Have Defenses Figured Out Baker Mayfield’s Kryptonite?
December 10th, 2024
Why did he go haywire?
Joe has stated on several occasions that this Bucs offense is dink-and-dunk. But that is nitpicking since the offense is working. The offense is not the Bucs’ problem.
Joe last week asked offensive coordinator Liam Coen if his lack of throwing deep may doom the offense. He didn’t think so.
Hey, through 12 games, the offense, despite rarely throwing past 20 yards from the line of scrimmage, was working well.
Then came Sunday when Baker Mayfield struggled. He didn’t just struggle with the offense, but he threw a pair of picks and a lost fumble.
Jenna Laine of ESPN suggests the Raiders were taking away the Bucs’ meat and potatoes of the passing offense: short passes.
Starting in the second quarter, the Raiders were able to disrupt quarterback Baker Mayfield’s passes to the flats and out routes. … Mayfield was 7-of-13 for 84 yards, two touchdowns and an interception on passes for 5 or fewer air yards, according to ESPN Research. His 54% completion percentage on those throws is tied for his lowest with the Bucs.
Since the Bucs don’t often throw deep, Joe would expect defenses to focus on short passes. Again, the Bucs are entering their 14th game on Sunday. That’s a pretty big sample size.
So defenses are just now figuring out Coen doesn’t like to throw deep, or that the Bucs don’t have anyone to go deep effectively without blowing a hamstring?
Joe has a hunch it was the defensive front of the Raiders that caused most of the problems. The Bucs’ offensive line likely had its worst game pass protecting of the season.
A strong pass rush just screws up an offense no matter what it is trying to do.
It’s hard for Joe to believe the Raiders are the first team this season that focused on the Bucs’ short passing game and Mayfield wilted as a result.
December 10th, 2024 at 12:07 am
Agreed yea it was the raiders front but they weren’t able to do anything to baker in crunch time. Baker has been great in Tampa but he’s an elite quarterback, he’s competed with Winston a few times for most interceptions in a season. He has matured but that gunslinger mentality will probably never go away completely
December 10th, 2024 at 12:16 am
Ha ha! Yeah our hamstrings are too tight to go deep. Come on. Calling for deep routes is asking for problems. Soft in cushy routes like our corners play coverage,,, soft n cushy like the new barstools at Hooters. Go BUCS
December 10th, 2024 at 1:18 am
Alot of it is misdirection, which screen are they really running? A tight end screen to the left, a screen to the back to the right, screen to the guy in motion? Alot of misdirection. The defensive front had a good game against our line and disrupted a lot. I also think the play calling got a little weird after the first two touchdowns and wasn’t helped by the turnovers. The team is getting better, week by week, so long as the injuries don’t take us down.
December 10th, 2024 at 1:52 am
i would look to see what is in common with the his multiple- multiple-interception quarters this season, and see if we can go against type, because harbaugh will try to replicate that weakness.
December 10th, 2024 at 4:10 am
His kryptonite is that he’s 6’0″ tall and pressure affects that more than 6’4″. He also has a little bit of a napoleonic complex that sometimes makes him do things he knows he shouldn’t. Sometimes incredible things will happen with that, and sometimes not so much.
I also think teams are starting to catch on to our screen game and our lack of a true #2 passing option right now. I’m confident that Coen knows where the ball needs to go, but Baker is just playing too loose with the ball. Having a defense that let’s any offense march up and down the field between the 20’s probably isn’t helping his mindset either because Baker thinks he needs points on every possession.
December 10th, 2024 at 4:23 am
You are not wrong Joe but I think they were sitting on some of the short stufff as well. The quick screen was not seen by myself but once in the second half.
Go Bucs!
December 10th, 2024 at 4:30 am
OLine was pretty shaky Sunday. And with Evans hobbled and Godwin on IR, it’s not like the Bucs have much of a deep threat. With Coen/Mayfield’s primary reliable weapons being Irving/White/Otten, you’re going to have a dink and dunk offense. Although ugly vs the Raiders, they did manage to put up 28 points.
December 10th, 2024 at 5:07 am
Why doesnt Palmer get any deep throws?
December 10th, 2024 at 5:36 am
Baker may be playing with some injuries we don’t know about. The screen shot of Baker’s toes taped up last week is a bit worrisome. Both Evans and Shephard averaged under 9 air yards. We need to get Evans open downfield more often.
To do that the O Line needs to hold their blocks longer. Even with the short passing game, we have kept our backs in for protection more than previous years
IMO.
December 10th, 2024 at 5:44 am
When Baker throws on time usually good things happen. When Baker holds the ball, and gets those happy feet going bad things happen. Think his size has something to do with it, but I think part of his problems come when he forces the big play, rather then take the check down.
December 10th, 2024 at 5:47 am
Because Palmer and Mayfield can’t connect with each other, the only receiver that connects deep with Baker is Evans. It’s a Mystery why
December 10th, 2024 at 5:54 am
I personally don’t think we are beating the Charger’s if the Raiders pass rush was getting to us the Charger’s pass rush is really going to hit home there defense is is one of the best
December 10th, 2024 at 5:56 am
Just run the ball! That’s what our O line excels at,,,, They are not very good w the pass rush,, any plays that need to develop downfield have Baker running for his life
December 10th, 2024 at 6:18 am
Teams have been starting to sit on our short game for weeks. We didn’t exactly light it up against the Panthers, or a number of teams we’ve played the last few weeks. Coen does a good job disguising a lot of what he does so they will get defenses out of position enough to make plays still. Evans isn’t hurting bad enough, and I’ve seen and heard from those at the game, that Evans was open down field a number of times. Mayfield has been one of the worst, completion percentage wise, downfield passers and his height causes him issues at times when holding the ball long enough for routes to develop. Baker is who Baker is. Nothing has changed about that.
