From the beginning, it just didn’t seem like it was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ day.

Baker Mayfield and the offense was having issues with the headset communication to the point where Mayfield had to swap out helmets within the first three plays, causing some chaos, but nothing compared to the four turnovers that would eventually consume the team in the 33-27 loss.

As we all know, losing the turnover battle is the quickest way to lose a football game, regardless of the level of competition. The Buccaneers committed four turnovers to the Bengals’ one and all four of Tampa Bay’s mistakes led to points on the board for Cincinnati.

The key aspect regarding the Buccaneers’ turnovers was the nature of how they occurred. All four were the result of Bucs players trying to do too much: Poor ball security from Mayfield (and a blown assignment by Luke Goedeke) led to a strip-sack that was returned for six points. Bucky Irving was trying way too hard to gain a few extra yards on a 3rd and 14. Mayfield, again, didn’t take care of the ball as he escaped pressure and tried to get into the end zone.

And lastly, Mayfield held onto the ball way too long trying to make a play on a 1st and 15.

“Well, obviously you can’t turn the ball over,” Todd Bowles told reporters after the game. “… We had four turnovers. We lose by one touchdown, but it wasn’t just that. You know, we had some penalties and some false starts there. Defensively, I’d be interested to know how many tackles we missed. We missed some chip shot tackles to get the ball back at the end to give our offense a chance.

“The sad part is we didn’t punt. It was either turnover or points, and you know we can’t turn it over. So against a team like that, and they got very good players, and they coach very well. We didn’t help ourselves.”

Sure, you always want to be aggressive and make a play, but there’s also a necessary component of doing that responsibly, so to speak. And the Buccaneers didn’t do that.

“This one falls on me,” said Mayfield. “I mean, they had I think 17 points alone off my turnovers. Turns out to be a one-score game, six points. So it’s offensively, that’s frustrating when you do something like that when you’re moving the ball up and down the field. But if we get that fixed, I get that fixed, and make those corrections, and we’ll be all right.”

The good news is they are mistakes that can be corrected and there’s little reason to think they can’t correct them. Unfortunately, however, only time will tell.

Josiah Trotter’s historical debut is the biggest bright spot of the Buccaneers’ loss to the Bengals

It wasn’t all bad on Sunday and the biggest bright spot of the game (on the Bucs’ side of things) was easily Josiah Trotter’s performance.

The second-round rookie was literally everywhere. He finished the game with 10 total tackles, a pick-six, a sack, two tackles for loss, a quarterback hit, and a pass break-up. He even had a nice special teams tackle on one of the Bengals’ kick returns.

Per ESPN’s Jenna Laine, Trotter is the first rookie with a pick-six and a sack in his NFL debut since sacks became an official stat in 1982. Per Buccaneers Communications, Trotter’s seven tackles at one point tied Bucs legend Derrick Brooks and former third-rounder Mason Foster for the most tackles in a Week 1 debut since tackles became officially tracked in 1995.

That kind of play is exactly what the Buccaneers need at the inside linebacker position and hopefully Trotter can continue to provide those kind of impact plays as the season goes on.

While it was a frustrating loss, it’s only Week 1. The Buccaneers still have plenty of time to adjust and learn from the mistakes that cost them this game and next week’s game against the Cleveland Browns is a great starting point.