Ah, here we go again. There are plenty of different types of criticism these days, and each type says something about the person inflicting the damage. For Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield, he's no stranger to the critics.
But one, in particular, is singling him out again, and in a big way. Noted Green Bay Packers personality Peter Bukowski took to socials after the team's comeback victory over the Arizona Cardinals in Week 7 and decided to call out the Bucs quarterback, because, why not?
"Coming back to beat a bad/mediocre team late has been like the entire Buccaneers season and people said Baker Mayfield was the MVP, so make sure that same energy is kept for Jordan Love doing it," he wrote.
Packers fans are threatened by Baker Mayfield and the Bucs, and that's OK
First of all, what's with the hostility towards Baker? If anything, this type of criticism screams of being threatened. Are Packers fans threatened by Mayfield and the Bucs? They certainly must be, if this is the type of energy coming from one of their top voices.
Secondly, let's make the argument that Mayfield is having another stellar season without his top two wide receivers healthy. Go ahead and throw Emeka Egbuka up there, but we're talking about former Pro Bowlers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin.
Oh, but Jordan Love is missing Jayden Reed and Christian Watson!
Wait a minute. Have Reed and Watson ever been in the same stratosphere as Evans or Godwin? No? Didn't think so. Let's move on.
Mayfield has made the aging Sterling Shepard and rookie seventh-round pick Tez Johnson look like more than enough to work with. He's still winning games, regardless of who is out there catching passes.
Oh and by the way, he's also been without stud running back Bucky Irving in recent weeks. And, for good measure, let's throw in the All-Pro tackle, Tristan Wirfs, on that list as well.
Love has a first-round wide receiver in Matthew Golden, a better tight end room led by Tucker Kraft and last year's sixth-leading rusher in Josh Jacobs (Irving was 10th). He's also playing opposite a defense led by maybe the most fearsome pass rusher in the game, Micah Parsons.
If we want to compare apples to apples, through six games, Mayfield has Love beat in yards, touchdowns, passer rating, rushing yards and wins. He's also thrown less interceptions than Love (two versus one).
If you're trying to say these two are the same player, that couldn't be further from the truth. Love has had a good season, but Baker has been better, and the numbers back it up.