Aqib Talib Remains A Bucs Believer
November 25th, 2025
Baker Mayfield
One can always count on former Bucs, Patriots, Broncos and Rams cornerback Aqib Talib to call it straight.
Talib, who is no stranger to police detainment, Pro Bowls and Super Bowls, is candid analyst these days for The Arena — Gridiron on YouTube.
Talib is waving off anyone saying the Bucs are toast with a 6-5 record.
His primary reason is his 100 percent confidence that Baker Mayfield will give team doctors the go-ahead to shoot up his non-throwing shoulder with major pain relief and he’ll play just fine the rest of the season.
“I think the Bucs are going to get it done, man. I ain’t last all faith in Baker,” Talib said.
He added that Mayfield didn’t have a ton of help winning games early this season and he’s got more of his offensive line back now and a lot more help is on the way in the form of Bucky Irving and Mike Evans, among others.
The segment was recorded prior to the Panthers (6-6) showcasing their miserable quarterback play for the nation last night.
Talib thinks the Bucs will find their way to another division crown without a lot of stress because of an easy schedule. “The Panthers got a fu**’n gauntlet to get through,” he said.
Fellow bad-boy panelists T.J. Ward, the former Bucs and Broncos safety, and retired offensive lineman Richie Incognito think the Bucs are toast
November 25th, 2025 at 1:47 pm
one game at a time….
who can even look that far with the way we’ve played since DET…
GO BUCS!!!!
November 25th, 2025 at 1:48 pm
As the smoke settles I think if we can right the ship on offense we should be fine. Offense has got to get back to scoring points and with Godwin back and shacking the rust off we can score. Defense needs to go back and look at what they did to the team eagles in the 2nd half and try to get some of that mojo back. They’ve shown glimpses of being legit idk what happened but eagles ain’t no slouch. Havnt lost faith in em yet. Honestly this is pretty normal for everyone who’s losing it right now. We start strong then go mid season slump then finish strong. Gotta be optimistic and not so negative. To much crying from everyone. Trust me I cried to and it isn’t going to get us a new coach or win games. Bucs need to man and up and so do the fans lol
November 25th, 2025 at 1:49 pm
The defence is the main problem. They are going to make the Cardinals look like the greatest show on turf.
November 25th, 2025 at 1:49 pm
Is it good enough? Even if we make the playoffs, it is good enough? I’m thinking not. Keep improving or make major changes. Without a playoff win, I say we purge.
November 25th, 2025 at 1:50 pm
Hey Hey were the Monkees! LOL I terminated my credit crd and escaped Sunday Ticket
November 25th, 2025 at 1:51 pm
DEFENSE gotta step it up. Don’t make Brissett look like all world. He can sling it if you don’t take him off his mark. Gotta make him feel some pressure. If not? You know whats gonna happen.
November 25th, 2025 at 1:52 pm
&$ YES it is good enough for the team to get in the ‘playoffs’ That is the whole plan. Make playoffs th3en advance to
November 25th, 2025 at 1:53 pm
No worries.
The drop back OLB will keep Baker’s shoulder permanently dislodged. Baker will need to average 50 points per game not to be toast.
November 25th, 2025 at 1:57 pm
Doo Doo Doo….Dah Dah Dah….Monkees! Are we down to the Monkees? I a beliwever?
November 25th, 2025 at 1:58 pm
Put Bake in a full body cast to save him from Bowles.
November 25th, 2025 at 2:06 pm
Did he say that he believes in Bowels
November 25th, 2025 at 2:07 pm
The Bucs need a W this week. Arizona looks beatable, but then again there’s Todd Bowles leading them and calling defensive plays. We all know where that could lead to. Arizona may put up 40 points this week. If Dean is back, there may be hope. We’ll see.
November 25th, 2025 at 2:07 pm
“I ain’t last all faith in Baker,” Talib said.
I ain’t last all faith in him either. But he doesn’t play CB.
Actually, Talib would be an upgrade over McCollum.
I have last all faith in him.
November 25th, 2025 at 2:17 pm
Sports casters keep saying the Bucs will instill fear as injured players like Evans, Bucky, McMillan and others return in December. If that happens and current players remain relatively healthy all is well.
Let’s give it time to play out. On paper this makes sense, but games are won on the field and not in the Sports commentaries.
November 25th, 2025 at 2:22 pm
panthers will go 2-3 down the stretch…to an 8-9 finish…
we will prolly fin out at an unimpressive 10-7
November 25th, 2025 at 2:23 pm
No offense to Talib, but the people that follow the Bucs on this website have a way better feel for the pulse of the team. This is rock bottom for now. After AZ wins, let’s see what Talib says then. Bucs fans in the know can sense this is different. Bucs have been exposed as frauds in all three phases of the game with no hope in site other than a house cleaning that will never happen in the offseason. AZ 28 Bucs 13
November 25th, 2025 at 2:23 pm
In order for this to come true the offense with have to be ultra potent.
Simple math tells you that due to the Swiss cheese defense giving up an avaerage of 33 points a game, we’ll need to average 34+ points a game.
The paltry 19 points a game averaged will need to add at least two TD’s a game to have a chance.
A very tall task even with Baker healthy. With Bilgewater there is zero chance.
Based on logic and the current trend, I think the Cardinals come into town and blow the doors off Toilet Bowels lousy scheme.
November 25th, 2025 at 2:32 pm
If dungy got canned for not changing surely no Bowles can get canned because of the coal is too be the best of the worst division then congrats
November 25th, 2025 at 2:35 pm
Aqib Talib is a derelict…..but a likeable derelict.
November 25th, 2025 at 2:36 pm
The defense is toast. I will be on a cruise this weekend so I won’t get to see Jacoby Brissett light up Bowles defense. Probably for the best to go a weekend without the Bucs and Bowles causing me stress.
November 25th, 2025 at 2:39 pm
Me too.
And I am use to this pitiful fan base…..Ultra Bipolar
November 25th, 2025 at 2:43 pm
It’s just going to come down to Baker, if he gets hot as guys come back, the Bucs have a real chance. If he plays how he’s played since week 7, then the Bucs have no shot. Personally, I do think, as guys get healthy, Baker will heat up. This team was always going to win on offense, and if he’s not good, they don’t have a chance, and he has not been good lately – so he really needs to step it up. Hopefully he’s out there vs the Cards, since if Bucky is back and Godwin is playing the full game, I think this has a chance to be a get right game. Hopefully.
November 25th, 2025 at 2:44 pm
Being completely honest, I always thought our head coach stunk. But now I’ve lost all faith in him, and I’m waiting for an article calling him out the way he deserves to be called out. He was gifted this job and then gifted the worst division in the NFL. Do you know how many times in the last three years, if we hadn’t won this division, we would have secured a wild-card spot? Zero!!!
November 25th, 2025 at 2:50 pm
I honestly think Aqib Talib is borderline mentally disabled. He talks and acts like he is a 2nd grader. Remember the train wreck when he tried to be a commentator ?
November 25th, 2025 at 2:53 pm
baker isnt the problem
November 25th, 2025 at 2:54 pm
Rusty Shackleford Says:
November 25th, 2025 at 2:50 pm
I honestly think Aqib Talib is borderline mentally disabled. He talks and acts like he is a 2nd grader. Remember the train wreck when he tried to be a commentator ?
————
He was actually quite entertaining doing broadcasts, I’d much rather listen to him than some dullard like Chris Meyers.
November 25th, 2025 at 3:01 pm
jimmy Says:
November 25th, 2025 at 2:53 pm
baker isnt the problem
———
Vs the Lions, he was terrible, gave the team no chance.
Vs the Saints, he was meh at best.
Vs the Pats, he was bad, defense gave him the ball 3 times in the 4th quarter with a chance to take the lead, got zero points.
Vs the Rams, well everyone was bad – but he was really bad. Not Bridgewater bad, but he had a wide open e2 for an early TD, completely changes the game, and missed by a mile. Was throwing behind everyone all game, like he’s been doing for the last month.
The dopes out there pretending like Baker is playing great are why people hate the Baker Boi(s). It’s OK to criticize Baker when he plays poorly. He wants to be the man, he wants to tell everyone how great he is when they’re talking about him being a ‘dawg’, and then he always follows that up by falling flat on his face. He needs to have a good run to end the season here, and perform in the playoffs in the clutch if he wants that big huge new deal.
I actually think this is the year he’ll finally get it done – but he needs to actually do it, not just live off people chanting MVP in week 6. As I said at the time, get back to me if they’re chanting MVP in week 16, then I’ll be impressed. So time to set up.
November 25th, 2025 at 3:03 pm
Really dont want to see anyone give up.
November 25th, 2025 at 3:08 pm
Bowles is gifted 6 not-so-tough to “easy” games for the home stretch. Now we do have a few more players returning, but Evans and Godwin and even JMac weren’t exactly tearing it up when they were lost. Bucky didn’t exactly match last year either. Is Bredson going to be back? Maybe Kansey? What the heck is up with Otton? We are simply not looking like a playoff team. Only Carolina’s tough schedule is in our favor…if we can beat them at least once.
November 25th, 2025 at 3:12 pm
I agree that Talib is at least entertaining.
November 25th, 2025 at 3:14 pm
I think the most fun will be Blooper Bilgewater at QB.
November 25th, 2025 at 3:16 pm
Munch…now we get Blooper for a couple weeks at least.
November 25th, 2025 at 3:17 pm
This is the reason for DEI Parity.
November 25th, 2025 at 3:21 pm
First of all there will be no easy games left for this reeling team. After what you’ve witnessed the last month the Bucs and easy games left should not be in the same sentence. That’s absurd. This team is terrible right now across the board.
You have a HC that literally has no idea what to do to fix it. So he continues with the same garbage gameplan where one size fits all. That’s why you see the same patterns with this guy every year. He’s simply a terrible coach at this level and we’re usually beat against well coached teams before they even take the field.
November 25th, 2025 at 3:22 pm
Blooper Bilgewater and Bowles will make losing fun…..Mark it….
November 25th, 2025 at 3:24 pm
Go ahead and let em have it….The commentators can blst them when the site should remain a toss up.
November 25th, 2025 at 3:28 pm
Rod Munch Says:
November 25th, 2025 at 3:01 pm
…but he needs to actually do it, not just live off people chanting MVP in week 6. As I said at the time, get back to me if they’re chanting MVP in week 16, then I’ll be impressed. So time to set up.
exactly. he’s had a bad stretch, gotten banged up, now needs to get it done regardless of who is there blocking for him, for him to hand off to or pass to or just run the ball himself. no excuses. for any of them.
November 25th, 2025 at 3:37 pm
we’ve kind of forgot how to win
November 25th, 2025 at 3:52 pm
There are certain people here who remind me of Hanoi Hannah durimg the Vietnam war Just spew constant negativity of how “GI you are going to die tonite”.
Here, it’s the the Bucs are going to lose and they suck and everyone should be fired.
Right now the usual suspects are having a great time downing the team, while the rest of us just don’t bother speaking up.
And by the way – Trask is not going to get plucked by the Bucs off of the Falcons practice squad as someone told me they should. He hasn’t been in a practice since August when he was cut just for starters.
He wasn’t good then – and he won’t have got better by not practicing.
Sorry – and good grief have some faith in the team you support. Yeah, they could lose. But the also might win, too.
November 25th, 2025 at 4:05 pm
Clean sweep. Changes from GM on down to training staff.
It’s time.
November 25th, 2025 at 4:05 pm
Are you sure Bowles isn’t coaching the offense? Our receivers are blanketing the opposing corner backs and our Dbacks are getting great separation from their receivers.
November 25th, 2025 at 4:44 pm
I love Baker and always have, but if you can’t see him missing wide-open throws the last few weeks, you need to get off his jock. EE had a TD—if it’s not abhorrently underthrown—and that’s just the beginning. Like I said, I love Baker. I have since back at Oklahoma when he planted the flag, Loved the Moxy and Swag and I’ve been a fan ever since.
But—and it’s a huge but—he hasn’t looked GREAT since all the MVP talk. He literally has a meme made about him and the cycle of Baker Mayfield. He needs to win a Super Bowl or have a consistently good season at this point, or as much as I love him, it’s unfortunately the same old Baker—which is basically Jamies Winston. Which he would still be here if he had any sort of defense. Look at the stats side by side….
November 25th, 2025 at 5:03 pm
Josh. I don’t think Bakers play this last month has anything to do with the MVP buzz. I think it’s the entire team has something going on and it’s affected the locker room. Saying he’s basically Jameis Winston is a bit of a blow. But I sure wish we had Jameis as a backup. The dude has the talent and he’s fun to watch. I’ve always liked him. He’s had a solid career too.
November 25th, 2025 at 5:21 pm
Just saw the Annual Bucs O-line Turkey giveaway on Channel 8 news. Baker was there holding his daughter with both arms, and he did NOT have a sling on.
Talib was right – he may well play this weekend.
Have some faith.
November 25th, 2025 at 5:37 pm
I can’t panic at this point. Before the season I had the Bucs 6-5 at this point and heading to a six-game win streak based on easy schedule. So this is going according to plan, scary as it is.
Then the defense just has to get in sync and hot come January. Could happen, it has before.
November 25th, 2025 at 5:43 pm
Baker Mayfield is basically a more compact (shorter), “white-framed” version of Jameis Winston — not as a knock, but as a compliment to both guys. If Jamies could cut down on turnovers and play consistently, he’d easily contend among the best quarterbacks in NFL history. Baker has seemingly fixed his turnover issues and just needs to play more consistently.
**Statistical Comparison: Mayfield vs. Winston**
* **Career Passer Rating**: Mayfield ~91.8 vs. Winston ~86.4
* **Career TDs / INTs**: Mayfield 184 / 92 over 114 games vs. Winston 154 / 112 over 106 games
Mayfield has a slightly better TD-to-INT ratio and higher overall passer rating, suggesting a higher ceiling when he’s playing well.
1. If Winston had played behind Mayfield’s supporting cast — strong offensive line and steady defense — he likely would’ve posted a similar record to what the Bucs have achieved. Depending on how the turnovers impacted the game. Hence negative plays weighing more than positive plays do.
2. Mayfield has demonstrated elite-level performance in spurts; when he avoids mistakes, his efficiency and production stack up favorably against the best in the league.
3. Both quarterbacks are high-risk, high-reward, but Mayfield’s career efficiency suggests he may be more capable of sustained success if he continues to minimize turnovers.
Baker Mayfield isn’t just “like” Jameis Winston — he’s a leaner, more efficient version of the same gunslinger archetype. With a **91.8 career passer rating** versus Winston’s 86.4, and a better TD-to-INT ratio over more games, Mayfield has shown he can match Winston’s upside while limiting the downside (which if you follow the old Dungy metrics is more important a.k.a. a punt isnt a bad play a turnover is).
So If either QB could consistently play mistake-free with a solid supporting cast, they’d be among the league’s elite, not fringe contenders. Jameis for all intensive purposes honestly has a better QBR than Baker… He’s not a bad QB that Bucs defense was just as bad if not worse than what we are seeing now.
November 25th, 2025 at 6:18 pm
To be clear, I’m not down on Baker – he’s the only chance the team has. But the Baker Boi(s) who just non-stop deflect and say he’s never the problem when things go wrong, are the same ones who say he’s single handedly responsible for all success. My comments are aimed at those dummies for the most part, as they’re just annoying and add nothing to any conversation. I don’t see anyone doing that in this thread, just in case you think anything I’m saying is about you (whoever is reading this).
With that said, I do actually think this is the year Baker comes through in the big moments. He was doing it earlier this year, but had his typical mid-year slump. Time to snap out of it, and have a strong run to close out the season. If Baker is playing well, and we’re getting back Evans and Kancey, and Bucky and Godwin are healthy – and we’re getting back some offensive lineman so we’re not using a practice squad throw away from another team as a starter – if that happens, I do think they have a legit chance to really turn things when it matters most as that is a ton of ALL-PRO level talent to get back. Remember the Lightning getting back Kucherov going into the playoffs and how that sparked a run – that could be a similar type of story — hopefully.
But it does come down to Baker playing better – and if he has better weapons, that should allow him to do that. Losing all the offensive talent the Bucs have so far this year would make almost all QBs look bad – and Baker has mostly not looked bad, so that’s telling in my opinion.
November 25th, 2025 at 6:23 pm
Talib must have been high
November 25th, 2025 at 6:33 pm
Josh – as for the Winston vs Baker comparison…
They’re not at all comparable QBs. I love Winston, but I was absolutely OK with when they let him go since it meant signing Brady – which was a no-brainer.
But the comparison …
Baker is not a gunslinger – not really sure why he has the rep. He reminds me much more of a Jeff Garcia style of QB who relies more on accuracy and keeping plays alive.
Winston however is absolutely a gunslinger, which is why I like him. He’s the anti-Derek Carr, he’s never going to just toss the ball out the back of the end zone on 4th down to protect his stats, he’s going to just give his guys to make a play, even if it’s hopeless. I saw him time and time again do that here at the end of games.
The big difference between the two is that Winston literally had the worst defense in football from 2015-2019, his years with the Bucs. Additionally, he had the worst kicking game from 2015-2019. Additionally, the Bucs played the hardest schedule from 2015-2019. Winston’s NFC South was going up against three HOF QBs in Brees, Ryan and Newton, not the garbage QBs that make up the rest of the NFC South since 2021, where you win the division by just showing up. Had Winston played with the current roster and defense, he too would be winning the NFC South every year.
With that said, last year, in Coen’s offense, Baker had a career year and looked awesome in it – was a perfect fit. But that was a short passing game offense, keeping the play alive – thus the Jeff Gracia comparison. He was not being a gunslinger. It’s also the reason all offseason when people said the Grizz was going to open things up and take more deep shots – I pointed out that’s a terrible idea, Coen was doing that early and stopped doing it because Baker wasn’t good at it. Meanwhile, Winston, in that same offense, is a terrible fit.
But in the Arians offense, Winston was a natural fit, a deep ball, risk it or biscuit style, that’s where he’s good. And people talk about 30 INTs, its the same scheme that Manning threw 28 INTs in his first year in it, and Brady had a career high number of INTs in his first year in it as well. That’s what high risk, high reward is all about. Baker in that offense would be a terrible fit since even though he has plenty of arm, he’s not very accurate on downfield throws, tends to get happy feet and hold the ball too long as well – whereas in that deep ball offense you just have to air it out and hope for the best a lot of times. That’s not Baker, which isn’t a bad thing, just a different style of QB.
November 25th, 2025 at 6:45 pm
WELL THEN LET’S MAKE TALIB THE NEXT COACH & ANTONIO THE NEXT OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR!🫣🤣🫣🤣🫣🤣 I’m sure that would go well.
November 25th, 2025 at 7:20 pm
There are only two possible outcomes Sunday. The Bucs will continue their miserable play and the Cardinals will win and we will all be sick to our stomachs. The second is the Bucs come out looking like Super Bowl contenders and blow the doors off of Arizona. Which one it will be will depend on the team. Do they come out of the gate playing 90 mph with their hair on fire or do they look like they are already thinking about where they will go on vacation after the seasons over.
November 25th, 2025 at 8:08 pm
Carolinas qb will best all of his career numbers against this silly defense. So we have is hope. Fire Bowles!
November 25th, 2025 at 8:59 pm
Urgency. Need to find some, ASAP. Need a W.
November 25th, 2025 at 9:07 pm
Rod
Bakers accuracy lasted about six weeks. Maybe because of injury, but the last two weeks he’s missed.. a lot.
November 25th, 2025 at 11:20 pm
Jmarkbuc Says:
November 25th, 2025 at 9:07 pm
Rod
Bakers accuracy lasted about six weeks. Maybe because of injury, but the last two weeks he’s missed.. a lot.
———–
It’s been more than the last two weeks, that game vs the Lions is right at the top of the list of awful games Baker has played since he’s been here.
But he seems to do this every year. Starts of strong, everyone tells him how great he is, then he tells everyone how great he is, then he falls flat on his face. The past two years, though, he has picked it up after that mid-season slump, so I expect him to do it again. If he wants a new deal, he’s going to need to get hot, and win a game or two in the playoffs. Otherwise it’s just playing out his contract next year and seeing what he does – which might be the best thing to do, to see if he can in fact perform under pressure when it matters. At the same time, if there’s a big skid to end this year, and Baker never snaps back and they want to do a rebuild – watching the Jags play – and I’m certain they’d give up a fortune to get Baker since Lawrence has been terrible and really held that team back. I’m not saying to talk trade, just saying IF the team goes on a slid, misses the playoffs, and Baker isn’t happy playing out his deal and the Bucs decide it’s rebuild time, then hold the Jags up for a ransom as I think they’d pay it since they’d be one of the top teams in the NFL right now if they got good QB play.
November 26th, 2025 at 1:00 am
Rod, that Detroit game was a tough one for Baker. Losing Evans to that collarbone when he dropped that pass shook Mayfield up I’m sure. Remember Mike got injured dropping that td pass against Baltimore to go up 17-0 Mayfield got shook and had a tough game. Same game Godwin went down and you can’t say we’ve had Godwin back since that Baltimore game. So we’ve sure won alot of games since that Baltimore game, haven’t we, Rod? I mean, not our top 2 receivers. They’ve pretty much been down. I don’t know how Baker has done it, especially with the Oline we’ve been running. At least we’ve had our 1200 yard rusher. Oh, wait. You’ve gone far enough with your BS about Mayfield Rod. You can surely find something else to talk about.
November 26th, 2025 at 2:27 am
Kenton Smith – Did you actually read to the end of what I wrote? Because I literally said much of what you did. Instead of reading only a couple of lines, get to the end, see if there’s a journey being taken or, perhaps, a point being made.
November 26th, 2025 at 6:03 am
Let me first say that, in the beginning of the season when we had all of our pieces in place. We were a great team. Now, we had the preseason to warm up and get in shape and run those plays in repetition. That would take us to the next level. With four to six guys sitting out due to injury, it’s not like they have preseason to warm up again and get back into the swing of things. If they do return, without the luxury of preseason warmup, I hope that they can play at the same level going into this final stretch.