The Tampa Bay Buccaneers didn't have a perfect season opener in their Week 1 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.
The Buccaneers turned the ball over four times, with three of those turnovers coming from Baker Mayfield fumbling the ball. While the fumbling issues were the main reason for Tampa Bay's 33-27 loss to the Bengals, another glaring issue was the Buccaneers breaking out of the huddle late.
Tampa Bay often got to the line of scrimmage late and couldn't make their usual checks on offense. Mayfield addressed those issues during the post-game press conference, citing that the Buccaneers had headset issues.
"We had some headset issues for quite a while in and out," said Mayfield after the game. "Which isn't an excuse, but when they're testing them
on the sidelines and they work perfectly fine, then you get out to in between the hashes, and it's not working. It's unfortunate, but it wasn't the whole time. Just kind of the first drive for sure, and then sporadically throughout the rest of the game. But yeah, we need to get in and out of the huddle quicker."
When asked if he's had headset issues before, Mayfield said it's never been that bad until the game against the Bengals.
"That's the first time it was that bad," said Mayfield.
Despite the headset issues and the fumbling problem, the offense ran at a high efficiency. The Buccaneers went 5-of-10 on third-down conversions, and Mayfield completed 82% of his passes while posting a 98.8 passer rating.
Considering the Buccaneers lost their all-time leading receiver, Mike Evans, in the offseason, Tampa Bay showed signs of promise in their first game without him. Tampa Bay's 27 points were actually more than the 22.4 points per game they averaged last season.
Tampa Bay will have a chance to get their first win of the season when they travel back to Tampa Bay to play the Cleveland Browns, who are coming off a 34-10 thumping by the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 1.
This article originally appeared on Bucs Wire: Buccaneers' Baker Mayfield Opens Up on Glaring Issue During Bengals Loss
