the Bucs leading 26-24 in the third quarter, Mayfield tried to force a pass to rookie receiver Emeka Egbuka and safety Cole Bishop intercepted, returning it to the Tampa Bay 25-yard line. On the next play, Allen connected with running back James Cook for a 25-yard touchdown. The Bucs retook the lead on Tucker's 28-yard touchdown catch, but Allen just put the team on his back and ran for the final two scores. "It goes back to where the momentum swung in the game and that was the interception on third down in our own territory," Mayfield said. "It's going to be hard. Played well for the most part, but moments like that, you can't have it. "Man coverage. The guy that intercepted it is actually covering (Sterling Shepard). He had to run around in the back, so I was trying to get it to (Egbuka) and he was just deep enough and made a really good play. But in that moment, maybe buy a little more time, scramble and see what I can do, but I can't turn it over." It also didn't help that the Bills had kickoff returns of 44 and 61 yards, giving Allen a short field. It was a blustery day with wind gusts of 30 mph, but Bowles said the Bucs asked Chase McLaughlin to either kick the ball into the end zone for a touchback or out of bounds and he did neither. "We talked about kicking it out of bounds or in the end zone," Bowles said. "We never got it there. It's not very good. We were playing 7-on-7 football starting from midfield and beyond the entire game. That's tough to do in the NFL consistently throughout. Kickoff coverage and field position really killed us." If you're into silver linings, Mayfield finally made some plays with his legs Sunday. He had not had a rushing attempt for three games, due mostly to knee and oblique injuries. But on Sunday, he rushed five times for 39 yards, including a touchdown. "Feeling better and then taking advantage of what was there," Mayfield said. "Some zone read stuff and some scrambles, some pass play designs and go from there." For what it's worth, the Bucs forced three turnovers. SirVocea Dennis intercepted a pass tipped by Tykee Smith, and rookie Jacob Parrish added a pick. Ryan Miller recovered a fumbled punt caused by Josh Hayes. Mayfield knows that Allen is a beast but felt as if he should have won the shootout the way the Bucs did over Sam Darnold in Seattle earlier this season. "It's Josh Allen, so when you get your opportunities, you've got to take advantage of them," Mayfield said. "You know if you give him the ball back, they're probably going to score points. We've been in this situation once before in Seattle where we had to score more points and we did. Looking back on it, we ran the ball well but in the passing game, I've got to lead these guys better and I didn't today." But scoring 32 points and creating three turnovers should win most games. It didn't because the Bucs defense is so combustible. Allen lit the match and boom. Rick Stroud, Tampa Bay Times, published 17 November 2025