Baker Mayfield’s Playoff Passer Rating
June 20th, 2026
Wild statistic on Baker Mayfield.
Joe is offering up the following not as an absolute, but for open and frank discussion concerning the Bucs and quarterback Baker Mayfield.
From the Twitter feed of the notorious Dov Kleiman (interesting that many of the well-know, self-inflated members of the #NFLMedia fourth estate rag on Kleiman regularly, but when one of their own gets busted breaking one of the highest canons of journalism ethics, sleeping with your married-to-another-woman source, it’s crickets from the very same self-anointed defenders of democracy) comes a graphic that highlights two interesting numbers from Mayfield.
Would you believe (said in a Maxwell Smart voice) Mayfield has the highest playoff passer rating of any quarterback in the league?
Joe doesn’t put any stock into passer ratings. Why? Go look at career passer ratings.
Anyone over the age of 12 knows Steve Young was a better quarterback than Saint Lamar Jackson, Tom Brady was a better quarterback than Deshaun Watson, Dan Marino was better than Tua Tagovailoa, Joe Montana was better than Derek Carr, Roger Staubach was better quarterback than Teddy Bridgewater, Terry Bradshaw was better than Geno Smith … and on and on and on the list goes. But quarterback ratings would tell you otherwise.
So quarterback ratings, despite what Joe Buck thinks, are unadulterated horse manure.
What matters to Joe is the second number on this list below and that is postseason record.
Still, Joe expects some people who love to parrot quarterback ratings will be the first to holler if the Bucs sign Mayfield to a contract extension.
We’ll see how much stock the Bucs put in quarterback ratings in the next few months.
June 20th, 2026 at 11:17 am
Well – that settles it…
Baker is the best QB in NFL history.
We are so lucky..
June 20th, 2026 at 11:22 am
Passer ratings don’t when championships.
June 20th, 2026 at 11:25 am
That ratings is based off 5 of 128 total NFL games played. Just under 4% of all of NFL games Mayfield has played, who puts any stock in that?
June 20th, 2026 at 11:31 am
People who give massive weight to QB playoff wins should do the same for QB playoff ratings. Personally, I think the sample size is too small to matter for both.
June 20th, 2026 at 11:34 am
Been telling folks it’s all about wins
GO BUCS
June 20th, 2026 at 11:50 am
He doesn’t need that nugget to prove he’s a very good quarterback who has performed well on mostly crap teams and organizations and for crap coaches his entire career with the exception of 5 games with Sean McVay and 1 year with Liam Coen who was only the OC, not the HC! Context always matters Steve Young was caca until he went to the 49ers, Staubach played for the great Tom Landry and the Cowboys, Joe Montana played for Bill Walsh and the 49ers. Tom Brady played for Bill Belichick, Terry Bradshaw played for those great Steeler teams coached by Chuck Noll and fielded almost an entire team of Hall of Fame players and Marino played for Don Shula. They were all great quarterbacks to be sure but they would not have accomplished anything close to what they did if they had to play for any of the crappy teams in the league in their respective eras. Notice how most played for just one team and one head coach. Stop looking for reasons to denigrate this quarterback.
June 20th, 2026 at 11:52 am
No doubt, you’ve got to have the team, and the team needs to be healthy and hitting on all cylinders finishing the season. These passer ratings are individual statistics that show who the top dogs are when the lights are brightest and the games mean the most. I’d say top to bottom, the list looks very accurate.
June 20th, 2026 at 11:53 am
And I’m not saying that Baker is in the same class as any of those all time greats.
June 20th, 2026 at 11:56 am
Brian Sorsby in the supplemental draft with the Bucs 2027 1st round pick?
Bold or go home.
This is not a reflection on resigning Baker to the contract he deserves but a strategic long term move
June 20th, 2026 at 12:15 pm
So, football is a TEAM sport; offense, defense & STs!?
Baker has the ability. His QBR is especially impressive given that he receives a new OC every year. He has to get better in clutch moments, however. I think it would help if he took preparation as seriously as Brady did, not that Baker doesn’t but, Brady’s hyper-intense preparation allowed him to compensate for physical deficiencies and made him Brady.
It REALLY wouldn’t hurt if his HC/DC knew how to build a defense or make adjustments to it, either.
June 20th, 2026 at 12:26 pm
Does anyone here think Sam Darnold was the best QB in the NFL last season? Wins are team statistics, qb rating and passing TD’s and yards are QB statistics. Baker excels at his job, which is passing the football. Put together a rock solid team around him and you win a super bowl just like with other elite QB’s.
June 20th, 2026 at 12:27 pm
We’ve got a new offensive coordinator. He was a QB. We have a new passing game coordinator. He and Zac were NFL QBs. We also have a new QBs coach, young and a college quarterback. Baker oughta learn something from them, but, more importantly in my opinion, can we develop one of our 3 backups into a solid NFL quarterback. I think this kid from Kansas has some stuff, let’s see how he and Browning compete. Our offense should be made to make a QB successful.
