Mayfield Is Putting The Weight On His Own Shoulders
Jan 7, 2024; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield (6) greets fans after the second half against the Carolina Panthers at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports
Throughout the 2023 season, Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield has put together the best run of his six-year career and it propelled the Bucs to an NFC South title and a first-round playoff matchup with the defending NFC champions.
Despite the amount of success that Mayfield, and the Buccaneers’ offense, have had this year, the season has been full of ups and downs. They started hot with a 3-1 record before losing six of their next seven. Then, they finished the season winning five of six.
Whatever it took, the Buccaneers got the job done. Now as they get set to face the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday at Lincoln Financial Field, Mayfield wants his offense to be firing on all cylinders and he says it starts under center.
“A lot of it starts with me, I’ll be honest. Taking the easy completions, taking the things that are there to put us in position where Dave [Canales] can call the plays that he wants to,” Mayfield said. “Just, overall execution when it comes to little fundamental things that we were doing really well for a couple of weeks in a row – getting back to that and making sure we’re doing those right, helping our defense out and letting them get a little bit more break on the sideline and go from there.”
During Tampa Bay’s rough stretch earlier this season, Mayfield threw an interception in five of the seven games and fumbled the ball six times during that same stretch. He also was sacked 22 times, including a season-high six times during a 27-20 loss to Indianapolis. While Mayfield threw for over 200 yards in six of those seven games, the offense wasn’t running efficiently as they only scored 20 or more points in three of the four games and have reverted back to that over the past two weeks with scoring totals of 13 and nine.
For Mayfield, he said they need to focus on a few different things as he highlighted staying ahead of the chains, and taking what defenses give him.
“For me, it goes back to how can we just move the chains? When we have our shots, take them, but stay ahead of the chains – especially against a team like this that has a great front,” Mayfield said. “They’re aggressive and it allows the secondary to play aggressively, as well. Staying ahead of the chains, for me, which is taking the easy completions – which I definitely need to improve on from the past couple of weeks. We’ll go from there.”
While the Eagles display an aggressive front, Tampa Bay’s last two opponents, New Orleans and Carolina, have provided a similar challenge. The Panthers were able to put pressure on Mayfield this past Sunday, limiting him to just 37 passing yards and no touchdowns, while sacking him three times. Then, two weeks ago, the Saints picked off Mayfield twice and sacked him twice while holding the offense to 57 total rushing yards.
Mayfield sees similarities between the defenses heading into Monday’s matchup and wants to see if they can get back to running the ball, which provided them with offensive opportunities throughout the season.
“Between the Saints game and the Carolina game, their fronts are really good against the rush,” Mayfield said. “We ran the ball when we needed to with six minutes left in the game (against Carolina). That’s big-time. We’ve just got to get going early and start fast, where we can mix up our different plays.”
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