TAMPA, Fla. — The Buccaneers' confidence was high after a 3-1 start to the season. Now, Tampa Bay is in a sour mood since its Week 5 bye.
The Bucs have lost their last two games, but none was more disappointing than Sunday's outing against the Atlanta Falcons.
That 19-16 defeat to their rivals removed Tampa Bay from the top spot of the NFC South division.
It was a game in which Atlanta seemed to give Tampa Bay every opportunity to take the victory.
After Tuesday's practice, some players admitted the days after that loss have been gut-wrenching, but safety Antoine Winfield Jr. – who's usually not known for being vocal – said he felt the need to lift the team's morale.
"We got to close games out and play better," he said of his message to the team after Sunday's loss. "We're all trying to win here. [But now it's] onto the next one. We're preparing for Buffalo. Our mindset is to go out there and put up our best performance," he said.
Winfield Jr. had himself one heck of a game against the Falcons.
His eagerness to never give up on a play led to preventing two Atlanta touchdowns.
On the first occasion, Falcons wide receiver Drake London caught a pass and was on his way to the end zone, but a tackle from Winfield forced the football out of London's hands and the ball went out on the 1-yard line. Atlanta quarterback Desmond Ridder fumbled the snap on the next play and Tampa Bay recovered.
Winfield forced Ridder to fumble on the second occasion. As Ridder was running into the end zone, Winfield punched the football out of the quarterback's arm just before he could score. The fumble went through the end zone, resulting in a touchback.
"I was just trying to push [Ridder] out of bounds, and I saw the ball and I had a perfect opportunity to try to come in and punch it out," he said. "I got it in the nick of time."
These kinds of plays are impressive against any opponent in the NFL, but with a quick turnaround on Thursday, the 25-year-old is going to have his hands full with Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs.
Despite a 4-3 record, the Buffalo Bills are still one of the best teams in the league and are favored to make a deep run in the playoffs.
The Bills have skilled players on both sides of the ball, but from Winfield's perspective, the dual-threat abilities of Allen and Diggs' playmaking attributes pose a strong challenge for the entire Bucs defense.
It also doesn't help that Buffalo is the third-highest-scoring team in the NFL.
"It's always tough playing against dual-threat quarterbacks," Winfield said. "[Those] guys can run, extend plays. He's good, he has weapons everywhere. Going into this game, we know he has skill and he has skill around him.
"We got to do our best to contain him in the pocket and also make plays on our end."
The feeling is mutual for head coach Todd Bowles.
“[The Bils are] high-powered. They have a lot of talent," he said. "If we take care of ourselves, we will go up and play a good ballgame.”
Although Winfield has certainly been doing his part to help the defense, it's fair to say the unit has been struggling in critical situations so far this season.
Tampa Bay has the worst third-down stoppage rate in the NFL and gave up a big play in the last minute of the game against the Falcons, helping them set up for the eventual game-winning field goal kick.
“It’s not a good place to be. We gave up a few more third-and-longs than we wanted to. It’s either third-and-long or third-and-1," Bowles said. "You know, third-and-1 is not a good percentage for us. Third-and-long, you think is a good percentage for us. We’ve been out of position here and there and they made a play or two.
"We’ll get better at that, and I don’t expect to finish last there. We’re working at that every day, and we are going to make some improvements there.”
But just like Winfield, Bowles expects his team to bounce back, even against a team as potent as the Bills.
“I think they’ll rise up and respond. This is a tough group in there, they have each other’s back," he said. "We win together, we lose together. We have a short memory. We’ve got a game to play on Thursday, and we are getting ready for it. I think they’ll respond [well].”
Issues also linger on the other side of the ball for the Bucs.
Quarterback Baker Mayfield admitted the team has not been efficient in the run game.
The sooner that part of the attack is improved, the better it'll help the offense reach its full potential, according to Mayfield.
“We’re kind of learning that we’re not going to be a run-first team, but we’re still going to do it when we need to. Those are the times that we have to be targeting the right spots and just get the job done when we need to. When it comes down to it, it’s just execution. Whatever play is called we just have to find a way to make it work.”
Thursday night will mark the third primetime game for Tampa Bay and the fourth for Buffalo. The Bucs are currently winless in those games, whereas the Bills are 1-2.
Kickoff is scheduled at 8:15 p.m. Fans can watch the game through Amazon Prime Video.