Todd Bowles isn’t sounding the alarm on Kenneth Gainwell, even if the numbers through two games haven’t jumped off the page.
The Buccaneers running back has 33 total yards on 11 touches and has been on the field for just 40 percent of the snaps, but Bowles said Gainwell remains a key part of the backfield behind Bucky Irving. He also pointed to the other ways Gainwell can help Tampa Bay.
“Kenny will help us a great deal, and he’ll do more than that, as well as he was playing more [special] teams and returning kicks for us as well,” Bowles said, via the Buccaneers Wire. “Kenny is going to help us.
He’s still a 1B for us. We know it’s a long season, and we’re going to need him immensely.”
In Carolina, the defense is dealing with the fallout from a brutal start, and the players aren’t sugarcoating it. After giving up 59 points in the opener against the Bears, Jaelan Phillips called it what it was.
“Fifty-nine is an ugly score to put up as a defense. It’s embarrassing.
But I do think it’s a good opportunity for us,” Phillips said, via The Athletic. “It’s a critical moment in the sense that getting beat this badly as a defense is really going to define us moving forward, in terms of the urgency that we have to make these corrections and get better.”
Devin Lloyd echoed that frustration and said the responsibility sits squarely on the players.
“However you feel, I completely understand. Because we obviously got paid a lot of money to come here and play well,” Lloyd said.
“So it’s on us to play well, regardless of what people say or what they think. We’ve gotta perform, and we have to do better.”
Derrick Brown, meanwhile, wasn’t interested in letting the bad stretch turn into panic. The Panthers couldn’t regroup and stop the Browns in Week 3, but Brown said the season is far from over.
“It sucks, but it’s one f-ing game,” Brown added. “We’ve got a whole season.
I’m not fixin’ to f-ing sit here and hit the panic button for nobody. I’ve still got faith in every single man in this room.
We’ve been down and out before. I will f-ing hang it on me for those two touchdowns that they got, for those two stupid-ass penalties on me.
But we’re gonna get in here and go back to work this week.”
Panthers coach Dave Canales also said wide receiver Xavier Legette was dealing with knee soreness after his career-long catch against the Falcons.
In New Orleans, Tyler Shough entered Week 3 as the league’s passing yards leader, but the Saints quarterback made sure to spread the credit around. He said the team’s early success has come from the way everyone is operating together.
“I think it’s just another moment together as a rep as a team,” said Shough, via the team website. “There’s not necessarily like, ‘We’re looking forward to coming back in this game.’
Like, nah, let’s just get up and let’s go play and let’s operate. It’s more of just like, how do we figure out how to get in the best play possible and run the best play possible and finish off plays.
It’s kind of the evolution of that. Those fourth-quarter moments, it doesn’t feel like anything different to me.”
Shough also said the Saints are still ironing things out, even if the overall feel around the team is better than it was a year ago.
“We’ve still got a lot of football left, and we still have a lot more to clean up. But I know one thing, is that it is night and day from last year as far as how we’re feeling from an operation standpoint, a chemistry standpoint.
Day to day, just our play style, our culture - those things are immediate. We’ve put in the effort this offseason, but at the same time, there’s little things if we want to compete and play high-level football week in and week out and playoff-level football, we have to clean those things up.
It’s not where we want to be, but I think if you compared it from a first year last year, it’s been a lot better.”
In Other News...
Bucs Loss Exposed A Bigger Problem Than Fans Wanted To See
The Buccaneers 23-16 loss to the Vikings in Week 3 was more than just a one-score setback. Tampa Bay kept bumping into the same problems on both sides of the ball, with the offense never finding much rhythm under coordinator Zac Robinson and the defense undone at key moments, including an 86-yard punt return touchdown that tilted the game in Minnesotas favor.
Baker Mayfield finished with a 50% completion rate, one touchdown and one interception, then added a right hand injury late in the game to an already frustrating night. There were also rough stretches for players such as cornerback Jacob Parrish and right tackle Luke Goedeke, leaving the Bucs with an uncomfortable reminder that the issues exposed Sunday go well beyond a single bad sequence or a single phase of the game. [Read more 🡒]
Baker Mayfield Injury Just Raised The Stakes For A Reeling Bucs Team
Tampa Bays rough Week 3 got even messier late in the loss to Minnesota, when Baker Mayfield dislocated his thumb near the end of the game. The Buccaneers were already dealing with the sting of another defeat, and the injury to their starting quarterback quickly became the biggest concern coming out of the night.
Todd Bowles said Mayfield will undergo an MRI to get a better read on the injury, leaving the team waiting on a clearer update. Mayfield was replaced by rookie Jalon Daniels after leaving the game, and for a Bucs team trying to steady itself, the timing of the setback only adds to the pressure heading into the next stretch. [Read more 🡒]
Bucs Loss Exposed Problems Fans Wont Stop Arguing About
The Buccaneers latest loss did more than dent the standings - it reopened the same arguments that have followed this team for weeks. Between the defenses uneven stretches, the offenses uneven rhythm and a special teams sequence that left plenty of second-guessing behind, the game against Minnesota became the kind of all-around mess that forces a closer look at how Tampa Bay is being coached and why so many drives still seem to stall at the wrong time.
Todd Bowles now has a familiar debate on his hands, because the scrutiny is not just about one bad afternoon but about how the Bucs handled key moments through the first three quarters. Baker Mayfield, Bucky Irving and a few others had their moments, but the bigger issue is whether the teams decisions and execution can keep matching up against good opponents when the game starts tightening. [Read more 🡒]