Baker Mayfield backed away briefly before tucking the ball in and charging forward.
He zigzagged to the right and zigzagged to the left, holding off the Detroit Lions’ tackles just long enough to fall into the end zone.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers took a 20-16 lead they wouldn’t relinquish with 34 seconds left, avenging their divisional playoff loss eight months earlier as they improved to 2-0.
The series of events that allowed Tampa Bay to make the playoffs last season and outlast a good Lions team early in this one was unexpected.
First, there was Mayfield’s hit on the quarterback’s 11-yard play. Buccaneers quarterbacks coach Thad Lewis criticized Mayfield for what he saw as a leaner, more athletic frame than last year.
“I said, ‘Big Bake last year couldn’t have scored with that,’” Lewis told Yahoo Sports. “But Slim Bake might.”
Then there was the passing game that had demanded enough respect from the Lions defense to set up the tie.
The Lions prepared for Mayfield fresh off a season opener in which he threw for 289 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions.
Even the Buccaneers, who face the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday Night Football, didn’t see this coming 13 months ago, when at the end of 2023 training camp, Mayfield was the last starter in the league still in a quarterback battle heading into the season.
The career resurgence of the 2018 No. 1 overall draft pick has captivated teams around the league as they try to understand the latest data from a science known to be inexact. Teams spend many hours researching the best players, with their quarterback analyzes arguably the most difficult, as they attempt to project not only physical characteristics, but also the processing and decision-making that influence quarterbacks more. than any other position.
When top draft picks go extinct, teams are reeling from the missed dart. When these same actors then succeed elsewhere, a whole new level of questions arises.
As quarterbacks like Mayfield find stability later in their careers, Yahoo Sports decided to figure out: What can teams get out of this? How much blame should fall on a player and how much should the franchise fall?
At least some voices around the league don’t believe Mayfield’s resurgence would have happened in Cleveland.
“It would be great to say, because he’s playing well now,” an NFC executive who scouted Mayfield told Yahoo Sports. “But…I don’t think Baker would have the success he has now. Sometimes players need one or more fresh starts.
“This is his fourth team, so clearly a change of scenery has been necessary on several occasions.”
While Baker learned to dance, the Bucs returned to dancing
During the pre-draft process in 2018, talent evaluators coveted Mayfield’s arm strength and consistent scrambling threat. They valued his accuracy outside of the numbers, with some also praising his ability to make throws in tight windows.
The Heisman Trophy winner was productive in college and a winner.
He arrived on a talented Cleveland Browns offensive unit featuring an upper-echelon offensive line and talented players, including Jarvis Landry, Nick Chubb and David Njoku. Mayfield led the Browns to the playoffs with a 2020 season that included 26 touchdowns and eight interceptions, but was largely inconsistent over a four-year span. Add immaturity off the field and in his calculation of risk-taking on the field, as well as a torn labrum that hampered his effectiveness in 2021, and the Browns traded Mayfield to the Carolina Panthers in 2022.
“He was frantic in the pocket and that showed in his release as well,” the NFC official said. “He used to force the ball a lot, especially deep balls and then over the deep middle, which caused a lot of interceptions.
“He’s become more disciplined in terms of pocket awareness and strengths.”
The executive looks back now and believes Mayfield has a much better handle on his strengths and weaknesses in Year 7 than he did in his first four years of his career. Improving footwork is arguably his biggest leap.
Mayfield joined Tampa Bay in 2023 after a season split between the Panthers and Los Angeles Rams. He had played in 10 total games the year before, but the twice-relocated quarterback returning from shoulder surgery (non-throwing) won only two of those games, throwing 10 touchdowns to eight interceptions. and averaged a career-low 180.3. yards per game.
So he came to the Bucs with plenty of experience and a resolve to streamline mixed bag production. Mayfield and Lewis had an honest conversation about his footwork: Mayfield moved at a speed more suited to a college offense than the NFL, where route concepts can take longer to develop. He wasn’t always up to the task of dancing necessary to pass accurately as a pro.
