After falling to the New England Patriots a week ago, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers ran into the same wall on Sunday. This time, it was the Buffalo Bills handing them a 44-32 loss, and head coach Todd Bowles was quick to point fingers.

“Not very good. We were playing 7-on-7 football starting from midfield and beyond the entire game,” the head coach said. “That’s tough to do in the NFL … kickoff coverage and field position killed really killed us.”

The special teams unit has been a trouble spot all season, and it reared its head again. Yes, the punt team fell on a loose ball, but that was about the lone positive. A blocked field goal was erased by a flag, and the kickoff coverage leaks continued.

For a team trying to stabilize itself, this phase of the game keeps pulling them in the wrong direction.

The defense struggled again, but that wasn’t the real story. What truly buried Tampa Bay on Sunday night was the kickoff coverage. You can’t keep giving an NFL offense a short field and expect to survive, especially when your own defense is already leaking explosive plays. The Bills averaged 39 yards on six returns. Four of those went for 40-plus.

And the same problems that burned them a week ago showed up all over again.

They never found answers for Drake Maye’s deep shots in New England, and they didn’t have many for Josh Allen’s against Buffalo, either. They surrendered chunk plays of 43, 52, and 25 yards. Todd Bowles has work to do, and quickly. These issues aren’t new, and they’re becoming habits.

Quarterback Baker Mayfield also took the mic to point fingers…at himself.

Baker Mayfield takes accountability

After criticizing the team last week for not finishing plays and missing details, Mayfield took ownership of the interception that helped flip the game

“It goes back to where the momentum swung and it was the interception on 3rd down … in critical moments like that, can’t have it … maybe buy a little bit more time and scramble and see what happens but can’t turn it over,” Mayfield said.

It was only his third interception of the season, but it came at a brutal moment. Tampa Bay had the ball, a 26–24 lead, and decent control of the tempo. Then Cole Bishop laid out for a pick deep in Bucs territory, and on the very next snap, Josh Allen hit James Cook for 25 yards. Suddenly, everything tilted.

It wasn’t the sole reason Tampa Bay lost, not even close. But it was one of the many cracks that opened up in the second half.

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And for the first time in a while, Mayfield didn’t have an MVP-caliber outing to bail anyone out. He finished 16-of-28 for 173 yards and a touchdown, nowhere near his usual standard.

Allen, meanwhile, looked every bit the reigning MVP, accounting for six touchdowns and quieting weeks of criticism in one night.

Now Tampa Bay faces a tough challenge against the Rams, and the list of issues is getting long: coverage breakdowns, special teams miscues, and a defense that hasn’t played a clean game since the bye. If they don’t patch things up quickly, the Rams won’t show them much mercy.