Receiver Jalen McMillan and tight end Cade Otton celebrate McMillan’s late touchdown Sunday.

Welcome to Victory Monday! That’s three in a row. Joe feels spoiled. So, let’s get after it. Hope you are caffeinated.

First Place Bucs

Alright, get used to it Bucs fans: First place Bucs! That is a very good thing in the month of December. But how long will it last?

The Bucs are a game ahead of the choking Dixie Chicks with four games to go. Next week the Bucs travel to Los Angeles to play the Chargers while Atlanta flies to Vegas to play the rotten Raiders.

Both the Bucs and the Dixie Chicks each play only one more decent team. The Bucs play the Chargers; the Dixie Chicks play the Commandos in two weeks.

The way Joe looks at it, this is a race to 10.

Of course, last night Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert got hurt and suffered a contusion in a loss to the Chiefs, so who knows what condition he will be in.

From here on out, it’s the Super Bowl each week.

Time To Get Baker Mayfield Right

Baker Mayfield is one of the better quarterbacks in the league and is one of the better stories in the league.

Yet he is still human.

Mayfield is on an ugly streak the past two games against terrible teams, Carolina and Las Vegas. He’s thrown four picks in those games.

Joe sort of dismisses one interception from the Carolina game. Joe still blames Bucs coaches for putting Mayfield in the game straight from the peep show tent — after he sat out two plays injured — and then having him pass on third-and-one.

Common sense tells you not to put a quarterback in a situation like that and ask him to throw right after he got hurt. Naturally, Mayfield threw a pick.

Very different story yesterday on Mayfield’s picks. The Raiders came after him and the Bucs’ offensive line struggled for a few series in the middle of the game, perhaps for the first time in weeks, maybe months.

Put any quarterback under steady pressure and he’s going to make mistakes. So to Joe, this is somewhat easily fixable.

Mayfield had a three-game spurt in October when he threw seven picks and the Bucs went 1-2. The Bucs blew out New Orleans despite Mayfield throwing three picks. The two losses were the curb-stomping to Baltimore and a one-score painful loss to Atlanta.

Now with so much at stake, Mayfield’s picks will be magnified. So if he’s now in a funk like he was back in October, it’s best to find a quicker way to get him right.

Injuries Mount

The best way for a team to have playoff hopes Pearl Harbored is injuries. And boy, injuries are hitting the Bucs hard now.

Bucs fans are holding their breath waiting on tests on Antoine Winfield’s knee. His fellow starting safety Jordan Whitehead is on injured reserve for at least the next three games, and it is uncertain if Whitehead can be ready for the regular season finale at home against the Slimy Saints.

The injuries do not stop there.

Inside linebacker is a joke. Outside of Lavonte David, the Bucs have practice squad dudes.

It still cracks Joe up that this Vi Jones has been with the Bucs since late last year and just now (out of necessity) Bucs coach Todd Bowles has stopped saying Jones isn’t ready to play.

Joe doesn’t ever recall hearing of a non-rookie linebacker signed by a team and nearly a year later, the guy is finally deemed ready to play. There were times yesterday when there was no question Jones was still not ready.

If David goes down, Joe has a terrible feeling so too will the Bucs go down. That would mean the Bucs would be without their starting safeties and inside linebackers — four starters! — if Winfield can’t recover quickly.

That’s not something Joe wants to think about.

Rachaad White Turning Into A Tough Runner

Yesterday may be a turning point in Rachaad White’s career. Joe used to go nuts when Bucs’ play-callers would run up the middle with White because he was such an ineffective back between the tackles.

But has White transformed before our very eyes? He’s even looking like a slightly reliable fullback at times. Yesterday, White was able to fight his way for two or three yards right into the hornet’s nest.

Joe was impressed because those were tough running yards to gain. Yet White did it. Those runs took work, guts, hustle and physicality.

With his two touchdowns yesterday, one receiving and another running (a career first in one game) White joined select company.

San Francisco’s Christian McCaffrey and White are the only two players to have at least 10 rushing and at least 10 receiving touchdowns since the start of the 2022 season.

That impresses Joe.

Bucs Really Missed Tykee Smith

Bucs rookie nickel corner Tykee Smith had missed the past three games with a bum knee. He says he ran into a teammate at practice and bumped knees.

Several days after the injury, Todd Bowles said Smith “aggravated” the knee but Bowles was not specific.

Yesterday, Smith was given the green light and he made a huge play in the red zone, picking off an Aidan O’Connell pass intended for All-World rookie tight end Brown Bowers late in the third quarter with the Raiders driving to take the lead.

Bowles raved about Smith after the game. And Bowles sure sounded as if Smith was just what the doctor ordered, especially with all the injuries to the safeties.

Joe suspects if the Bucs make the playoffs, Smith will have made an impact play or two, on top of the ones he already has.

INTERCEPTED BY @TykSmith 🙌

📺: #LVvsTB on CBS pic.twitter.com/9si8lQTfMe

— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) December 8, 2024