June 20th, 2026 at 12:32 pm
I wouldnt go more than a 3rd for Soresby….sorry, thats way too much of a distraction. Think about it….if he’s betting against his own guys on his team? in that locker room will be so much crap….For me, he would have to show signs of no addiction to ANYTHING, especially gambling, going to gambling anonymous classes, talking about how he’s turned things around….and thats just the start. Then build from there. Because of the distraction, I dont think he’ll get more than a 3rd. But someone will probably bid a 2nd because of “potential”.
June 20th, 2026 at 12:37 pm
The fact Baker has won two playoff games, one for the Browns and one for Bowles, is impressive. The Browns very nearly beat the Chiefs the year Baker led them to the second round, too.
With a strong team and good coach he’d be plenty good. It’s not easy finding a QB when you don’t have one, so keeping him should be a priority.
June 20th, 2026 at 12:41 pm
Cue Floormatt to cite the above graphic that Baker is better than Mahomes. 🙄
June 20th, 2026 at 12:42 pm
Its a team sport.
That is why I do not want to see crazy money spent on anyone, including Baker, unless big chunks of it are tied to performance.
June 20th, 2026 at 12:51 pm
Joe has a hypothesis and makes an argument but comes to a false conclusion.
The reason that people from the last few years have higher passer ratings than those of past history is because the way football rules and the game has changed.
It’s not only passer rating these guys are higher at but it also includes:
1. Completion percentage.
2. Total TDs
3. Total passing Yards.
4. Less interceptionss,
5. Yards per passing attempt.
and on and on.
My gosh what a weakly supported premise.
June 20th, 2026 at 1:02 pm
The only statistics that matter are wins and Super Bowl rings.
Give me Trent Dilfer and Brad Johnson over Dan Marino and Jim Kelly any day.
June 20th, 2026 at 1:32 pm
“Surely you can’t be serious.”
“I am serious… and don’t call me Shirley.”
June 20th, 2026 at 1:34 pm
@ toopanca
“Its a team sport.”
I agree 100%.
Baker struggled and was probably injured after week 9 or so.
The O-line was a mess.
The WR room was a mixed bag of injured and rookie players.
The TE room was below mediocre.
Our best RB was injured most of the season.
It is a team sport and this team sucked after the bye week.
June 20th, 2026 at 1:45 pm
Joe is comparing apples to apple pie.
Teams win games, especially playoff games. Not A coach, not A player.
Baker critics appreciate you chumming the waters tho….. Now they won’t have to make plans for the day.
June 20th, 2026 at 1:54 pm
Playing with numbers is a mathematicians game. They can twist the numbers to achieve their goal whether it’s true or not.
I was a Federal Bank Examiner for the Comptroller of the Currency, U S Treasury Department. I witnessed how Banks twisted numbers to hide fraudulent events from the Bank examiners. It was my job to verify the accuracy of their numbers. Part of my job training was to verify the bank’s books. Little did the Banks know that the Quartely reports sent to the banks pin pointed
numerous red flags for the Vank examiners to prioritize.
If you understand numbers they can’t fool you. In Football.the game is played on the field. Usually the better teams win. On the field you can’t fake results.
June 20th, 2026 at 1:55 pm
Playing with numbers is a mathematicians game. They can twist the numbers to achieve their goal whether it’s true or not.
I was a Federal Bank Examiner for the Comptroller of the Currency, U S Treasury Department. I witnessed how Banks twisted numbers to hide fraudulent events from the Bank examiners. It was my job to verify the accuracy of their numbers. Part of my job training was to verify the bank’s books. Little did the Banks know that the Quartely reports sent to the banks pin pointed
numerous red flags for the Vank examiners to prioritize.
If you understand numbers they can’t fool you. In Football.the game is played on the field. Usually the better teams win. On the field you can’t fake results. Either you are good or not. That’s why only two teams make the Super Bowl.
June 20th, 2026 at 2:17 pm
LOL!
Meanwhile, go look at the QBR numbers, that don’t give you credit for dumping off the ball to a RB for 3 yards on 3rd and 9.
June 20th, 2026 at 2:34 pm
The “wins and rings are all that matter” argument falls apart the second you apply it consistently.
By that logic, Trent Dilfer was a better quarterback than Dan Marino, which nobody actually believes. Marino retired with virtually every meaningful passing record of his era. Dilfer was along for the ride on one of the greatest defenses in NFL history.
Modhairken
Football is the ultimate team sport. Rings measure organizations, rosters, coaching staffs, and timing as much as they measure quarterbacks.
If wins and rings were the only statistics that mattered, then Brad Johnson was better than Marino, Kelly, Fouts, Moon, Rivers, and a long list of Hall of Famers. That’s not an argument—it’s a bumper sticker.
Championships matter. They’re part of the conversation. But pretending individual performance, talent, and production don’t matter is how you end up arguing that Trent Dilfer belongs in the same sentence as Dan Marino.
June 20th, 2026 at 3:47 pm
Passer Rating has value if you compare those ratings only among peers in any given era. As far as Baker having the highest passer rating in the playoffs among active qb’s, it means little because the sample size is too small. One bad performance in a playoff game in the future and he would be far down on the list. At he same time you can’t take away from the fact that so far in his career he’s played well in the playoffs.