Everyone ready for NFL playoffs take a step forward. Not so fast, Bucs A week ago, they were frisky. Drunk on their own success. When it came to the NFL postseason the Bucs wanted to know, "Why not us?" On Sunday, the football gods answered: "Well ... " There are wakeup calls, and then there is what happened at Raymond James Stadium on New Year's Eve. That was like a prison beatdown with a sock filled with soap bars. Offense? Whack. Defense? Thump. Postseason hopes? Whimper. Oh, the Bucs are still in control of the NFC South, even after losing 23-13 to the Saints. To clinch their third consecutive division title, they need only go to Carolina and beat the 2-14 Panthers, a task that doesn't quite qualify as a labor of Hercules. But the stunning ineptness of the first three quarters against New Orleans is a reminder of the thin line between respectability and ridicule in the Bucs huddle. This team cannot afford letdowns, turnovers, penalties or third downs. Left tackle Tristan Wirfs tried to drive that point home with a fiery halftime speech when the Bucs were down 17-0. It worked. Sort of. The Bucs were only outscored 3-0 in the third quarter. "I just kind of said, 'Hey, this is a division game. This is for a third straight division title,' " Wirfs said. "We came out looking like that, and I said, 'This is unacceptable.' We've got to do something different. Next week is for the marbles." So where did it go wrong for the Bucs? It's hard to pinpoint an exact moment, but it was probably around the time the balls were inflated. Or maybe it was when the defensive backs decided to opt out. Look, we've all come to understand this is a flawed team. Too much inexperience, not enough explosive plays. But the Bucs had discovered a formula involving winning the turnover battle, controlling the ball and chasing pass rushers that worked for them. None of those things was apparent Sunday. The Bucs came in the game tied with the Ravens and Steelers for the best turnover differential in the NFL at plus-10. Sixty minutes later, they were minus-4 against the Saints. Their longest run of the day ended in a fumble. Their longest pass of the day ended in a fumble. "It was definitely a lot of self-inflicted errors," said receiver Mike Evans. The defensive line allowed Saints quarterback Derek Carr to throw 32 passes without a single smudge on his jersey. The only sack came when he ran out of bounds. Otherwise, there was not a quarterback hit to be found on the stat sheet. The offense was even worse. After averaging 28 points and 111 rushing yards a game during their four-game winning streak, the offense had 36 passing yards, 8 rushing yards and zero points at halftime. "We definitely stunk it up as coaches," Todd Bowles said. "We stunk it up as players." More than one player suggested the Bucs came out flat, which seems hard to believe for a team on a roll with a chance to celebrate a division championship at home. "That's definitely what it seemed like," said guard Cody Mauch. "We can't let that happen." On the other hand, the Eagles lost at home to an Arizona team that came in with a 3-13 record, so this wasn't even the most embarrassing loss for a division leader on Sunday. "It might be a good thing. It might be a good wakeup call," Wirfs said. "We might have been feeling ourselves a little bit, you know? Could be good to bring everybody down a peg. (Get) back to what got us here." That's the optimistic view. The doomsday version involves quarterback Baker Mayfield being unable to get out of bed Monday morning. Mayfield, who set career highs in passing yards (3,907) and touchdowns (28) despite having one of his poorer efforts on the season, took a vicious shoulder to the chest from safety Tyrann Mathieu on a two-point attempt late in the fourth quarter. Mayfield made his way back to the bench where he fell to one knee, collected himself and then returned to replay the conversion attempt after offsetting penalties. Mayfield would later say X-rays were negative but his ribs were sore. "It'll get easier throughout the week," Mayfield said. "The first few days are always the worst." By the time Mayfield finished his postgame treatment, the locker room was nearly deserted. Wearing slides and his uniform pants, he walked slowly to his locker and gingerly pulled a red shirt over his head. Just a few feet away were dozens of bath towels piled on the floor. In the right light, they could have been mistaken for white flags. John Romano, Tampa Bay Times, published 1 January 2024