Buccaneers

Buccaneers QB Baker Mayfield admitted in his post-game press conference that his poor Week 2 outing didn’t weigh on him that he lost to his former team, but that Tampa Bay has now fallen to 0-2 on the season.

“It just stings more because we’re 0-2,” Mayfield said. “Frustrated because it’s close…You can feel it. You can see it. We’re moving the ball at times, and then just shooting ourselves in the foot. So, that makes it more frustrating when you know you’re right there.”

Buccaneers HC Todd Bowles said they’re still optimistic about the season after the slow start to the year.

“Angrily optimistic,” Bowles said, via PFT. “You’re always mad when you lose, and you’re never satisfied that way, but you’re always optimistic for the things that you’ve done well and the next week as well.”

Buccaneers

Buccaneers second-year OLB David Walker recorded his first NFL sack in Week 2’s loss to Cleveland, in just his second professional game after missing his rookie year to a torn ACL. Walker opened up about his journey so far and expressed deep gratitude to be back on the field making plays.

“I knew that the Lord did not bring me this far just to bring me this far and I knew that He had bigger things planned,” Walker said, via the team’s website. “I feel like during the season when I was down and I could not play and I was just around watching the team and the guys, I think he stripped me of an identity that football was my identity at that point and it being taken away, it showed me that there is so much more than football, so now that I am back, I am grateful just to be here and be on the field. I just say, ‘Thank you Lord for another opportunity.’ After practice, ‘Thank you Lord for getting me through this practice,’ when they called me out there on that third down, I just said thank you. Who would have thought two ACL surgeries and now, I am back playing the thing that I love. But it was all because of Him, so I was excited.”

Walker broke down his first-career sack on Browns QB Deshaun Watson to force a field goal.

“Coach called a man play, it was third down and we had a QB spy. We knew that we could win inside or outside, but I took the speed rush approach, and I beat him around the edge and I saw that Deshaun was there and thought, ‘Dang, this might be my opportunity.’ I just made a play.”

Saints

Most coaches want to turn the page on the former season and emphasize that every year is different. Saints HC Kellen Moore decided to zag with his message to the team in 2026, seeking to build upon a strong second half of last season for New Orleans. 

“Last year, trying to carry that through the offseason, I thought was important,” Moore said via Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer. “I thought our guys should feel good about the way last year finished. But every season is different. Every season is going to take its own course. And what I think you’ve seen through the first two weeks is just a really resilient team, and a team that keeps going for it.”

Moore went on to say he’s happy with the performance the Saints have put up so far, coming a two-point conversion short of a 2-0 start against two quality franchises in the Lions and Ravens. 

“Anytime you open a season two games on the road against two teams that I think are going to play a lot of meaningful football down the stretch this year, we look and think about what Detroit’s capable of doing and what Baltimore’s capable of doing, so for us to bring both those games right down the wire, lose one really close and win one, yeah, I think our guys should feel like there’s some good stuff out of that,” Moore said.

“But it’s September football and there’s a lot of stuff you’ve got to clean up and get better at.”