Buccaneers 37, Texans 39
Q. Baker, you win as a team and you lose as a team. When you score with 49 seconds there, did you imagine your defense could give that up in the last half minute?
BAKER MAYFIELD: No. I mean, you trust everybody that we got out there. Still comes down to little things, doing your job at every snap, every play.
So there were a few time there on offense today where we didn't do that, so we had to have some longer field goals. Obviously Chase was perfect today, so that was good.
But we should have been in better positions to go in the red zone and score more touchdowns. There was improvement in the run game, but just wasn't good enough. It's a team sport. It's the greatest team sport on earth, and like you said, you win as a team and you lose as a team.
Q. How frustrating is it for you right now with the talent this team has on its roster on all sides of the ball?
BAKER MAYFIELD: Just frustrating to lose, to be honest with you. I mean, talent doesn't mean anything if you don't do your job and execute. So just frustrating to lose. Like I said, there was some improvement in the right direction today, but shit hurts.
Q. You hadn't done a whole lot in the second half really. You did come back with a touchdown drive obviously.
BAKER MAYFIELD: Yep.
Q. What was sort of happening? Didn't seem like you were being very aggressive to start that half. Had like nine yards passing until that last drive.
BAKER MAYFIELD: Yeah. Just didn't get into a rhythm. They did a good job having some pressures on and, yeah, they played better in the second half coming out. I made some adjustments, but we just got to keep the rhythm going.
We were running the ball well. Got to continue to do that and improve on that and see where it takes us. Still a lot of ball left. Still have a ton of faith in this team. This is not me getting my head down. I'm frustrated to say the least. I hate losing.
So we have to learn from this tape and move forward and see how we can help this team win.
Q. How does this team avoid a crisis of confidence when you start losing multiple games in a row?
BAKER MAYFIELD: Look at exactly how you're losing. It comes down to little things, lack of execution, not doing your job, whatever it may be, and when we watch the film here after this game and point to that, we'll get it fixed.
So it can't be about the fact that we're not as good as everybody else in the league that we played in the last four games. It's a matter of executing and doing your job at the highest level. Got to watch the tape and come back ready to fix it.
Q. With today's game Mike passes 11,000 career yards receiving.
BAKER MAYFIELD: Wow.
Q. He is one of only 39 to have ever done it. Talk about him and what he means to this team and to you.
BAKER MAYFIELD: Gosh, that's special. Mike is the best I've ever been around. Such a stud. Obviously done it consistently for so long. That's the only way you get to that landmark. That's awesome. So he means everything to this team.
Just his consistent work ethic, how he shows up every day ready to work. He's about his business. Knows how to lead and teach and lead young guys, and that's important. That's a franchise staple that I for sure am not going to take for granted.
He is a special guy and happy to have him around.
Q. I know you had one of those taken from you, but that last big pass play that you had to Mike, seems like kind of got a knack for doing that.
BAKER MAYFIELD: Yeah.
Q. What's it mean that you got a guy like that, with his attributes that shows up in seemingly big moments?
BAKER MAYFIELD: Yeah, to be honest with you, I credit Mike for that last long pass to him. He had run a couple out routes, had some success on those earlier on, and I think he gave the same release.
The safety was there to be ready to double cover him. I think he thought he was going to run the out route. That's why he was flat footed, and Mike ran right by him. He's got an innate ability to run routes, especially at a high level.
Yeah, he's a great player.
Q. Baker, can you take us through the swing of emotion. You hit the deep ball and then the pass to Cade for the touchdown. Feel like you got a win there. Just to see it go away that quickly, how stunning was it for you on the bench?
BAKER MAYFIELD: Yeah, been on both sides of this. You never expect when a team just has that little time to come back and win. It comes back to the critical things and just not celebrating too early on the sideline.
At that point, yeah, we did everything we could at that time period, but just trying to support our guys. Yeah, just kind of takes the breath out of you. I hurt for our guys on defense.
Tell you what, CJ Stroud doesn't look like a rookie to me. He's impressive. Looks like a polished NFL quarterback. Hats off to him. He played extremely, extremely well today.
Q. You're a guy that has never been lacking for confidence, even after tough moments. If any of your teammates do start to have those issues, start doubting themselves, what would be your message to them?
BAKER MAYFIELD: You're here for a reason. You're here for a purpose. Whatever you're going through there is a purpose in it, you know, there is meaning in that, so hold your head high. Trust God's plan. Continue to work. There is ups and downs for a reason. You got to handle adversity right. Move on to the next thing and support your brothers.
Like I said earlier, this is the greatest team sport, so if anybody has trouble on our team, we have a lot of good support guys, support pieces, including staff, players, everybody. Be a shame if somebody got down on themselves.
Q. What would be the message to the team this week?
BAKER MAYFIELD: Just got to find a way to win. Scratch and claw and find a way to win. I'll say this to the offense: We've got to continue to improve on what we did today in running the ball and coming back in the last minute.
We have to be better. Starting out in the second half there coming out with the ball in the first drive and finding a way to score a touchdown instead of a field goal.
For us it's continuing to find way to be more efficient and stay out of some third and longs and find ways to score touchdowns.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports