The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are trying their best to hang onto first place in the NFC South, but things have gotten more and more difficult as the season has gone on as the Bucs get more and more banged up. During a Week 12 loss to the Los Angeles Rams, quarterback Baker Mayfield suffered a left shoulder injury that put his availability for Week 13 in doubt.

Mayfield was limited in practice throughout the week, but he was still able to tough it out and give it a go on Sunday. He put together a solid performance, finishing 18-for-28 with 194 yards and a touchdown while picking up 27 yards on six carries in a 20-17 win over the Arizona Cardinals.

After the game, Mayfield talked about the week of preparation to play through the injury, via Greg Auman of FOX Sports.

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“It's part of this game,” Mayfield said. “Everybody's banged up, gotta go through certain things. Luckily, I have a physiotherapist that I've worked with for eight years, flies in every week. After that, go through the week of treatment with our staff. … It takes a village, team effort.”

Things weren't always pretty for the Bucs in this game, and Mayfield acknowledged as much. But Tampa Bay was still in control of the contest throughout, and its defense was able to seal the win with one final stop at the very end.

Tampa Bay was unable to gain any separation in the very close NFC South race after the Carolina Panthers pulled off a stunning upset of the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday. After both teams won on Sunday, the Bucs will go into Week 14 with a half-game lead atop the division. They can extend that advantage to a full game with a victory in Week 14 over the New Orleans Saints while the Panthers have a bye week.

Carolina and Tampa Bay still have two games to play against each other, in Week 16 and Week 18, so Mayfield will be hoping that he is closer to 100% for both of those contests. Until then, he was close enough to himself to get a win on Sunday and will now get back to work getting healthier before Week 14 gets going.