Baker Mayfield, Todd Bowles Not Often Ready For Primetime
July 5th, 2025
Primetime record makes one want to drink heavily.
Want to know why the Bucs may not get much respect from national hollering shows and stenographers? The keep shatting themselves before the eyes of the nation.
To be fair to those who work for national media outlets, it’s hard to take a team seriously that is damn near guaranteed to hang an “L” for all the country to see.
Eat a “W?” The Bucs puke an “L” whenever they play at night, it seems.
Both Todd Bowles and Baker Mayfield have awful records in primetime games.
When Bowles did time serving four years with the Jets, he had a 4-5 mark in primetime games, night games. With the Bucs his teams melt under the lights more often than not. Bowles overall record in night games is 8-15. With the Bucs, Bowles is a disgraceful 4-10 at night.
Mayfield, sadly, is worse. His overall record under the lights is 3-9, including 1-7 (!) with the Bucs, though Mayfield’s lone win at night with the Bucs was a dominant playoff win over the Eagles.
So what does this mean? It means to Joe that along with playing better pass defense, the Bucs have to find a way to get their heads out of their arses when the klieglights of national television flip on.
If you can’t win on the big stages (often against quality opponents), why should those from big markets respect you?
July 5th, 2025 at 11:05 am
Given that fact Joe, why do you keep screaming for MORE night, prime time games?
July 5th, 2025 at 11:08 am
You don’t think Mayfield can play better at night?
July 5th, 2025 at 11:10 am
So the week of night games… practice at night?
July 5th, 2025 at 11:20 am
Looking beneath the covers, Mayfield has generally played well enough for the Bucs to win in night games, but Todd’s defense folds like origami at the end of close games, and his game management turtles to the defense, so, there ya go.
July 5th, 2025 at 11:23 am
Yep. Can’t argue with that. They both have a whole LOT to prove this season in order to change this.
July 5th, 2025 at 11:24 am
Kansas City.
Joe’s is still irked by that.
July 5th, 2025 at 11:26 am
That’s what Arians did.
July 5th, 2025 at 11:27 am
I remember when the Bucs could not win a game when the temp was under 50 degrees. Baker broke that spell at Green bay in 2023 with a perfect passer game. Nobody national made much of it . they are still touting Jordan Love.
This season you will see Baker named a giant slayer. It rhymes, Baker Baker Giant slayer.This is gonna be fun.
July 5th, 2025 at 11:30 am
Western PA,
Pretty sure that curse was broken long before 2023.
Philly NFC championship game for one.
July 5th, 2025 at 11:37 am
Agreed
July 5th, 2025 at 11:38 am
What’s weird is Herbert already playing in 21 of these such games this early in his career. The national media has always (myself included) drooled all over those uniforms. The Chargers have always had great talent, but have never done a damn thing with it. Still, it doesn’t seem right that he has already played in TWENTY-ONE.
July 5th, 2025 at 11:51 am
Bowles moves all of the dbs back 5 yards further on primetime games.
July 5th, 2025 at 11:52 am
Joe … ‘With the Bucs, Bowles is a disgraceful 4-10 in primetime games. Mayfield, sadly, is worse. His overall record under the lights is 3-9, including 1-7 (!) with the Bucs.’
Wow Joe, those are some fascinating stats, and definitely identify a key area for the Bucs to focus on for this year. Looking at the Bucs’ night games performances year-to-year while Todd has been our HC …
o 2022: 3-3 in night games (including the night playoff loss to the Cowboys).
o 2023: 1-2 in night games (including the playoff win against the Eagles)
o 2024: 0-5 in night games (including the playoff loss to Washington).
So yes, Baker is 1-7 in night games these past 2 years with the Bucs. And yes, Todd is 4-10 in night games these past 3 years as our Bucs’ HC. BOTH are abysmal stats.
