Quality Silence From Baker Mayfield
December 30th, 2023
Baker Mayfield
Joe is flashing back to what happened when the Bucs started this season 3-1.
Tampa Bay beat the Saints sounds in New Orleans to take the division lead. What a way to enter the Bucs’ early bye week!
And after that win, Baker Mayfield hit the interview circuit hard. He was out there soaking up the limelight and indirectly reminding the national media that he’s a quality interview and a quality quarterback. Heck, Todd Bowles even did his share of interviews. Todd Bowles!
What happened next? The Bucs imploded. Maybe it was a coincidence, or maybe Mayfield and the team got too high on their early success.
Joe can’t be sure, but Joe was happy to see that as of today, Mayfield hasn’t done an interview this week outside of his mandatory Wednesday news conference with Tampa Bay media. Joe is confident Mayfield and the Bucs got requests and turned them down.
Interviews do not equal losing; Mayfield did a pregame visit to ESPN on gameday before the Green Bay clash two Sundays ago. But Joe is glad to see Mayfield appears to be staying locked in and sending a message that he’s all business as the Bucs prepare to, hopefully, lock up a division crown tomorrow against the slimy Saints.
Joe would, however, expect to hear plenty from Mayfield around the country next week if the Bucs clinch the division title with a game remaining in the regular season.
December 30th, 2023 at 1:57 pm
With only $148M to spend on this year’s roster I am impressed with how well this team has done. I expected @ 6-7 wins.
However – this team still has not defeated a good team. Green Bay, Atlanta, New Orleans, Carolina, Chicago, Minn – are all mediocre to below mediocre teams.
SF, Buffalo, Detroit and Philly all dominated this team. As expected.
And let’s not forget the gut wrenching losses at Houston, Indy and Atlanta at home – all against mediocre teams… It’s crazy how close the Bucs were to another 13 win season.
December 30th, 2023 at 2:01 pm
Go Bucs, go Baker, go Mike and Chris and Goedonkey and Rachaad, and Antoine and LVD and Vita. Drag Bowles to a division championship and if Diva starts his whiffing clown act, bench his arse.
Beat the Aints. Win the NFCS with a winning record. Would be Todd’s first as a head coach since his first season with the Jitz.
December 30th, 2023 at 2:07 pm
This is the 3rd story of 6 today (dated Dec. 30) where Baker Mayfield is mentioned in the headline. QB’s get a disproportionate amount of the praise and the blame. It is the ultimate team game. Feel very good about the next two games because the whole team seems to be coming around at precisely the right time.
December 30th, 2023 at 2:11 pm
Sink rhe Stainks.
December 30th, 2023 at 2:15 pm
“And let’s not forget the gut wrenching losses at Houston, Indy and Atlanta at home – all against mediocre teams… It’s crazy how close the Bucs were to another 13 win season”
………………
We really could have, but it would have been like last year’s Vikings. They were nowhere near as good as their record indicated
December 30th, 2023 at 2:16 pm
No talk, all action. Stomp some a$$ tomorrow! We are a very tough out if. Baker keeps throwing darts like the past two games.
December 30th, 2023 at 2:16 pm
“However – this team still has not defeated a good team. Green Bay, Atlanta, New Orleans, Carolina, Chicago, Minn – are all mediocre to below mediocre teams.
SF, Buffalo, Detroit and Philly all dominated this team. As expected.”
It doesn’t seem like there really are many good teams in the league this year. Besides a few of the division leaders, a lot of teams are hovering around .500.
As to those four games, the Bucs were outplayed, but my definition of dominated is a bit different. There were no 40-10 losses in there. The Buffalo game came down to a hail mary, in the Philly game the lines got pushed around but Stinnie wasn’t starting on O, Kancey was out on D and Diaby wasn’t playing as much. The Detroit game was ugly on O but the defense held them to 20. The SF game, not as much great to say but there was a dropped TD pass by Otton that led to an Interception the next play.
December 30th, 2023 at 2:17 pm
Playoff focus. I can’t believe I’m even talking about playoffs. I wouldn’t say I’m a true believer yet. It depends how they finish. Win the last 2 and don’t sh!t the bed in the playoffs and I’ll be pleased and feeling good about the future.
December 30th, 2023 at 2:20 pm
Should Joe ignore the biggest story in the NFL? If so, that’s not very smart business. Joe has zero desire to kill his very successful business.
Depends who the quarterback is.
So long as you have a quarterback.
December 30th, 2023 at 2:39 pm
Joe,
I am Baker’s biggest booster. Long time Browns fan who saw the dirty way he was treated in Cleveland. I have been criticized on these pages for defending Mayfield when it seemed all were against him. My comments here were designed for balance. All teams “have a quarterback.” Tampa is fortunate to have a quality one. By all means keep the Baker stories coming–daily 6 out of 6 is fine by me. In fact, it is preferred.
