Bucs' Baker Mayfield on Loss to Bills: 'Losing 3 in a Row Sucks...No Way Around That'

Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield expressed frustration over the Bucs' recent slide following their 24-18 road loss to the Buffalo Bills on Thursday night.

According to Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, Mayfield lamented the team's struggles but also tried to accentuate some positives, saying: "Losing three in a row sucks. There's no way around that. ... But we showed fight tonight. That's the one thing we can hang our hats on. We gave it everything we had late there, but we've got to play better early on. You can't hurt yourselves."

Tampa started the season 3-1 with wins over the Minnesota Vikings, Chicago Bears and New Orleans Saints, but have since lost three consecutive games, dropping their record to 3-4.

On Thursday, Tampa faced a desperate Bills team coming off an upset road loss to the New England Patriots in Week 7.

The Buccaneers struggled to stop Bills quarterback Josh Allen, who threw for 324 yards, two touchdowns and one interception on 31-of-40 passing and also rushed for 41 yards and a score on seven carries.

Tampa Bay also played from behind for most of the game, as they fell behind 10-0 early, trailed 17-10 at halftime and were down 24-10 until late in the fourth quarter.

Speaking to the Bucs' official website, Mayfield bemoaned the team's discipline issues, especially early in the game, saying:

"We shot ourselves in the foot early on with some penalties at some misopportune times. That continues to be a problem so we need to get that fixed. But the good thing about tonight was the fight, the resilience to be able to come back and the determination that we're never out of the fight. We can work with that. We can get these things fixed and move forward."

Mayfield had a solid individual performance Thursday, going 25-of-42 for 237 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions, although the star wide receiver duo of Mike Evans and Chris Godwin had just 93 yards collectively, as Mayfield was often forced to check it down to his running backs and tight ends.

The saving grace for Mayfield and the Bucs is the fact that they play in arguably the NFL's weakest division, as they trail the Atlanta Falcons by just one game for the NFC South lead.

With legendary quarterback Tom Brady at the helm, the Bucs reached the playoffs in three consecutive years, won the NFC South twice and won a Super Bowl.

Mayfield has had the unenviable task of replacing a future Hall of Famer, and it has come with plenty of ups and downs.

Although the Buccaneers won the division last season, they went just 8-9, and they are trending toward a similar record this season.

To credit Mayfield, he has been far from the team's biggest issue, as he is completing 64.2 percent of his passes for 1,600 yards, 10 touchdowns and four picks.

Mayfield and the Bucs should have a chance to bounce back over the next couple of weeks, as they face the 3-3 Houston Texans on the road in Week 9, followed by a home date with the 2-4 Tennessee Titans in Week 10.