Back in 2022, the Rams claimed Baker Mayfield on waivers when he was released by the Panthers in early December.
Just two days later, Mayfield didn’t start a Thursday night game against the Raiders. But after John Wolford played the first three offensive snaps, it was Mayfield the rest of the way as he improbably led a 98-yard drive to complete a comeback and beat Las Vegas 17-16.
Mayfield ended up starting the last four games of the season for the Rams before signing with the Bucs in free agency.
This week, Mayfield will face the Rams for the first time since he played for the club when Tampa Bay plays Los Angeles on Sunday night.
In his Monday news conference, L.A. head coach Sean McVay noted that even with the short time and unique circumstances, Mayfield was a fun guy to be around.
“He’s got a lot of resilience. He’s got a lot of natural leadership traits,” McVay said, via transcript from the team. “I just remember a guy that had a pretty impressive mental stamina over a small period of time to absorb a lot of information. It’s one thing to absorb it, it’s a totally different thing to be able to bring it to life when the enemy has a say. It was impressive. I think when you watch what he’s done and who he is, I think it’s probably more on par for what we expect of Baker than the outlier when you look at the totality of everything he’s done.
“I thought he brought a spark. He just has a great charisma and presence,” McVay added. “It was obviously cool to be able to get that result after what had been a challenging season. That’s who he is. It’s the same things that make Matthew [Stafford] great, too. That’s what Matthew does for our team. I think when you have certain guys that are innately thrust into leadership positions, whether that be the quarterback or the green dot on defense and those guys have the things you’re looking for, they naturally elevate the spaces that they’re in and the people that they’re around. That’s what guys like Matthew and Baker do.”
Mayfield completed 64 percent of his passes for 850 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions in his five games with Los Angeles in 2022.
In 10 games this season, Mayfield has completed 64 percent of his throws for 2,365 yards with 17 touchdowns and three interceptions.
When the Buccaneers got the ball at their own 20-yard line with 38 seconds remaining, trailing the Bills 44-32, Bucs head coach Todd Bowles sent backup quarterback Teddy Bridgewater onto the field to kneel down, ending the game.
As improbable as a comeback win would have been with less than a minute left in a two-possession game, it was an interesting decision for Bowles not to at least try to win — and interesting especially because Bowles has found himself on both sides of criticism about whether or not to keep playing late in what looks like a losing cause.
The most prominent criticism of Bowles came after the Bucs’ playoff loss in Detroit two years ago, when the Lions faced a fourth down and the Bucs simply walked off the field and accepted a 31-23 loss to the Lions, rather than calling timeout and forcing the Lions to run a fourth-down play. The Lions probably would have kicked a field goal to effectively seal the game, and even if the Lions had missed the field goal the Buccaneers would’ve had a tough time scoring a touchdown, making a two-point conversion and winning in overtime, but Bowles was still criticized for not even giving his team that chance.
On the other hand, last season Bowles was also criticized when starting wide receiver Chris Godwin was injured catching a pass against the Ravens, with a minute left and the Buccaneers trailing by 10. Bowles may have been considering the injury risk when he decided not to try to score on Sunday against the Bills.
Most head coaches do things differently. To use other examples from Sunday, the Bengals were still throwing passes with their first-string offense in the final seconds of Sunday’s 34-12 loss to the Steelers. The Cardinals were still throwing passes with their first-string offense while trailing the 49ers 41-22 late in the fourth quarter.
There’s not always a clear-cut correct choice when trying to mount an improbable comeback, at the risk of an injury to a key player. But Bowles has found himself in that position repeatedly, and made choices that drew scrutiny.
With the Buccaneers trailing 37-32 and facing fourth-and-2 at their own 39-yard line with 7:26 remaining in the fourth quarter on Sunday, analytics said to go for it. Bucs coach Todd Bowles decided to punt.
That decision did not work out: The Bills got the ball after the punt and marched down the field on an eight-play, 85-yard drive that ended with a Josh Allen touchdown run that effectively ended the game. Giving the ball back to Josh Allen when you need a stop to have a chance is a risky move, but Bowles said he believed his defense could contain Allen and the Bills’ offense, and give the Bucs a chance to score late.
“I thought we’d get a good punt and hold them down there. Obviously it didn’t work out,” Bowles said.
Bowles said that if it had been fourth-and-1, the Buccaneers might have gone for it, so it was a close call. It was a call the Bucs might like to have back.
Former NFL receiver Antonio Brown was formally arraigned on Monday, on a charge of attempted murder. During the hearing, prosecutors confirmed a point made here over the weekend.
Brown faces a sentence of up to 30 years in prison.
Via the Associated Press, Brown appeared by videoconference for the arraignment. His lawyer, Mark Eiglarsh, reiterated Brown’s prior plea of not guilty.
During the hearing, Assistant State Attorney Stephanie Cruz said the involvement of a firearm doubles the 15-year sentence for second-degree attempted murder. She also confirmed that the charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years.
The incident happened at a Miami celebrity boxing event in May. Eiglarsh said Brown used a personal weapon and fired shots that were not aimed at anyone. The broader defense is that Brown was defending himself from a physical attack and robbery attempt.
Brown has been placed on house arrest pending trial. The next hearing is set for December 22. No trial date has been set.
The Buccaneers were able to take the ball away from Josh Allen and the Bills three times in Buffalo on Sunday, but none of those takeaways came in the fourth quarter of the game.
After Sean Tucker’s touchdown run put the Bucs up 32-31 with 13:38 to play, the Bucs gave up back-to-back touchdown drives of 86 and 70 yards. Those scores pushed the Bills to a 44-32 win and the inability of the defense to get off the field rankled head coach Todd Bowles.
“You score 32 points, you’re supposed to win the game,” Bowles said, via the team’s website.
Allen threw for three touchdowns and ran for three more while creating a number of big plays over the course of the afternoon. Bowles said the reasons for the breakdowns varied and that the team has a lot to clean up as a result.
“Sometimes it’s coverage, sometimes it’s pass rush,” Bowles said. “But at the same time, it’s got to get fixed. We’re playing hard, but then we have lapses here and missed tackles there, and we give up big plays. That’s what happened in the second half and two times in the first half. When we’re covering, we can’t get to the quarterback; when we get to the quarterback, we’re covering wrong on the play. We’ll get that fixed going forward.”
The Bucs have now lost three of their last four game and hold a half-game lead on the Panthers in the division heading into another tough road game against the Rams in Week 12. Bowles said he thinks the team is in a “good place mentally” as they try to fix what’s been ailing them, but the proof will have to come on the field for the season to end with another NFC South crown.