“When his feet are bad, they tell me, ‘Hey man, I know you drive a Bronco, but I need you to be smooth like a Mercedes right now,'” Lewis said. “So he knows, ‘OK, I’m moving a little too fast. I’m a little too jerky. Let me ease my pace and then, boom.’
In Mayfield’s Week 4 game, the results showed up again. The Buccaneers had studied the Eagles’ defensive tendency to play deep, understanding that short and intermediate routes should open up accordingly. Mayfield released the ball in an average of 2.22 seconds, with his 2.44-second average this season being the fastest of his career and the second-fastest in the league, according to Next Gen Stats.
The result: Mayfield threw for 237 yards and two touchdowns in the first half alone, with “Slim Bake” scoring on another quarterback play for his third touchdown as the Buccaneers took a 24-0 lead before halftime against an Eagles team that Vegas had favored. The Buccaneers eventually improved to 3-1 with a 33-16 upset.
“Baker is one of the best dual-threat quarterbacks in the league,” said Bucs five-time Pro Bowl receiver Mike Evans. “He was making plays in the pocket, outside the pocket, extending plays.
“It’s really hard to game plan for him because he can do everything.”
What’s next for Baker Mayfield, Bucs?
The Denver Broncos, arguably, have game-planned the most effectively for Mayfield this season.
Denver saw how depleted the Buccaneers offensive line was and exploited the vulnerability, making sure Mayfield couldn’t get comfortable in the pocket as he absorbed seven sacks and nine total hits.
“If you can disrupt his rhythm and his ability to get in sync with him and his wide receivers, you have a really good chance with him,” one AFC scout said. “Once he gets in that zone, then he can do whatever he wants, he starts making the harder throws and he makes them more frequently and that’s just his rhythm.
“Once it gets going, it’s hard to stop it.”
Defenses are sure to challenge Mayfield in the coming weeks, with the Falcons’ revamped defense coming for him Thursday night ahead of matchups with the Baltimore Ravens, Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers in the span of a month.
But the Buccaneers and league evaluators believe Mayfield has found the right recipe to continue performing at the best level of his career.
They don’t think his career-high 106.9 passer rating is a fluke, with Mayfield completing a career-best 70.5% of passes for eight touchdowns and two interceptions in addition to his two rushing touchdowns the first month.
Offensive coordinator Liam Cohen’s Sean McVay-style offense caters to Mayfield’s strengths, said an AFC defensive assistant who coached in several of Mayfield’s career games. The assistant emphasized the emphasis on running, play passes, kickoff legs and back passes with progression reads.
Mayfield makes decisions that can be described as somewhere between safer and smarter, listening to coaches’ imperatives that downfield shots are A option but not always THE option.
“If you have to make the perfect throw, you make the wrong throw,” Lewis told Mayfield. “So check it out, live to see another one, understand decision making first and second. »
The Buccaneers are reaping the rewards of Mayfield’s personal and professional growth since entering the league, and the gambles they took in signing him in 2023, then extending him to a mid-range contract before the arrival of a new offensive coordinator, are bearing fruit.
It’s a win for Tampa and “good for the game,” the NFC executive said.
This might never have happened if Mayfield had stayed with the Browns, even though they struggle with Deshaun Watson’s 28th-ranked passer rating while Mayfield thrives away from his first home.
“It’s no different from a personal life with relationships,” the NFC executive said. “If you’re dating someone, they may not be the same person in this relationship as they are in the next.”
The Buccaneers know who they want Mayfield to be: himself.
He’s not trying to be his predecessor Tom Brady, with Mayfield sparking some anger after saying the seven-time Super Bowl champion’s leadership style left his locker room “on edge” and “stressed.”
Brady responded on last weekend’s Bucs show by saying he thought winning the Super Bowl was fun — and yet the 14-0 advantage the Bucs held over the Eagles while Brady was speaking sent the message: Mayfield’s colorful personality can also bring victory.
He’s no longer fighting for respect as his own team’s starting quarterback — and he’s no longer fighting for respect across the league.
“Last year he was in a proving situation,” Lewis said. “It’s more: ‘I’m going to show that it’s not a coincidence that I belong.’ He shows he belongs at that high level of quarterback.
“He’s not where he could be yet, but he’s definitely working there.”