But Baker more-so. Bucs regular season record these past 2 years with Baker at the helm has been 19-15. But SIX of those regular season losses have all come at night. As a matter of fact, we’ve lost ALL of our regular season night games these past 2 seasons. ALL OF THEM … 2 in 2023 and 4 in 2024. We’ve got a daytime regular season record of 19-9 (67.9% wins), but a 0-6 nighttime regular season record (0.00% wins). That’s insane.
Admittedly 4 of those 6 regular season night game losses were away games (travel & time changes MAY make a difference?). And we lost 4 of those 6 games by a TD or less (so we were in contention in the majority of them). Doesn’t matter though … a loss is a loss. And when I see numbers like that (0-6), I kinda get the feeling that we weren’t REALLY ready to play.
This season we’ve got AT LEAST 4 night games on our schedule (Texans, Lions, Rams, Falcons) and possibly 1 more (Panthers game Week 18 is listed as TBD). Those are all teams that we’ve struggled with in the past. We’ve got to at least split those 4 games, because going 0-4 at night for 2 years in a row is totally unacceptable.
July 5th, 2025 at 12:02 pm
joe:
i think i just listened to your podcast 2 times in a row…if you catch my drift 🙂
July 5th, 2025 at 12:09 pm
Both Mayfield and Todd have dug themselves quite a hole , ( both have career sub.500 win percentages ) and as long as they continue with around .500 win-loss records it’s going to take them forever (if ever ) to get out of those holes, the more you win the more respect you receive, and rightfully so. General Patton once said in a speech to the troops before going into battle , and I paraphrase here , ….Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser, the very thought of losing is despicable to Americans ……, true, but , You don’t really lose until you quit trying as expressed by Herbert Hoover in a famous speech he once gave, “ Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not, nothing is more common than unsuccessful men wit talent . Genius will not, unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not ; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan “Press On” has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race. So ;it’s not war and it’s not the problems of the entire human race, it’s only football, Press On!
July 5th, 2025 at 12:11 pm
In defense of Baker, I believe his W-L record refers to his starts. In two of his finest games, his debut with Cleveland and his debut with LA, he entered the game in the first quarter, replacing injured starters. In both cases, he led his team to a comeback victory; in both cases, the games were nighttime national
TV games. Although these performances were celebrated at the time, stat geeks only count starts as W-L for QB’s. I concede that neither of these games was with the Bucs, but 2 more wins would make him 4-2 without the Bucs.
July 5th, 2025 at 12:19 pm
Maybe Baker needs glasses to “drive” at night. 😉
July 5th, 2025 at 12:38 pm
I can’t say anything about our nighttime record that others haven’t already said.
Night games and the creamsicle uniforms seem to be our kryptonite, sadly.
However, I was surprised to see Wilson, Stafford and Herbert on this list as well.
Stafford especially.
We’ve heard a lot of talk this off-season about scoring points, playing to win and being ballhawks.
My fingers are crossed all this talk translates into action on the field, and our numbers in the win column, including night games, go up!
Go Bucs!!
July 5th, 2025 at 1:08 pm
Right on, Vanessa Ann.
And Joe – “That’s what Arians did” is also spot on. He also ran 3 practice fields and had full time coordinators so he could be a full time head coach. We saw those results.
Then the last 30 seconds of the Rams playoff game happened. No one should have expected Cooper Kupp to be targeted so it was prudent of Todd to leave him uncovered.
July 5th, 2025 at 1:16 pm
JD Still… great quotes.
Persistence, determination and add “confidence”. This year the coaches, QB and team should feel confident they can beat anyone. Didn’t Brady teach us determination, Baker persistence and I believe Bowles/Grizz have the genius. Walk on the field as winners this year and do just that. Forget the press, forget the underdog decades. We have the amazing talent.
July 5th, 2025 at 1:17 pm
I posted this is the thread that compared Mayfield’s stats to Mahomes and talk about Jackson…
Mayfield is highly overrated based on his “Total Stats”…
STATS CAN “LIE”…
Raw total stat numbers don’t tell the full story of NFL QBs.
