On Sunday, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers suffered their fourth loss in their last five games with a road defeat at the hands of the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday Night Football. The Buccaneers got behind the eight ball early in this one, and were never able to make it a close game at any point during the contest.
Making matters worse for the Buccaneers was that starting quarterback Baker Mayfield went down with a shoulder injury that forced him to leave the game, and he did not return, ultimately taking in the rest of the contest from the sidelines.
While there has been no definitive word on Mayfield's status moving forward, ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter dropped a slightly encouraging update on Monday.
“Pre MRI, the Buccaneers believe Baker Mayfield suffered a sprained AC joint in his left shoulder, per sources. There was no fracture and no structural damage. One source said the Buccaneers ‘are not ruling out' Mayfield for Sunday’s game vs. the Cardinals. But today’s MRI will tell more,” reported Schefter on X, formerly Twitter.
When Mayfield went out, it was Teddy Bridgewater who came into the game for the Buccaneers, and actually performed relatively well, considering the circumstances.
However, clearly, any chances that Tampa Bay has of making a deep run in this postseason, or even securing a spot in the postseason to begin with, rise and fall with the availability of Mayfield moving forward.
The good news for the Buccaneers is that they are still in first place in the NFC South and seemingly have the most difficult part of their schedule behind them, with several games against non-playoff teams coming up.
Their game against the Cardinals is set to kick off at 1:00 pm ET from Tampa Bay, and fans will certainly hope to have Mayfield in the lineup at that time.
