After being served a slice of humble pie last weekend with a loss to the New England Patriots, Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield lit into his teammates and the entire organization as a whole, demanding more accountability and pride from everyone involved in the 28-23 defeat.
That obviously included himself, as Mayfield didn't exactly enjoy a banner day at the office, getting outdueled by young MVP candidate Drake Maye. Mayfield's forced passes and suboptimal reading of the game did hold the Bucs back, but Baker was also dealing with a litany of key injuries around him.
Arguably the more disappointing member of the Bucs offense than Mayfield was offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard, who drew the ire from fans for continued inconsistent playcalling and an abandonment of the running game while relying too heavliy on screens.
Grizzard may have been one of the people Mayfield was calling out after the Patriots game, and, to his credit, the young offensive coordinator appears to be taking on some of that accountability that his star quarterback was asking for.
Baker Mayfield needs to see killer instinct
Ahead of another huge matchup against an AFC East Super Bowl contender in the Buffalo Bills, Grizzard stated, via Bucs official site beat writer Scott Smith, that he is in agreement with Mayfield's comments. Grizzard believes the Bucs offense needs to do a better job of replicating the things it is doing well in practice on gamedays.
It sounds like Grizzard shares Mayfied's vision for an offense that has more of a killer instinct, and whenever a quarterback starts talking about wanting more accountability, he's speaking directly to the people above him. And one of the first people above Mayfield in the pecking order is the offensive coordinator.
Going back to Mayfield's days with the Cleveland Browns, one thing the quarterback can't stand is people who don't want to win as badly as he does, and that's where a lot of the falling out with his first organization stemmed from. So it's important that Grizzard is quickly on board with what Mayfield is selling to everyone and taking steps to moving in the right direction.
Accountability, of course, has to start with the person asking for it, and Mayfield will be tested in a big way against an even better quarterback this weekend in Bills signal caller Josh Allen, the reigning NFL MVP. Grizzard is on board to support him, based on what he's saying, and that's really what Mayfield is asking for here. Some help.