What the Tampa Bay Buccaneers needed on Sunday was a bounceback game to try and get the season back on track. It only took one half for that to start happening, as the Bucs cooked the lowly New York Giants exactly the way a good team should.
Baker was masterful, throwing for 230 yards and leading some pretty fantastic offensive drives up and down the field. Tampa Bay needed to punt only once and scored every single time it entered the redzone, which helped power an all-around great first half.
Even the defense was stepping up in ways we haven't seen in a while. Granted, the competition wasn't exactly high on the other side of the field but the last thing the Bucs needed was to come out slow against one of the worst teams in the league, which thankfully didn't happen.
The entire first half was summed up in one play, though, when Baker not only cooked the Giants defense but rubbed some salt in the wound.
Baker Mayfield hits signature Tommy DeVito celebration after scoring a TD
After scoring on a mad dash quarterback scramble right before halftime, a touchdown that put the Bucs up by 23 points, Baker added insult to injury by hitting Tommy DeVito's signature celebration.
BAKER TAKES FLIGHT TO THE END ZONE.
— NFL (@NFL) November 24, 2024
📺: #TBvsNYG on CBS/Paramount+
📱: https://t.co/waVpO8ZBqG pic.twitter.com/bo6dDLA8y7
That play had everything the first half was all about: Baker Mayfield commanding the offense, Tampa Bay driving the field, New York's defense looking awful, and the Bucs scoring a touchdown.
There's still a lot of work that needs to be done before the season is officially back on track but this is exactly the get-right game the Bucs needed to have. Good teams don't fall into traps against bad ones, and while there was a justifiable amount of anxiety around the team based on how gnarly things have looked at times, this is a reminder that there's a really good team in Tampa.
Nobody is going to drop them back into the thick of the playoff conversation because they beat one of the worst teams in the league, but the confidence coming back is perhaps bigger than any win the Bucs could have gotten on Sunday.
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