During the 2022 calendar year, quarterback Baker Mayfield was employed by three different NFL teams. He’s had one team for the 2023 season, and he’d like to stay with that team into 2024 and beyond.
“I would love that,” Mayfield told PFT by phone following the Buccaneers’ 29-25 win over the Falcons on Sunday. “God’s got a plan for me. If we win games that all should take care of itself, but I’m going to enjoy this one and then and then onto the next. We control our destiny, so it’s one-game-at-a-time mentality.”
Fueling the desire to win, one game at a time, is the notion that not many have had much faith in the Bucs this season. That becomes a natural motivation to prove that they belong in conversations from which they’ve been omitted.
“I mean, as competitors, you know, the mentality of being an underdog and nobody really giving us a chance after we lost a few close games, that’s something that you can cherish, you can harness that and really just turn all your energy and passion into this one-game-at-a-time mentality that we control our destiny,” Mayfield said. “That’s what we have to have.”
Regardless of what happens over the next four weekends for Mayfield and the Buccaneers, who finish with games against the Packers, Jaguars, Saints, and Panthers, Mayfield has reconfirmed to himself that he never backs down.
“I’m a damn fighter,” he said. “I want to have an opportunity to win ball games for us and today was one of those that you relish in the fact that you have an opportunity to win the game. We have a great group around us and you know, I appreciate that they’ve let me lead in the best way I know how and take control of this thing.”
The records don’t matter. Tampa Bay, New Orleans, and Atlanta are knotted up, with four games left to play. And of those three teams, the Buccaneers might be the best positioned to win a playoff game, given that they have the best quarterback (frankly) of the three NFC South contenders.
