4 plays Baker Mayfield made in Week 2 to silence the haters

One of the main talking points around the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this offseason was how hilarious it was that the team was going from Tom Brady to Baker Mayfield.

As soon as the Bucs signed Baker back in March, every Twitter comedian had the same lame joke about the optics of the deal. Pundits lazily got in on the bad humor too, using Mayfield as further evidence that Tampa Bay deserved to be written off before the season even started.

Once the season did start, though, Baker has flipped the script. Through the first two weeks, the Bucs have been getting the last laugh with Mayfield letting his play on the field do all of the talking necessary to clap back at the haters.

Baker followed up a gutsy performance in Week 1 with another solid game against the Bears that featured both a win for the Bucs and more evidence that all of the offseaosn negativity was horribly misguided.

4 plays Baker Mayfield made in Week 2 over Bears to silence the haters

Baker did a lot of work through the air in Week 2, finishing the afternoon with 317 yards and a touchdown, but most crucially without a single turnover. This is made even more impressive considering how much he used his legs to get extend plays and get out of danger.

Baker didn’t get sacked once by the Bears defense, despite the fact that he was in a few different prickly situations he needed to get out of. Right out of the gate on the Bucs first drive of the game, the Bears defense looked like it had Baker dead to rights only to watch him slip out of a sack and sramble for positive yardage.

He did this a few different times throughout the game, and while we didn’t have any stiff arms we did have more angry runs including one that saw him draw a personal foul penalty on the Bears.

On perhaps the most impressive of his many scrambles, Baker pulled off a Mahomesian sidearm throw that took a broken play and turned it into positive yards. Not only that, but it keeps the Bucs drive going and led to another highlight moment just a few plays later.

No need to adjust your screen for this first one, it’s not some sort of deep fake where Baker Mayfield was overlayed on a Patrick Mahomes highlight.

This one was a tough one for the haters to stomach:

Not only was that just an insane throw for Baker to make, but it helped set up something even more impressive a few plays later. That sidearm throw was cotton candy, where his touchdown throw to Mike Evans to extend the Bucs lead to 20-13 was a juicy steak dinner.

Evans did his part to reel in the touchdown and contribute to the highlight, but Baker threw a dime that was right on the money in double coverage.

Baker finished Sunday’s win over the Bears with his seventh-best completion percentage in a game, his best QB rating since he was with the Rams, and the most yards since Week 1 of his last season in Cleveland.

The fact that he hasn’t yet turned over the ball is perhaps the most impressive stat he has through the first two weeks. Tampa Bay needed someone to help not only get the offense back on track but help it stay out of its own way — something Baker has done masterfully through the first two weeks.

Bucs fans watched dumb mistakes sink the season last year, and skeptics assumed Baker would continue that trend. Instead, he’s played smart, mistake-free football and the result has been phenomenal.

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