Baker Mayfield: “Veterans Are Pissed Off And Hungry”
July 15th, 2023
“Hey Wirfs, screw Tom and his media pals.”
Lavonte David called it “togetherness.” Carlton Davis plans to “wreck sh*t.” Rachaad White calls it a collective chip.
Speaking yesterday, Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield had a more direct approach.
The Bucs have a bunch of angry players, per Mayfield on the God Bless Football podcast.
He explained that all the talk of the Bucs being written off because Tom Brady left the building has ignited a fire across the team.
“Obviously, Tom Brady, greatest quarterback of all time; everybody talks about that,” Mayfield bgain. “But that only makes our veterans that were a part of the Super Bowl run even more pissed off and hungry. Because they’re like, ‘Well, we’re a part of it, too.'”
Joe suspects veteran Buccaneers are irked by the team’s miserable 2023 projections because Brady wasn’t very good last season. He wasn’t bad, but no quarterback leading an offense that scores 18 points a game can be labeled better than good.
Once December football arrived last season, Brady threw 11 touchdowns and 7 interceptions through his final six games. So his remaining Super Bowl-era teammates in Tampa likely are insulted that Brady’s perceived value is so high compared to theirs.
Joe loves this new team rallying cry. It’s sort of a cross between ‘Eff Brady’ and ‘Eff the media.’
And Joe suspects Brady is so damn competitive that his former teammates know that he is not rooting for them to have a winning season this year.
July 15th, 2023 at 9:33 pm
Like I said yesterday, not the “Brady Effect” the Bucs FO expected, but perhaps just the effect this team needs.
July 15th, 2023 at 9:34 pm
The only reason they should have a chip? They all played like garbage and got totally embarrassed on national Television. Don’t want to hear any other excuses as to why this or that.
July 15th, 2023 at 9:37 pm
GOATS, who needs em. They are so good they will win the SB with any ole QB. Mayfield, Trask, no matter.
July 15th, 2023 at 9:44 pm
Take the under. There country clubbers are soft.
July 15th, 2023 at 10:02 pm
Brady wasnt all in last season, was a massive distraction, and was horrible in the red zone. Traskerfield should be able to put up similar numbers, be better teammates, and have a much stronger investment in the success of the team. You better believe Lavonte and ME13 are motivated to make sure this franchise doesnt go back to its losing ways.
July 15th, 2023 at 10:07 pm
Listened to that podcast. Wow we’re those guys giving the sloppy wet kiss interview.
It was too much.
Also, TIL Baker sucks at golf.
July 15th, 2023 at 10:13 pm
“And Joe suspects Brady is so damn competitive that his former teammates know that he is not rooting for them to have a winning season this year.”
Completely disagree – TB chose the Bucs in 2020 because he believed in them – last year things like injuries, BL’s poor coaching and game planning, and TB’s pending breakup with his wife was too much for the Bucs or any team for that matter.
Brady is not way – TB changed the culture and the players still regard TB Highly.
Joe don’t write them off like the other lazy and idiot sports writers have done because the veterans are still motivated by what TB brought to the team,
July 15th, 2023 at 10:17 pm
but tom is coming back because he craves to wear the creamsicles
🙂
July 15th, 2023 at 10:52 pm
Minnesota 40 Yucs 20.
July 16th, 2023 at 12:16 am
In the year prior to Mayfield’s joining the Brown’s, there were 0-17. In his first year, they won 7 games. Over his four years, the Browns were 30-30. In the four years that preceded him, the Browns won 15 games. If he is healthy, no reason to believe the Buccaneers can’t be a decent team
July 16th, 2023 at 12:35 am
I don’t think the perception of Bucs staring down a suck season is a “Brady is gone” thing at all…It’s the eye test.
IE…Make-up of current Bucs QB room & the post-season schit-show fiasco that led to Bowles hiring a OC with zero play calling experience in the NFL.
I mean…Baker, Traskcan & Woeful…None of those guys immediately inspire confidence that the Bucs are headed towards a winning season….To me, it screams “bridge to 2024 QB Draft Class”.
The rook OC may just be the most organized guy in the building…But no one knows if he can put a winning game plan together & then make needed adjustments on the fly to keep opposing DEF off-balance & put the OFF in position to be successful/fill up the scoreboard after the script runs out.
