Baker Mayfield: My Play Affected Josh Grizzard Playcalling
September 9th, 2025
Baker Mayfield was rusty and off his game mentally early Sunday against Atlanta.
Between the needlessly dangerous throws and running unsuccessfully when he didn’t have to (Rachaad White was clear for a checkdown with a blocker and room in front of him), Mayfield looked off in the first quarter.
That kind of performance isn’t in a vaccuum. It throws off the guy in Mayfield’s ear.
“I wasn’t really in rhythm in the first half, so for that, it really affects [Josh Grizzard’s] playcalling, too,” Mayfield told the Buccaneers Radio Network. “I mean, too many 3-and-outs with decision-making for me. So, hopefully, iron some things out, get it corrected and go from there. But I thought it was smooth [with Grizzard] other than that. We just got to be able to run the ball better.”
That last sentence from Mayfield was a wakeup call. That run game, so punishing last season, wasn’t there enough Sunday and didn’t show up when the starters played in the preseason.
Joe sure hopes it returns Monday night in Houston.
September 9th, 2025 at 9:07 am
We believe in you Bake!
September 9th, 2025 at 9:12 am
Reminded me of the Minnesota game in 2023
September 9th, 2025 at 9:12 am
Always the first man to take responsibility.
Even sometimes when it’s not.
Leadership.
September 9th, 2025 at 9:23 am
A combo of rust and new arrangement on the o-line. They’ll get it figured out and it won’t be long before Tristan is back in the mix.
September 9th, 2025 at 9:37 am
Do better your a vet now
September 9th, 2025 at 9:42 am
To me that shows they should play a few series in a preseason game…to knock the rust off. Even if it’s only mental I think it would help them feel game ready.
September 9th, 2025 at 9:42 am
Nobody with the Bucs will admit it, but I think Baker was off early in the game because he didn’t trust the pass pro of the new OL. Once Bake saw how well the OL, especially Barton, was doing he settled in a little. I definitely miss the short quick passing game of Coen and the resulting 28 points.
September 9th, 2025 at 9:52 am
JimBob
There sure were a lot of down the field throws that were Waaayyy off…
September 9th, 2025 at 9:53 am
There was a lot of deep balls thrown on Sunday that lacked Mayfields accuracy. Last season the Bucs thrived well in short and intermittent throws.
Next Monday’s game will focus on moving the chains with an emphasis on shorter rather than long balls.
As the injured players return a varied attack should be more effective and put the NFL on notice the Bucs are to be feared.
September 9th, 2025 at 10:03 am
That run game depends on the O line making holes to run through. That reshuffled line gave Ducky nowhere to run to. Too many moving pieces to an effective running game and with three players out of position it is just not going to work, even is pass pro held up.
September 9th, 2025 at 10:05 am
We to throw and maybe even do playaction on 1st downs, and run on any down other than 1st (like last year). And then we will have a successful running game again.
And yes, the stats from last year confirm that.
Running on 1st downs is too predictable and we get stuffed virtually every time.
September 9th, 2025 at 10:11 am
The checkdown king must have got upset with all the statistics that said he was the king of checkdowns, there is nothing wrong with checkdowns when you throw 41 tuddies brother. Just take the checkdowns more and get those easy yards. But I will take a 3 tuddy game
September 9th, 2025 at 10:12 am
Bake jumping on all the grenades
September 9th, 2025 at 10:54 am
Rough start along with some reshuffling of players. Baker came through in the end. Let’s show Houston next week!
September 9th, 2025 at 10:56 am
A real head coach needs to be with the OC and run game coordinator right now to identify the root causes of the suck and make necessary changes to improve performance.
That won’t happen unfortunately.
September 9th, 2025 at 10:57 am
Also nothing wrong with checkdowns when you have two of the best pass catching backs in the league
September 9th, 2025 at 11:01 am
No one has been commenting much on the play of the OL. Just the patchwork job.
So how did they do. Well clearly the running game was subpar but overall I didn’t see a bunch of jail breaks unleashed by the Falcons on Baker. Some of that of course is Baker’s pocket talent but IMHO overall, under the circumstances I give the OL at least a B for pass blocking if a C- or D for run blocking and able to provide a screen for outlet passes.
Hopefully the week’s experience will help.
September 9th, 2025 at 11:19 am
You don’t lose a Wirfs, and not have your run game suffer. It’s just going to. Barton not in the middle is hurting those between tackle runs. We had a very solid interior line with, Bred, Cody, and Barton. They had a season together. This interior doesn’t. One more week, I believe Wirfs plays against the Jets.
September 9th, 2025 at 11:53 am
If the entire defense knows we’re handing the ball off, our chances of a successful run plummet to almost zero.
Last year, we threw on 1st downs a majority of the time. And therefore kept the defense guessing and had a successful run game.
It’s not rocket science.
Check the stats.
September 9th, 2025 at 12:07 pm
We won, so that’s the important stat. But when you are opening your season on the road against your closest division rival, I wish our starters would have played a little bit during the preseason. Although, I’d be singing a different tune if one of them had gotten heard. I guess that’s the rub.
September 9th, 2025 at 12:12 pm
I have grown to despise run-up-the-middle-on-first-down. Especially when it opens a game. Bowles needs to wack Grizzard over the head if he calls it. You’ve got at least 2 RBs who can catch the ball as well if not better (White) than run. When Wirfs comes back, the OLine will be at full strength. Bake will be playing (I hope). Why can’t Grizzard get creative and mix things up??? Coen and Canales drove me nuts not taking full advantage of the offensive talent. Have about starting it next week against the Texans?! And why not?!!
September 9th, 2025 at 12:13 pm
*How not Have
September 9th, 2025 at 12:31 pm
3 TD’s, 0 Interceptions, 0 Fumbles….. I will take it with the W any week of the season, 19 times over again.
September 9th, 2025 at 12:39 pm
GJ Says:
September 9th, 2025 at 9:42 am
To me that shows they should play a few series in a preseason game…to knock the rust off. Even if it’s only mental I think it would help them feel game ready.
I was thinking this Exactly!
September 9th, 2025 at 12:40 pm
Lots of talk about our revamped OLine, but no one seems to be talking about Michael Jordan. We moved Bredeson over to Center, Barton over to Left Tackle, but then we added a Left Guard from … oh ya, our Practice Squad. A guy who we’d cut when deciding the final 53 just a week before.
We kept Klein as a Guard on the active roster, but he didn’t get to play. We kept Chukwuma & Heck as Tackles on the active roster, but neither of them got the starting call. Instead we went to the Practice Squad. Kudos to Michael Jordan for filling in as well as he did, but I can’t help but wonder why he was cut in the first place & why none of other 3 started.
September 9th, 2025 at 12:56 pm
D.R.
Those are great questions.
September 9th, 2025 at 1:02 pm
JimBobBuc Says:
I definitely miss the short quick passing game of Coen and the resulting 28 points.
^^^^^^
POINTS SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE …
Chase missed an easy field goal and an extra point -4
Mayfield missed a wide open Otton for at TD -7
If Chase hit his kicks: 27
If Mayfield doesn’t miss his throw: 34
September 9th, 2025 at 2:40 pm
DR…why does Bowles do a lot of things?
September 9th, 2025 at 3:04 pm
I thought you had turned a corner @aqualung.
Your comments yesterday seemed almost intelligent.
Now you want Todd to NOT focus on the defense or his DC role and instead micromanage Grizz and Carberry and the run game. ? When you’ve been bitchlng about him not being a full time DC or HC for years …… every single day 😳🤣
Really surprised you’re not blaming Todd for our kicker problem Sunday too.
Disappointed but not surprised.
September 9th, 2025 at 3:05 pm
DR – most of that has to do with who they wanted to protect (Klein and Chukwuma) from being exposed to waivers…. and Jordan being a vested veteran who does not have to go through waivers AND would get a full vet’s salary ($1.2M?) if he was on the initial 53 man roster.
Protecting young players from getting snatched and saving money is the answer to your questions….
September 9th, 2025 at 3:45 pm
The Jags ran for 200 yards at 6.3 yards per carry.
September 9th, 2025 at 3:56 pm
Thanks Pickgrin. Excellent insight.
September 9th, 2025 at 5:46 pm
Maybe it’s because we were playing away from home and the crowd noise but it seemed like we didn’t run much pre snap motion and play action. It seems that if we run more pre-snap motion it gets the defense thinking and not reacting as quickly. It also seemed the only time we used motion was in obvious passing downs to see whether Atlanta was in zone or man.
September 9th, 2025 at 6:47 pm
We have three talented RBs. All three are capable runners. All three are excellent receivers. I believe we need to utilize all three. Mix it up more and defenses can’t focus on Bucky. Mix it up so all three are fresh for the playoffs. Bucky exploded last season because he became the starter later. Don’t wear him out by putting the whole load on him. JMO