Tom Brady has been in the news a lot recently, both thanks to his comments about how things ended with the New England Patriots and for how he’s trying to reconstruct the Las Vegas Raiders. Both of those things have overlapped with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and it’s brought about some reflection on the team’s quarterback luck over the last few years.
After Brady retired, Baker Mayfield came to town and the Bucs haven’t looked back since. Ever since the turn of the decade the team has managed to keep an unreal amount of luck at quarterback going, success that has largely been a foreign concept.
Tampa Bay’s quarterback history isn’t as grim as teams like the Cleveland Browns or New York Jets, but it hasn’t been great. That’s why going from Brady to Baker has been such a thrill as the consistency of winning has been a nice surprise.
Still, for as much as Baker has helped usher in this new era for the franchise there are still doubters who aren’t ready to give him the praise he’s seemingly earned.
Baker Mayfield is apparently holding the Buccaneers back as Super Bowl contenders
When he’s not co-hosting a podcast with Anthony Jeselnik, Gregg Rosenthal is breaking things down as an NFL analyst. However he channeled his pal’s darker side while taking a swipe at Baker Mayfield and the Bucs .
Rosenthal cooked up a hot take that Tampa Bay is being held back as a Super Bowl contender not because of its defense or coaching, but because of Baker.
“If they had a slightly better quarterback, I’d think they’d be in the inner circle of Super Bowl contenders,” Rosenthal said, making sure to note that he’s not trying to hate on Baker. “I think they would be in the inner circle of Super Bowl favorites if, like, Justin Herbert was their quarterback.”
Whether or not the hate was intentional, it’s still there and it’s yet another chip on the shoulder of a Bucs team that collects these kinds of grievances like firewood to burn as fuel.
Hearing stuff like this isn’t anything new for Tampa Bay, as every offseason since Brady retired has been tinged with some sort of doubt from analysts. Two years ago the team was picked to be the second-worst in the league, and last year they apparently didn’t do enough to stay as competitive as teams like the Falcons.
Despite this, the Bucs won the NFC South in each of the last two seasons and haven’t given up the crown since taking in back in 2021. At every turn, when the team is met with this sort of critique, they prove the doubters wrong.
On a long enough timeline these repetitive takes eventually come true. Tampa Bay will at some point take a step back and lose the division crown, but the team has showed no signs of slowing down yet. Things won’t always go smoothly — something fans have been very vocal about — but until the Bucs are knocked off the top it’s going to be hard to pick against them.
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