He’s a complete unknown at this point…Which in some ways is a good thing…But scary as hell for the organization in other ways. Only time will tell, but right now there’s too many unknowns to be all bullish on Bucs racking up dubs in 2023.
We can all hope things work out the way we would like for them too…For the Bucs to win the South & be a serious SB contenders…But hope is not a great indicator of success, nor is it a strategy.
July 16th, 2023 at 2:21 am
This is a load of revisionism. Where were these hungry veterans when Brady kept yelling and screaming at them to get them to play better? They shrugged, mentally quit on him and themselves, lapses all over the place. The record doesn’t lie, this was a team physically and mentally dead. What hunger? Bowles didn’t get the team going, almost as if he didn’t want to.
For those constantly blaming everything on Brady’s performance. A QB is one position. It’s a team sport, and this team collectively failed. Ownership failed, perhaps by design, to make Brady’s final season all-in. The Broncos circled the wagons around a noodle-arm zombie Peyton Manning and won a SB. Not last season’s mediocre Bucs.
If these “hungry veterans” decide to get it up this season, it doesn’t change the fact that they—THEY—failed last season.
July 16th, 2023 at 3:01 am
“Joe loves this new team rallying cry. It’s sort of a cross between ‘Eff Brady’ and ‘Eff the media.’
The Eff Brady part of your post is uncalled for Joe. I doubt there is much validity to it either. I think our guys have a bit more class and understanding than that. I do not recall him ever taking credit for our successes.
Brady did a miraculous job considering the circumstances from last year.
Go Bucs!
July 16th, 2023 at 4:39 am
Good to see that JBFers are more analytical than Joe & the media is. Where in any interview did any Buc ever say or even imply ‘Eff Brady’? TB12 had a bad last year, but so did the whole team. He stayed 1 year too long IMO, but his contribution shouldn’t be diminished because of that.
Players live in the moment, or certainly should. A mindset of “Eff Brady” doesn’t mean the they don’t like and appreciate the guy. It might be the same thing on a sales force. Top seller retires, the guy who also gets all the great leads, and outsiders think the force is going to drop off in production. The current teammates take a unifying attitude that includes “Eff the Top Sales Guy” he was adored but overrated in his final days and we can step up.–Joe
Bucs have only made the playoffs 3 or more straight years twice in their 47 year history: with Tony Dungy & Jon Gruden (1999-2002) then with Bruce Allen & Todd Bowles (2020-2022). Not much in the way of dynasties there, but still a lot for the players on those teams to be proud of, to include a Super Bowl win in each set of years.
July 16th, 2023 at 6:30 am
Talk is Cheap! Let’s see once the bullets start flying.
July 16th, 2023 at 6:35 am
yawn…. cant wait for real football….
July 16th, 2023 at 6:48 am
Have to agree with other posters here on the F Brady, and Brady is rooting against us Joe. Didn’t Jensen play against Dallas when he shouldn’t of because he knew it was the last time he could take the field with Brady? Doesn’t sound like Jensen would say to Wirfs screw Brady. Tom probably doesn’t care how the Bucs do this year, but saying he hopes we fail is a bit cynical. Don’t know why Joe always wants it to sound like Buc players have agendas agianst each other.
Like the stories of Baker wooing players away from Trask in their competition by taking them to ball games. The previous 2 sentences are gross mischaracterizations of what was written, in addition to the fact Joe doesn’t think that way. –Joe Have many friends Joe? They must wonder what you really think of them.
July 16th, 2023 at 7:12 am
“Minnesota 40 Yucs 20”
Are you insane??? What makes you think the Vikings, who lost some key offensive players are hanging 40 points on Bowles’s Defense? Its ok if it makes you feel better to crap on the team in what is supposed to be a fan page, but at least keep your opinion somewhat based in reality. Daaaang.
July 16th, 2023 at 7:20 am
Jeff, efff off
July 16th, 2023 at 7:27 am
Let me reframe what Joe said in a way that the Brady worshippers can understand.
No one wants their replacement to be better than them. You don’t want your ex to get a richer boyfriend. You don’t want your company to hire a better employee when you’re gone.
This is especially true with professional athletes.
Brady was trash last year. Maybe it was the divorce. Maybe it was SpongeBob. Maybe it was the o-line. Maybe it was because he didn’t want to be here and he wanted to play for the Dolphins.