December 30th, 2023 at 2:49 pm
It’s the usual yowling for attention on here by a lot of yahoos. BM has led this Bucs team by example, and enthusiasm. I really wish Joe would re-link that postgame locker room video after the Atlanta win. Mebbe there are copywriter hassles, who knows? But that shows when the Bucs started on this win streak and why. Plus, it’s a great cheerleading video. Can you guys do it, joes?
December 30th, 2023 at 2:51 pm
*copyright*
December 30th, 2023 at 2:51 pm
Agree 100% on this Joe.
Gotta stay locked and loaded. Every time the Bucs get too high on their own press clippings, they get curb stomped.
December 30th, 2023 at 3:18 pm
Gripper I give you credit for being a big Baker fan but I think Wyoming Joe has you beat on Baker he’s been on here since Baker started this year . He may not be a Bucs fan but he is all about Baker.
December 30th, 2023 at 3:23 pm
when u guys say that we beat below average teams I beg to differ,look who packers beat,we played Vikings 1st with cousins I don’t consider them junk man they r really good with cousins the saints have played some real good football beat some good teams any team in this league can beat any other team on any given day so take u r stupid comments elsewhere.cant everyone be happy we are doing really good compared to all the bs comments since march this past spring so shut u a mouths & watch the show its been a good 1
December 30th, 2023 at 3:33 pm
Woodenman Says:
December 30th, 2023 at 3:18 pm
Thanks, Woody, you are right, Wyoming Joe is a good man.
I have watched in amazement how “media sports personalities” and others have done nothing but trash Mayfield until recently. Most of this stuff is not unlike “the regular news” where so called journalists just repeat everything they read in the New York Times and pass it off at original work. Baker if you watch his post game interviews, handles himself with class and dignity,win or lose. These are important traits that all of us should model, myself included. Hoping for the best tomorrow. I abandoned the Browns after they abandoned Baker. The Browns owner is a silver spooned goofball who is the only man in America to ever sue Warren Buffett.
December 30th, 2023 at 3:37 pm
Baker Mayfield articles are a welcome change from the endless Devin White stories……
December 30th, 2023 at 3:56 pm
Mayfield was invited to College GameDay because the Cotton Bowl was up. Any interview came in response to that.
He would have gone if we were 0-3.
December 30th, 2023 at 4:34 pm
So now, creeps like Warren Buffett are a big deal? He can screw his wrinkled self. Last time I looked, this is a Bucs Fan site, not CNBC.
December 30th, 2023 at 4:42 pm
Just build on the last two games, the best of his career, and stay hot in the playoffs – then you can do all the talking you want after the season.
December 30th, 2023 at 4:44 pm
@ BakerBucs
Mediocre just means average. Not bad. Not good.
I agree – The Vikings week #1 on the road was probably our most impressive win.
How many teams have the Bucs defeated that have winning records?
That’s all I am saying.
0-4 against good teams.
December 30th, 2023 at 5:04 pm
We could probably beat the Eagles now, Dallas is falling, but not the rest
December 30th, 2023 at 6:17 pm
Doing too much media can definitely be a distraction but I don’t think it necessarily meant they were full of themselves after starting 3-1, it just meant they got the media’s attention.
Now what the Kelce Brothers do with their podcast is a different story. They aren’t being ASKED to do it, they’re doing it for the attention (and I admit it can be entertaining). However, all the time it takes to do those podcasts you’d think would be better spent doing film study with the way both Kelce teams are nose-diving. (It’s ok though because I hate KC and Philly anyway. Lol)
December 30th, 2023 at 6:47 pm
Joe acts like this team isnt one season removed from winning a super bowl. Mayfield has had TWO solid games this year. This might be the biggest story in the nfl if your a baker mayfield jock sniffer.. however anyone with their head in straight knows baker will be what he’s always been… inconsistent and disappointing.
December 30th, 2023 at 7:54 pm
This is the ultimate team game if you have a quarterback. When Mayfield plays well the team cruises to victory (past two weeks) when he doesn’t the team drags him to victory or he drags them to defeat. With the one exception with Houston. This team should have a better record. I hope Mayfield has turned the corner. It would be the right time.
December 30th, 2023 at 8:02 pm
Getting pretty sick of casuals talking about who the Buc’s have played and beaten. You play the schedule that was prepared preseason and when you look at it, a lot of teams on this years schedule were projected to be a lot better. Vikings Saints etc…. but of course idiot fans who decided that Baker is no good would rather see him fail them ever admit they they’ve been wrong the whole time….
NFL.com had Tampa winning 5 games, Vegas over and under was games.
December 30th, 2023 at 8:40 pm
Team is 1 game over .500
What a joke all the hype is
December 30th, 2023 at 8:57 pm
Baker is back to seeing dollar signs for next year.
