After a huge win over the Jaguars, Baker Mayfield said the right thing.
There’s no doubt that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ season has turned around, and this time there’s might not be any going back. People think that those talks won’t happen till following the season.
We had high hopes for the Buccaneers already because they were 3-1 to start the season and led the NFC South going into their bye week.
However, everyone knows what happened next: the team went through a 1-6 slump that the players are only now getting out of.
Even though the Bucs lost a few games in a row, they have now won their last three games in a way that makes them look like a dangerous playoff team.
If the Bucs beat the Saints next week, they’ll win the division and be guaranteed a spot in the playoffs. If the team we’ve seen in recent games shows up in January, it will be terrible for the rest of the NFC.
Mayfield threw for 283 yards and three touchdowns, helping the Buccaneers to an 8-7 record and one win away from the NFC South title.
It was an exciting turn in Mayfield’s career, which has included four different teams in the last year and a one-year, prove-it deal last summer.
The Buccaneers, who want to fill the almost impossible hole left by Tom Brady, or Mayfield, who wants to bring his once-promising career back to life, both stand to gain a lot from this.
“I wish I were here. “Winning games takes care of that—it’s a great city, great group of guys, and great organization,” Mayfield said.
“We’ll talk about that after the year.” Sources say the Buccaneers have not talked to Mayfield about extending his contract.
As for Mayfield’s future, coach Todd Bowles has not talked about it in public either. “He’s been outstanding,”
Bowles said. “He did a great job in December. In December, you want your quarterback to do that.
There are now a lot of plays that everyone knows. But when you need to make a play and your quarterback is doing a great job, it gives you a chance.
Baker has thrown 25 scores so far this season, which is one less than his career high of 26. He has also only thrown eight interceptions.
All season, it’s been clear that he gets along well with Mike Evans, who caught the two touchdowns against the Jaguars. But now, seven different receivers caught passes on Sunday, showing that it affects the whole system.
Mayfield is also much more comfortable throwing deep. His average completion percentage is 12.3 yards to Evans and 13.2 yards to wide target Chris Godwin, who had 79 receiving yards after 158 last week.
Also, the defense had one of its best outings of the season when it was fully healthy: safety. Antoine Winfield Jr. was only the second player in 2018 to record a sack, an interception, and a fumble recuperation in the same game.
YaYa Diaby, a rookie outside linebacker picked in the third round out of Louisville, had 1.5 sacks, two tackles over a loss, a forced fumble, and a fumble recovery.
Devin White, an inside linebacker, didn’t play against the Green Bay Packers last week even though he was medically cleared to do so.
He had an interception, a half-sack, two pass breakups, as well as two quarterback hits in the first quarter. Lavonte David, another inside linebacker, also had a sack and a tackle for a loss.