I dare you to do a By Quarter analysis of MAYFIELD’s QB ratings and Stats. Spoiler Alert: you’re not going to like what you find.
Mayfield’s 4th quarter ratings & stats are far superior to this first 3 quarters. It’s not because he has all these come from behind wins, it’s because in many games his poor performances early in games led to multi possession leads by opponents that soften their Defenses late in games and Mayfield racked up lots of his yardage and TDs in those 4th quarters.
This is a fact. Any of us that actually closely watch the games has seen many games where Mayfield struggles to pass for 100 yards in the 1st half of games only to finish with 300+ yards in a loss.
Mayfield is a decent QB that’s likable and plays with a lot of heart, but he’s not Elite regardless of what his “total” stats look like.
But so many Bucs fans and Baker fans don’t want to acknowledge this reality.
July 5th, 2025 at 1:55 pm
I am quite sure that Bowles has already scheduled a night practice.
July 5th, 2025 at 2:07 pm
Trask to the Stupid back for more self humiliation.
July 5th, 2025 at 2:08 pm
I thought it was just Brady getting old at first.
Now I know it’s a bucs problem with these cursed night games.
A shame, I like watching football under the lights.
July 5th, 2025 at 2:19 pm
A good football team wins day or night, or games in the UK
No excuse for losing football games
July 5th, 2025 at 2:28 pm
A week or so ago I asked if there was some league rule against practicing at night in the stadium under the lights. Our guys obviously aren’t used to doing it. I hate looking at the schedule and chalking the prime time games up as a loss.
July 5th, 2025 at 3:02 pm
Bucs (business side of front office) allegedly don’t want to because they claim — at least what Joe has been told — the practice could easily get canceled due to lightning.
While true, 1 1/2 blocks away is their stinking indoor facility! They just can’t move practice there if there is lightning? #WeakExcuse
Football coaches don’t like the practice at the stadium because there’s hardly any room (for a practice, not to be confused with a scrimmage, when the Bucs do position drills).
During practices the Bucs often use two fields with a third field used by kickers/punters and specific workouts for players who are rehabbing.
For the record, Bowles held stadium practices as Jets head coach, and the Cardinals did that when he was their defensive coordinator.
July 5th, 2025 at 3:03 pm
At the end of the day, wins, losses, great stats, poor stats all are the result of the team collective, influenced by each individuals contribution to that collective–Gotti Dog
Pure truth never said better concerning a team sport🤔
July 5th, 2025 at 3:24 pm
Trask to future, Actually Bakers 4th quarter comebacks total 10. Lamar Jackson has 10, Joe Burrow has 6, Josh Allen has 13 and Jalen Hurts has 9. So not sure what 4th quarter you are talking about. And that’s with one year being hurt with a completely torn labrum and a fractured shoulder.
July 5th, 2025 at 4:21 pm
Davy, it’s futile to try to dialogue with someone whose handle is that of a clipboard holder barely hanging onto his job by a fingernail, and believes said player to be the next great Quarterback. Nice try though.
July 5th, 2025 at 4:58 pm
Aqualung. It is not going to be easy. It is going to require discipline. But you can do it! That Rams game has left you in a heap. Cooper Kupp is living rent free in- come on man. That’s ancient history! And everyone else- quit fretting these night games. Yes, night games are generally big games. From someone who’s followed Baker’s career closely I can guarantee you he always plays his best in the biggest games. Not most of the time. All of the time! Wasted time trying to find a night game that Baker didn’t play a great game. It takes a team! And we’ve got one right now. Uniform color, game times, none of that is going to matter this year. Practice at night-Get outta here! Superstitious reflex not needed this year folks. This is the year we kick but and take names. Confidently.
July 5th, 2025 at 9:07 pm
“Mobucs Says:
stat geeks only count starts as W-L for QB’s”
Precisely why I believe the QB won/loss record is a useless stat.
July 5th, 2025 at 9:44 pm
Aqualung (Jethro) you are probably right-hope springs eternal