We can always be grateful for what he did without lying to ourselves. The offense stunk in part because we had an old qb that couldn’t extend plays and didn’t want to get hit. Go rewatch his last season with the Patriots.
This roster is better than last years. The only question is the QB. And in my mind Baker is a top-15 guy when healthy.
Everyone has written off the team because of one guy who didn’t even play well last year. Lavonte is mad. Mike is mad. Carlton is mad. And Baker, who got totally screwed by the Browns, didn’t join the Panthers until July, and had success with the Rams, has everything to prove. Let them sleep.
July 16th, 2023 at 7:29 am
Mr. Moxie: “that only makes our veterans that were a part of the Super Bowl run even more pissed”
How many veteran starters from that 2020 team are gone?
July 16th, 2023 at 8:32 am
Little Jeff was the same kid who said we wouldn’t make the playoffs in 2020 so don’t take my grandson seriously
July 16th, 2023 at 8:41 am
Don’t make me take your moms tablet away from you again Jeff
July 16th, 2023 at 10:40 am
Did this group of angry veterans happen to watch the games we did?
Why did they wait until now to get angry?
None of us saw a lick of emotion out of this boring Bowles led team last year, they mailed it it week after week – the D in the final 6 weeks was pitiful!!!!!
Now a bunch of rookies, low end free agents and the remaining vets are going to get mad?
Much like the Biden regime- just not buying what they are selling….
July 16th, 2023 at 11:47 am
He’s an absolutely a team guy. This has been said by many of his former teammates. I’ve never heard him take complete credit for the success of the team. He’s always been deferential to his teammates. He can’t help what the media says and perceives about the team. He’s still active on the team’s social media page on IG. I doubt he’s actively rooting against the team.
July 16th, 2023 at 12:13 pm
If Brady was a complete jerk, he would have pointed out that the team was mired in irrelevancy and bad football before he joined the team A franchise with the worse winning percentage in football, and a team that hadn’t made the playoffs in over a decade. He came from a storied dynasty and compiled six rings before he joined the team. Some on this team were living off the SB, and it wasn’t the guy who said the best SB is the next SB, and came from a team to only have a back to back SB in over a decade. Not one person played up to the level they were capable of playing. The first mistake was putting the whole success of the offense on a 45 year old guy QB.
The media are discounting this team not because of the loss of Brady. This is a QB- driven league now. And we have one of the weakest QB room in the league. We have a journey man QB and a guy who hasn’t taken a snap in the league. What is else are people supposed to think? We have good skill players, but they generally don’t move the needle. There’s also concerns about Bowles as a HC. He hasn’t proved he can win as a HC. I suspect if BA was still head coach that the media might be a little more high on the team.
It’s disingenuous to reduce Brady’s time with the team as the 8-9 QB from last year. The standard set by his tenure here is the SB, not the playoffs. It’s the standard that’s been set by the Patriots and Belicheat since he departed. The Patriots haven’t been bad since Tom left, but they’ve been judged by winning a SB.
July 16th, 2023 at 12:22 pm
Jeff Bucs won’t score 20+ unless Trask is starting.
July 16th, 2023 at 12:38 pm
Anything to get that shared mindset moving forward, these guys will need to be polished up and locked in to make any noise this season.
July 16th, 2023 at 3:29 pm
This doesn’t surprise me in the least I said as much as soon as he TB signed here. The Bucs team would never get the credit for a SB win. Just another Tom Brady Super Bowl. It really didn’t matter who or what team was around him. Now that he’s gone those same national media types say this team will finish last or next to last. I’d be pissed too if I was a Bucs vet.
July 16th, 2023 at 4:44 pm
@Stanglassman oh, please. No one even thought Brady would win a SB when he signed here. Everyone thought he was washed. QBs always get more credit and attention for SB wins. Montana got all the credit for the 49ers SB victory against the Dolphins even though the 49ers defense shut down the vaunted Dolphins’ offense. Like it or not, that’s just how it’s been. Who cares about who gets the credit just be happy we won a SB after years of incompetence.
The media has been talking way too much about Brady. Just let him go. He’s enjoying time with his and his newly single life. I doubt he cares deeply about what’s happening with the team now.