The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are in the middle of a special season from quarterback Baker Mayfield, as the former No. 1 overall pick might be putting together a stretch that is even more impressive than a 2024 campaign in which he threw 41 touchdowns and led the Bucs to a division title.
Tampa Bay needed every iota of quality from Mayfield in their duel against Sam Darnold and the Seattle Seahawks, as a four-touchdown performance from another 2018 NFL Draft reclamation project pushed this team to its limit. It took Mayfield to uncork perhaps his finest individual passing game for Tampa Bay to pull out the win.
Mayfield completed 29 of his 33 passes for 379 yards and two touchdowns, showing taht he was willing to stretch the Seattle defense vertically. Mayfield piled up the yards, but he did so with accuracy that was so good it was unquestionably historic. How did the Bucs ever get so lucky with Mayfield as their starter?
Mayfield became the first quarterback in NFL history to throw for more than 375 yards in a game while throwing fewer than five incomplete passes. Doing this on the road in a tough environment against a brutal Seattle defense without Mike Evans makes this even more unbelievable.
Baker Mayfield makes history with ultra-efficient game vs. Seahawks
Mayfield has been putting up sterling numbers in Tampa Bay with yet another offensive coordinator after Dave Canales and Liam Coen earned head coaching jobs elsewhere. Somehow, Mayfield might be performing his best under new head man Josh Grizzard.
It's not unrealistic to suggest that Mayfield at least needs to be in the MVP consideration. Despite a below-average defense necessitating multiple fourth-quarter comeback performances, Mayfield has consistently answered the call. Without Mayfield, is this team even above .500 at this point?
With Emeka Egbuka emerging as one of the best young wide receivers in the game and Bucky Irving continuing his rise up the NFL's proverbial ladder, it stands to reason that Tampa has built something very sustainable with Mayfield at the tip of the spear.
Mayfield is not only leading this team to gritty wins against teams who claim to be contenders in the NFC, but he is doing so while seemingly ironing out the weaknesses that put a cap on his potential when he was with Cleveland. Mayfield is getting better, which means the sky is the limit for him.