Bucs' Egbuka reacts to fiery Mayfield, Bowles comments

Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Emeka Egbuka. Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

Buccaneers' Emeka Egbuka reacts to fiery Baker Mayfield, Todd Bowles comments

By Zac Wassink | Last updated Nov 13, 2025 1:15 PM ET

After the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' 28-23 home loss to the New England Patriots on Sunday, quarterback Baker Mayfield publicly stated that he felt the Tampa Bay offense lacked a "killer instinct" at Raymond James Stadium.

Head coach Todd Bowles later agreed with Mayfield's assessment. While speaking with reporters on Wednesday, Tampa Bay rookie wide receiver Emeka Egbuka was asked about Mayfield's comments.

Buccaneers don't have "divas" who will react negatively to Baker Mayfield comments

"We don't have too many divas in this locker room who think they're above the law or anything like that," Egbuka said, per the Buccaneers' website. "We know everyone has to do their one-eleventh, whoever is on the field. People took great accountability, came in [Wednesday], and had a focused, locked-in session. [We] just have to continue stacking days throughout the week to fix everything that we need to fix before Sunday's kickoff."

The Patriots seemed to have more energy, outscoring the Buccaneers 21-3 before the hosts tallied their second touchdown of the contest, cutting New England's lead to 21-16. However, neither team managed to score throughout the fourth quarter before New England's TreVeyon Henderson iced the game away with a lengthy touchdown run:

TREVEYON ICES IT

NEvsTB on CBS/Paramount+https://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/9StEyeQPMR
— NFL (@NFL) November 9, 2025

Why Baker Mayfield wanted to "speak up" after loss to Patriots

Mayfield clearly wasn't pleased with the Buccaneers' energy coming off their Week 9 bye. On Wednesday, he was asked why he felt the need to speak up after a loss to a club that improved to 8-2.

"There's definitely a time and place for team speeches — whatever you want to call it — or calling people out, whatever it is. There is a time and place, and for us offensively, that wasn't up to our standards," Mayfield explained. "Our leaders have to be exceptional in those moments, and everybody else has to do their role, their job, whatever that is, at a very high level. That's the NFL; it's professional football. We expect people to do their job at a high level. Nobody is perfect, but when it's things you've consistently seen on tape and we've executed, you expect them to do it well."

The 6-3 Buccaneers will need to do their jobs "at a high level" when they play the Buffalo Bills (6-3) this Sunday. As of Thursday afternoon, ESPN BET had Tampa Bay as a 5.5-point road underdog.

Zac Wassink

Zac Wassink is a longtime sports news writer and PFWA member who began his career in 2006 and has had his work featured on Yardbarker, MSN, Yahoo Sports and Bleacher Report. He is also a football and futbol aficionado who is probably yelling about Tottenham Hotspur at the moment and who chanted for Matt Harvey to start the ninth inning of Game 5 of the 2015 World Series at Citi Field. You can find him on X at @ZacWassink

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