December 10th, 2024 at 6:19 am
No. It’s the OL that is breaking down. They need to give him more time and better passing lanes.
December 10th, 2024 at 6:57 am
Not having Bucky Irving in the game hurt the offense and probably changed the game plan that Coen wanted to run, so I hope that he gets well soon. Go Bucs!
December 10th, 2024 at 7:11 am
Hopefully the game McMillan had is an indicator the rookie is getting it now. If that’s the case, and Sheppard keeps doing Sheppard things I think that will open up both the short game and Mike for better, cleaner deep shots.
December 10th, 2024 at 7:22 am
Where the hell is our biggest deep threat, Trey Palmer??? Why do we overlook Tucker and Palmer? They play so little. To me Palmer is better than McMillan, even with his two TDs Sunday. That dude is a huge disappointment after all the hype!
December 10th, 2024 at 7:57 am
Other teams study film just like we do. They know and see Bakers tendencies. This is the time of year when good teams Defenses step up. I’m afraid ours is incapable of doing so…..
December 10th, 2024 at 8:50 am
Is it possible that after going up by 2 TDS that Baker started looking for Evans in trying to reach that 1000 yard season? If Evans is blanked, Baker is left holding the bag.
December 10th, 2024 at 8:53 am
When our O goes in the mid game slump – which it often does, I worry that the focus shifts to Evans record and we start trying to change the game plan and force things. Am I off base?
December 10th, 2024 at 8:58 am
Good, let them play the shallow passes. You dont show the whole playbook until defenses figure things out. Coen is from the Mcvay tree that has a masterclass in screwing with defenses ability to pick up on patterns. Once these defenses start brining down safeties regularly, the deep balls will come back
December 10th, 2024 at 9:03 am
There were several plays including one of the interceptions where if Mayfield was healthy he would have taken off running. His foot is keeping him in the pocket which is not ideal for him. His ability to extend the play is where he excels. Let’s hope he gets better soon because we’re going to need some magic to beat the Chargers.
December 10th, 2024 at 9:06 am
When there is no threat to throw deep and you dont throw deep its a matter of time that a Defense will sit tight and come closer to the LOS.
Defenses adjust. Unlike ours of course because we love our soft coverage and sitting 10 yds off receivers, even when a blitz is called. Perhaps we think that it is illegal for to defend a pass thrown less than 5 yds.
To Bucs defenders, it is ok to be side by side with the WR and contest the catch. It is allowed by the rulebook.
Go Bucs
December 10th, 2024 at 10:00 am
@74 Bucs : I think you’re exactly right because that’s exactly what it looked like as long as Baker was holding that ball never seen him do that b4.
December 10th, 2024 at 10:20 am
Small ball baker
December 10th, 2024 at 2:32 pm
So Baker completes about 70% of his passes against heavy pressure and comes away with a QB passer rating of over 100 and you say he “wilted” against the Raiders defense? This nitpicking of Mayfield after any game where he makes a mistake is tiresome. He made a bunch of clutch third down passes in the second half, just like he did the previous game. But there is a good point about not going long enough, especially because Mayfield has a very strong arm and can throw long passes on a low trajectory. I would also like to see more roll-outs to buy time for receivers to get open as Baker is very good at throwing on the run.
December 10th, 2024 at 4:09 pm
How about Coen getting a little more creative with the QB calls? As in bootleg options and rollouts? If Mayfield needs it, stick a boot on his leg and call the plays. Baker wants to play injured and Coen lets him, then do it. Just win the game. It sure will help out the OLine and Defense. The Chargers are not the Lions, Buffalo, or the ‘lucky’ Chiefs. And, BTW, the Chiefs are making the AFC and the NFL really boring to follow now. Parity, really?
December 10th, 2024 at 4:25 pm
I have confidence Coen will use these games to prepare for anything. Yeah the Raiders front was playing well. Baker doesn’t need short flat and out routes. They start taking that away, he can run bootlegs, we can do more crossers and mesh concepts through the middle. Otton and Durham can start going down the seam…
The Bucs offense can adjust, much harder without Godwin but Mike looks pretty healthy. Gonna need to take some downfield shots vs the Chargers. They are too strong tackling and up front to expect dinking and dunking will win the game, guess depends if our big boys up front are getting the job done.
December 10th, 2024 at 6:19 pm
Deep shots keep defenses honest.
Gotta take them every once in a while. I find it hard to believe that Mike Evans is really the only receiver we have that can catch a deep ball.
December 10th, 2024 at 7:13 pm
If Baker is playing then he isn’t injured, that’s not an excuse. If his “injuries” are holding him back then why is he out there?
Coen needs to adjust. I agree that rollouts and bootleg should help since he has trouble seeing over the line and if the protection is a problem. And take at least one deep shot a game to surprise the defense.
We’ll see what happens Sunday
December 11th, 2024 at 12:12 am
Yes. Rush lanes and passing lanes. Expect Coen to adjust, he’s too good.
December 11th, 2024 at 8:33 am
We need more deep shots to different receivers like Sterling and Palmer.
The problem I’ve been seeing with Baker is that he tries to force plays way too often. If it ain’t there, he should just throw a check down/run it/ throw it away. Instead, he throws to a tight window and/or triple coverage and then gets picked off.