TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Baker Mayfield is playing more like a quarterback trying to justify his contract.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are off to their first 0-2 start since 2014 after making Mayfield the highest-paid player in franchise history.
Mayfield received a $165 million, three-year extension earlier this month and seems to be trying to do too much, leading to mistakes.
Emeka Egbuka had a step on the defender and was open in the end zone for what would’ve been a go-ahead score in the final minute but Mayfield fired a pass out of his reach and the Buccaneers lost 23-19 to the Cleveland Bowns on Sunday.
“Obviously, just gotta trust that ‘Mek’ is going to come out of that break a little slower with conditions and give him some air to run under it,” Mayfield said.
He threw a fade to Ted Hurst earlier in the drive but the rookie couldn’t make the catch in a driving rain.
“Yeah, obviously, not an easy catch,” Mayfield said. “Ted is somebody that I trust, that’s not going to change anything for me going forward, but yeah, tough play. I don’t know, I didn’t get a real good look at it, but I know he had a chance at it. The ball is going to keep coming back to him, going to keep finding him. We just gotta be able to make the plays in the end.”
Mayfield forced a throw in the first half that was picked and turned into three points. He took three sacks, had several negative plays and finished 21 of 34 for 182 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
In Week 1, Mayfield lost three fumbles against the Bengals. He has 28 interceptions and 27 fumbles since 2024.
“It’s shooting ourselves in the foot, not making the plays when we need them, knowing that these are fixable things, but that also makes it more frustrating,” Mayfield said. “(We) just gotta get it corrected. We gotta be hard on ourselves, watch the tape, get those things fixed, flush it and move onto the next. (We have) another home game next week against a good opponent.”
The Minnesota Vikings (2-0) visit Raymond James Stadium this week after shutting down Chicago’s high-powered offense in a 9-3 win.
The Buccaneers are 2-9 since a 6-2 start last season. Coach Todd Bowles was on the hot seat entering the season and it's only getting hotter.
The run game was effective at certain points. The Buccaneers rushed for 137 yards, averaging 5.5 yards per carry. Bucky Irving had 89 yards on 17 carries, including a 38-yard scamper.
The offensive line struggled. The unit allowed three sacks and had critical holding penalties. Two holding calls on third down negated first downs and derailed drives. Another holding penalty on the final drive moved the ball from the Cleveland 13 to the 23 and the Bucs couldn’t overcome it.
OLB David Walker, playing his second game after missing his rookie season, had one sack in nine defensive snaps.
Linebacker Alex Anzalone struggled for the second straight week. The veteran has had a rough time replacing Lavonte David. He’s missed tackles, struggled in coverage and had an unnecessary roughness penalty.
That’s the lone bright spot. The Bucs are healthy for the most part.
16%: Over the past five seasons, that’s the percent of teams that made the playoffs after an 0-2 start.
The Buccaneers host the Vikings in the middle stretch of three straight home games.
See AP’s full NFL coverage here
Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield (6) scrambles for a first down as Cleveland Browns safety Ronnie Hickman (33) defends during the second half of an NFL football game in Tampa, Fla., Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Jason Behnken)
Cleveland Browns defensive tackle Mason Graham (94) sacks Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield (6) during the first half of an NFL football game in Tampa, Fla., Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Jason Behnken)
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are climbing with markets worldwide on Monday after oil prices and yields in the bond market gave back some of their jumps from last week.
The S&P 500 rose 1.5% and pulled within 0.4% of its all-time high set last month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 348 points, or 0.7%, as of 2:20 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 2.2% higher.
They got help from the price for a barrel of Brent oil falling 3.4% to $100.29. While that’s still much higher than its roughly $72 price from earlier this summer, it’s down from the nearly $110 it touched last week.
Oil prices are swinging up and down as some crude from the Middle East is able to sail through the Strait of Hormuz, though nowhere nearly as much as the industry and customers would like because of the war with Iran. Morgan Stanley’s Michael Wilson said another leg higher in prices for oil, gasoline and other refined products is the main risk he sees in the near term that could keep the U.S. stock market from rising to his forecasted target for the year’s end.
The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline across the United States has already climbed to nearly $4.48, according to AAA. That's up from less than $4.32 just a week earlier and from $3.18 a year ago.
Monday’s pullback in oil prices helped lower the pressure coming from the bond market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury eased to 4.97% from 5.01% late Friday after it crossed above the 5% threshold last week for the first time in three years.
Yields have been on the rise because of worries about inflation, big debt loads for governments worldwide and other factors. That hurts the economy because high yields make it more expensive not only for the U.S. government to borrow money to pay its bills but also for households and businesses.
Worries remain about how much oil is available for customers worldwide, ING commodities strategists Ewa Manthey and Warren Patterson wrote in a commentary on Monday. However, they said profit-taking by investors after the recent jump in oil prices, together with hopes for constructive discussions at this week’s U.N. General Assembly and at a meeting between China’s and the United States’ leaders, helped improve optimism.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters following talks Sunday with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in New York that the U.S. had “a very successful engagement” with the Chinese side. Bessent said talks with China touched on trade and AI. China and the United States have been discussing reciprocal tariff reductions on $30 billion worth of goods from each side.
In Beijing, China’s Foreign Ministry on Monday confirmed that Xi Jinping will pay a state visit to the United States between Sept. 23 and 25. Experts and policymakers believe trade, tariffs, and AI safety are likely among the topics to be on the agenda. The war in Iran and developments in the Middle East and ties between China and Iran could also be discussed.
On Wall Street, stocks in the artificial-intelligence industry continued to stabilize following their worldwide slide at the start of last week. Leaders of the AI industry have recently warned a slowdown is needed in the industry’s development for the safety of humanity.
Advanced Micro Devices rallied 8.8% and could finish the day with a total market value above $1 trillion, while Nvidia added 2.2%.
Stocks enmeshed in the cryptocurrency industry, meanwhile, rallied after bitcoin's price rose back above $85,000 and returned to where it was in January. Coinbase Global jumped 4.8%, and Robinhood Markets rose 4.2%.
Skydance-owned Paramount fell 1.6% as it reached a settlement in a lawsuit challenging its buyout of Warner Bros. Discovery, which jumped 10.8%.
Stock indexes around the world also climbed thanks to the easing of oil prices and bond yields. Indexes gained 0.9% in France, 1.2% in Hong Kong and 1.6% in South Korea.
AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Michelle Chapman contributed to this report.
Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Currency traders work near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) in the foreign exchange dealing room at the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Sept. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Currency traders work in the foreign exchange dealing room at the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Sept. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
A screen shows the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) in the foreign exchange dealing room at the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Sept. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
