TAMPA, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (7-6) are riding a season-best three-game winning streak, but those three teams they beat have a combined win total of just seven games.
This Sunday’s game looks to be much more challenging when the Bucs travel across the country to face the playoff-bound Los Angeles Chargers (8-5).
“They don’t beat themselves,” Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield said. “They do a really good job of taking care of the football, run the ball really well, controlling the clock, and forcing teams to beat themselves, and taking advantage of those mistakes.”
Lately, it’s been Mayfield making those mistakes. In the last two games, against Carolina and Las Vegas, he’s thrown four interceptions and overall, he ranks second in the NFL with 13 picks.
His counterpart this week — Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert, has only thrown one interception all season.
“Justin Herbert can put the ball anywhere,” Bucs cornerback Zyon McCollum said. “He can throw the ball on a rope. He can go off his back foot if he needs to, and he’s tough. He’s not going to slide, he’s going to continue to play hard. He plays every game like it’s a playoff game.”
Speaking of playoff games, that also has to be the Bucs’ mentality in these final four games. Tampa Bay leads the Atlanta Falcons (6-7) by one game in the NFC South.
“It’s the next one. It’s the most important one,” Mayfield said. “It’s a good challenge for us just based on how they are playing right now. We have to bring our A-game, but that’s every Sunday.”
“The biggest thing is for us to keep stacking and building wins, and making sure we are our best selves,” Bucs safety Tykee Smith added. “Making sure the defense is on the right page, making sure the offense is being efficient. We’re worrying about ourselves and how we can better ourselves.”
The Bucs and Chargers kick off at 4:25 p.m. on Sunday inside SoFi Stadium.
A state report says hundreds of frail elderly nursing home residents were stacked side by side, head to toe in a small church with no working air conditioning or refrigerator during Hurricane Helene.
