BEREA, Ohio -- Baker Mayfield is still searching for answers and aiming to rebound from his 38-14 loss to the Chargers.

"That's the worst loss that I've ever had,'' Mayfield said Wednesday as he prepared to face the 2-3 Bucs on Sunday in Tampa. "You have to push forward and just have to do your job, and you'll find out what this team is made of.''

His worst loss mathematically or emotionally?

"Mathematically, which I think goes hand in hand with emotionally,'' he said. "Just did not play well, plain and simple. No way around it. It was not fun."

Actually, the 24-point margin of defeat was the second-worst of Mayfield's career dating back to his days at Lake Travis High School in Austin, Texas, where he went 24-2 as a starter.

His worst was a 63-34 loss to Baylor when he played for Texas Tech in 2013. In that game, Mayfield threw for 314 yards and four TDs against one interception. But he lost very few games after that, finishing 5-2 at Texas Tech and 33-6 at Oklahoma. So dealing with a loss is tough enough, but dealing with a thorough beatdown is uncharted territory.

Mayfield admitted the last time he left a game feeling like that was "against Nick Chubb [in Oklahoma's loss to Georgia in the 2018 Rose Bowl]" that prevented him from playing for the national championship.

In the worst of his four appearances, Mayfield was 22-of-46 for 238 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. He was also sacked five times.

"Just lack of execution,'' he said. "We've been trying to answer those questions of why it happened. I think we practiced well. I think that I was more than enough prepared. The coaches had me ready. It was just on my part. It was up to me, nobody else."

Coach Hue Jackson expects his rookie to rebound against the Bucs, who are last in the NFL in points allowed and fired defensive coordinator Mike Smith this week.

"Quarterbacks might as well start on their knees because they're going to be brought to their knees in this league,'' Jackson said. "He has to bounce back and you bounce back in a good way, you lead this team to victory this week - it's what you do. Everything we're doing and everything that we are trying to accomplish is leading to that.''

Mayfield, 1-1-1 as the Browns' starter, is 32nd in the NFL with a 72.8 QB rating, one notch ahead of Tyrod Taylor. He's 31st with a 55.6 completion percentage and tied for 31st with only four TD passes. He's 35th in fourth-quarter passing with a 63.0 rating.

"I'm hard on myself, but it's not 'the world is ending' mentality,'' he said. "I can rely on these players that I have in this locker room. I don't have to do it by myself. ... I can rely on them, push them and let them know that I'm going to do my job better and that we are going to make strides forward."

Mayfield refused to use his tweaked left ankle as an excuse, and he's not listed on the injury report. He slipped on the first-down marker in the first quarter and never really seemed himself after that. He admitted he waited until a later sack to go to the medical tent out of stubbornness.

He said it didn't limit his ability to slip out of the pocket.

"No, I don't think so,'' he said. "They did a good job of when they were pushing me up in the pocket, they closed up the lanes to run through. Kudos to them for doing their job.

"At the same time, if I get the ball out of my hands, then none of that really matters."

Most of time, it looked like Mayfield had nowhere to go. With the Browns down to three healthy receivers in Jarvis Landry and rookies Antonio Callaway and Damion Ratley, the Chargers doubled Landry and took him out of the game. Callaway dropped a couple of passes and Ratley dropped one at the goal line.

Mayfield insisted that being hemmed in shouldn't break him, and that he can throw effectively from the pocket even behind redwood-sized linemen.

"Yes, that's what I did in college,'' he said. "When a play breaks down, yeah, I've been blessed with the ability to make plays. When it comes down to it, I was not drafted here to run around and do things with my feet. I'm not fast, so I have to be able to throw from the pocket."

Jackson agreed that Mayfield can be effective in the pocket.

"No doubt, and that's up to us as a coaching staff to help him,'' he said.

It's not helping matters that the Browns are receiver-challenged and trying to break in former Ravens' 2015 first-round pick Breshad Perriman, who practiced with the team for the first time on Wednesday.

So what's a QB to do when he scans the field and nothing's there?

"It's a combination of everything," Jackson said. "We have to get open. Sometimes, he just has to say 'Uncle' and throw it away. You have to understand situational football and get better in that way. The best place to learn is under fire. At the same time, we have to create separation so that he feels comfortable delivering the ball."

Jackson agreed Mayfield has to hit his check downs, but "as I said to our line coaches, we have to fight harder and longer, too. We have to make sure that we give up ground grudgingly for this young man.

"He's been hit way too much in my mind. We have to do everything that we can to keep the other team's defensive line, linebackers and safeties off of our quarterback, and then he has to get the ball out of his hand. I've seen some things where he can improve, but I have seen some things where the unit can improve more than anything."

Mayfield has connected with Landry on only 11 of 29 targets. Teams are rolling coverage to Landry.

"I will just be better for him, plain and simple,'' said Mayfield. "I wasn't the accurate quarterback that they drafted me to be so I'll fix that. On Jarvis' end, he's doing his job so I have to do mine."

Mayfield's bad game did nothing to diminish him in the eye of Bucs coach Dirk Koetter.

"This guy's a really good football player,'' he said. "Just my eye, I'd say he's more like (Saints QB) Drew Brees in our division, a guy who might not have ideal height but he can really spin it out of the pocket. ... He gets the ball out quick and definitely has an energy about him that that team has responded to."

In Tampa, Mayfield will be tasked with keeping pace with the NFL's No.1 pass offense, which is eighth in points scored. But center JC Tretter is ailing with an ankle injury. Can they keep pace?

"We have to,'' said Jackson. "They know how to score. They have guys that can score. We have guys that can score. We have to keep putting them into position to score. Whatever it takes to win the football game, we have to be willing as a football team to do.''