With their biggest threats ailing, Bucs offense is no longer scary They have words. Lots and lots of words. (But no real answers.) They have bodies. New ones every week, it seems. (Yet not enough to make a difference.) They have hope. Borne of a brilliant start to the season. (Except it's disappearing by the week.) The Bucs are in first place, and in a bad spot. The laughter and theatrics of their early season victories have given way to groans and letdowns. The latest was a 28-23 loss to the Patriots on Sunday that felt like a wrong turn toward a familiar consolation prize. "It starts with me," Baker Mayfield said, "but everybody has got to have pride about it, too." Oh, another NFC South division title is still well within reach. The Bucs have a 1.5 game lead on the Panthers and a bunch of games against Carolina, Atlanta and New Orleans in December. There are good times to be had before the calendar flips over. But this season was supposed to be different. Instead of winning their wretched division by default, the Bucs had visions of something grander. They said as much during training camp, and a 5-1 start had a lot of people wondering just how far this offense could carry Tampa Bay. Turns out, only as far as their crutches will allow. The offense you've seen the past three weeks is nothing compared to what you saw last season when the Bucs averaged nearly 30 points a game. Heck, it's not even as good as the offense the Bucs had in September. Mike Evans is out until sometime in late December. Cody Mauch is gone for the season, and Jalen McMillan probably is, too. Chris Godwin and Bucky Irving are somewhere between limbo and the abyss. And now Ben Bredeson has added a wonky hamstring to the offense's woes. Nobody expected the Tampa Bay defense to terrorize the NFL in 2025, but it was solid enough if you paired it with an explosive offense. Instead, with all of the injuries to both linemen and skill players, the Bucs are now counting on the defense to keep them in contention until Christmas time. "At this point, it is not an excuse," Mayfield said, when asked about the injuries. "We have so many new guys in there, we're used to it by now." That's an admirable way of looking at it, but it's not reality. The Bucs may have kept the logs burning through injuries to McMillan, Godwin, Mauch, Tristan Wirfs and Luke Goedeke in September, but losing Evans and Irving has fundamentally changed the way the offense looks. They no longer have game-breaking threats to scare defensive coordinators. Emeka Egbuka was a revelation during his first half-dozen games in the NFL. With Evans or Godwin on the other side of the field to draw the attention of defensive backs, Egbuka caught 64.2% of the passes thrown his way and averaged 11.2 yards per target. Since Evans got hurt against Detroit and Egbuka has assumed the No. 1 receiver role, he has caught 38.2% of the passes thrown in his direction and has averaged 6.1 yards per target. Sterling Shepard has seen a similar falloff. When he was an ancillary target, his short crossing routes and wide receiver screens averaged 12.7 yards per reception. Since Evans got hurt, he's averaging 4.8 yards per reception. "(I'm) seeing some of the best corners like I saw (Sunday) with (Christian) Gonzalez following me around," Egbuka said after Sunday's game. "(Saw) double coverage versus Detroit a lot." Rookie Tez Johnson has caught four touchdown passes the past four games, but that's not really indicative of his workload. Over the last three weeks, more than 51% of Mayfield's passes have gone to Egbuka and tight end Cade Otton. Johnson and Shepard are mostly afterthoughts in the passing game. Kameron Johnson can barely get on the field. "It's difficult, but we've been dealing with it all year," said Todd Bowles. "We've got to find a way to win games. That's really where we are at this point. The guys we have on this team have to step up and we have to find a way to win." Maybe it's time to take a step back. To acknowledge the Bucs are 6-3 and still in charge of the division. To recognize that Evans, Godwin and Irving are all expected back at some point later this season. To envision a strong December finish and a new life in the playoffs. That's the hope today. Even if it's been beaten up the past few weeks. John Romano, Tampa Bay Times, published 10 November 2025