Bucs QB Baker Mayfield 'sore' from knee injury, but says he'll be available for 'TNF' game vs. Bills

Baker Mayfield said there is effectively nothing to see here regarding his knee injury. Even though it forced him to miss Monday's walkthrough, and he showed up as limited on Tuesday's injury report, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback said it won't impact his availability for Thursday.

The Bucs are on a short week as they play the Buffalo Bills for "Thursday Night Football," and will travel to Upstate New York after Tuesday's practice session. Mayfield, who wore a sleeve on his left leg, spoke with the media and told reporters his injury is something he's been dealing with.

“Yesterday, it was pretty sore," Mayfield said. "Just re-aggravated what I had against the [New Orleans] Saints.”

Since that 26-9 win in New Orleans in Week 4, Tampa Bay had its bye week and has gone 0-2. Mayfield has thrown four touchdowns and three interceptions during that stretch.

This nagging knee injury is coming at a time when the Bucs are admitting to themselves that they're not a run-first team anymore and will be relying on Mayfield's arm more.

"We're kind of learning that we're not going to be a run-first team, but we're still going to do it when we need to," Mayfield acknowledged. "Those are the times we have to be targeting the right spots, everybody's got to have a hat on a hat and get the job done."

After losing 16-13 to the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, Tampa Bay is now in second place in the NFC South.