The season started well because he was about the game. After the saints ugly loss he saw dollar signs and his game slipped back to what seems to be normal for him.
Then the rest of the team got motivated and things changed. Canales had a lot to do with it.
Now, after a few weeks of a 48.5 QBR, he is rising.
I hope his dreams of money can be set aside for another monster game against the Saints, I really do.
December 30th, 2023 at 9:58 pm
A lot of Baker’s bad press came from Cleveland, especially Mary Kay Cabot and Tony Grossi. Baker knew both of them were little better than gossip mongers who knew nothing about football, and he called them out on it. From that point on, all kinds of ‘rumors’ about ‘locker room disruption’, and ‘immature’ behaviour started being written. Never a direct quote from anyone on the team, just ‘rumors’. And the unfortunate comments about ‘wanting an adult’ in the room – so they went out an brought in DePervert Watson… SO much better than Baker.
OBJ didn’t help – that diva was constantly complaining that he was open, but if you watch the play on film, he’s either a) late on his break, or b) open on the back side of the play, or c) not running the route that was called in the huddle cause he prefers to ‘freelance’. Quiet interviews with some of the Browns team after Baker was traded confirmed that the team, at least the ones who would talk, thought he got done dirty, and was never a locker room cancer.
Like Wyoming Joe and Gipper, I’m a 50 year’s former Browns fan who could not stomach the way that the Haslem’s and the rest treated Baker… so I preferred to follow him instead of the losers who did him wrong. I’m really enjoying following the Buc’s.
December 30th, 2023 at 10:31 pm
All the true fans. lol are covering all their bases. Uh, marinebuc?
December 30th, 2023 at 11:35 pm
lanshark Says:
Like Wyoming Joe and Gipper, I’m a 50 year’s former Browns fan who could not stomach the way that the Haslem’s and the rest treated Baker…
———
Called them out perfectly, they’re Baker Bois, not Bucs fans.
In any case, Baker has played great for two games in a row, literally probably the two best games of his career – and he gets credit for that, even if they were literally the worst passing defense in the NFL, and like the 29th passing defense in the NFL. But if he can keep it up, stay hot, and then play like this in the playoffs, he’s going to make a ton of money, and change his rep as a huge bust.
To be clear, I don’t think he’s suddenly changed his ways, and the other 5 3/4 seasons were the aberration, but I don’t care either way so long as he can keep doing it.
They need to beat the Saints on Sunday to get into the playoffs – the last thing in the world I’d want is to have Baker and Bowles with the season on the line needing a layout win in Carolina (who incidentally has one of the better pass defenses in the NFL, unlike GB and Jacksonville).
In any case, if Baker doesn’t fall flat on his face in the next two games, he’ll get his chance again next year – and if he can stay hot in the playoffs and win a game or two, I might even be OK with resigning him for 1-year. That’s pushing it, but maybe.
In any case, Baker can win over a lot of people if he can actually be consistent for the first time in his career and put together a series of good games.
December 31st, 2023 at 2:27 am
15 games are played and in the past. Done and over with. Who cares what the records of those teams are. It doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is focusing on getting the win tomorrow against the Saints and winning the division title.
On a side note: @Capt2Fish. I’m glad someone else finally told the truth about that wuss aka OBJ. There was an article in SI outlining OBJ’s reluctance to be a team player and run the proper routes. Baker could not depend on him to be where he was supposed to be on any given play. Not to mention he’s not just a wuss he’s a pu*s. I swear on some plays it looked like he didn’t want to catch the ball cause he didn’t want to get hit.
Anyways, go get em Bake. Rock on.
December 31st, 2023 at 4:50 am
All eyes on the prize!
Go Bucs!
December 31st, 2023 at 9:05 am
Marine Buc-
The Jags were 8-5 and the Bucs beat them pretty handily. The Jags were thought of as a good team. I’m not claiming they’re a great team but that win should be considered.
December 31st, 2023 at 9:43 am
I understand the lack of quality team win gripe but it ignores the fact there were so many new faces this year and it was always going to be a work in progress. The good teams came in the first 2/3 of the year. If we win today we will see the Cow girls or Eagles in the first round. I also dont think we should rest anyone against the panthers. We need to stay in form. Just be smart. Slide, run out of bounce or throw it away.
December 31st, 2023 at 1:55 pm
Bucs have to worst O line in the league but we always blame the QB , Baker is not a bad QB at all. With that he could boost the Tampa Bay Area up nationally like he did with Cleveland. With all that said Joe might be right to say stay low and away. Stay grounded … and win. Big interviews , Big national commercials, Big popularity could get a Big head …… and lose.
December 31st, 2023 at 3:23 pm
Maybe he should have done more interviews…
December 31st, 2023 at 10:29 pm
Bucs play up to the competition. If they are playing a good team they take it seriously. But they had won four in a row and had already beat the Saints so they played to confident and didn’t take it serious enough.