Baker Mayfield Gets The (Red?) Pen
May 8th, 2024
Bucco Bruce Arians
“Pen” is a sensitive word in some corners of One Buc Palace.
There was the alleged Bucco Bruce Arians red pen that drove Tom Brady to fits of rage. Then Arians retired/quit and Brady got the red pen. Joe remembers the 2022 San Francisco Chronicle report of Brady using it so much he was shopping for ink.
Based on the comments of Bucs quarterbacks coach Thad Lewis, who Arians hired in 2020, it seems Baker Mayfield now has the red pen and he might not have had it very often last season.
“And the end of the day, we’re going to give him the pen last,” Lewis said of Mayfield. “But we want to put him in a great position to make sure he’s making the right decisions more so than the bad decisions, you know, in helping this offense.
“So we’re going to give it to him. We’re going to see what he can do. Sometimes you gotta scale it back; sometimes you can give him more. But if you don’t give it to him you don’t know. Hats off to Liam [Coen] for doing that and also trusting Baker and empowering him. You know, because the more he [knows the offense], the more the guys can lean on him, the better the offense is and you have a player-led team and the coaches can kind of fall back.”
Lewis added that when the Bucs offense was humming late last season, it was more of a player-led, quarterback-led machine. So perhaps more empowerment of Mayfield is a good thing.
May 8th, 2024 at 8:45 am
🙏💪 who better than to understand the flow of the game than the players actually playing it. Film can not capture the essence of the man vs man especially if there is a short term weakness that film and booth goggles simply can’t measure.
May 8th, 2024 at 8:48 am
Calling 2 or 3 plays in the huddle sounds great in concept. It might be a challenge to execute. The Bucs will need to get up to the line quickly for audibles and there might be challenges for the rookies.
May 8th, 2024 at 9:03 am
That infamous red pen. Now, there’s always a kernel of truth in these things, but in this case, we are linked to Rich Ohrnberger’s fiction instead of fact.
Now, as a known satirist, you’ve got to give the guy credit for creativity.
According to him, there was some kind of beef between Brady and Arians because Brady’s had a crush on Leftwich’s playbook.
I think the 2nd linked article is more correct. Brady loved the knowledge that Arians had. He had to suffer when he was left with Leftwich for the 2022 season without Arians.
Just don’t buy the Red Pen Rebellion.
May 8th, 2024 at 9:26 am
Giving away my age, but when I started watching football ALL QBs called the plays! Baker should be at the sweet spot in his career where he can handle it. By now he’s seen it all. He’s had many different coaches to learn from, some say that’s a bad thing, I think it’s a good thing. Now maybe when there’s a run up the middle called that can’t work, Baker can check to something that does. That’s been frustrating in the past.
May 8th, 2024 at 10:11 am
I wonder what color Bowels’ pen is? Probably brown?
May 8th, 2024 at 10:27 am
BA is an offensive wizard. If anyone deserves a red pen, it’s him
May 8th, 2024 at 10:28 am
Montessori coaching. Works in soccer!
May 8th, 2024 at 11:11 am
I didn’t read the linked article. I’m guessing “The red pen” means the person with the red pen gets to augment play designs?
If so, getting input from the QB creates greater engagement and helps ensure the OC and QB are on the same page. I’m surprise TB12 didn’t just bring in his own playbook. You’re talking about a guy with more yards and TDs than anyone. No OC, Arians included, knows more about running an NFL offense than TB12.
May 8th, 2024 at 11:17 am
We started the season 4 and 7, ended the season 5 and 1.
Sounds like Lewis agrees with me that the late surge was in SPITE of coaching as opposed to because of it.
This may or may not be true, but the 2 and 7 skid just before, was undoubtedly due to coaching’s inability to adjust to issues such as injuries and their extreme game plan predictability.
Hopefully, with the offseason changes, and lessons learned(?) from last year, we will have great 2024 season!
May 8th, 2024 at 1:08 pm
With all the offensive coordinators Baker has had, he’s one of the most knowledgeable QBs in the league. His time with McVay really showed me that Baker knows his Xs and O’s.
May 8th, 2024 at 2:13 pm
Dave pear is a genuine POS!!!!
May 8th, 2024 at 2:23 pm
A QB can look around the huddle and tell who’s got the fire in their eyes. He can look across the line of scrimmage and see which defensive players look confused or gassed. A good QB will attack the weakest link. That’s one area where Brady stood out.
May 8th, 2024 at 2:25 pm
From the comments we’ve heard from coaching, it sounds like Baker will have a lot more flexibility / options at the line to check in and out of different plays. This is the sort of thing that had made guys like Manning, Brady, Rodgers, etc., so darn good as QBs… excited to see this offense!
May 8th, 2024 at 5:50 pm
Baker Mayfield is about to open up a 55 gallon drum of whup a** and poor it all over the nay sayers and opposing teams. Its going to be fun to watch. So get ready boys!!
May 8th, 2024 at 6:04 pm
So, you saw all of that in what… Just the 3-4 games he played there, Richard?
May 8th, 2024 at 6:34 pm
Arians Brady and leftwich had that offense humming very well in 20 and 21. Stats don’t lie and we put points on the board at will. 22 came without Arians and Bowles not wanting to run that system cause he said players were tired at the end of the season. Take Arians always and everything fell apart. Honestly idc if Brady liked it or not at the end of the day it got us a SB and almost a 2nd one. Arians offense was so much fun to watch even when he had Winston at the helm. BA deff the greatest coach in Bucs history I love dungy and what he did but Arians delivered
May 10th, 2024 at 10:14 am
I believe you are correct Joe. They did not give Baker the options he needed to check out of plays that were obviously doomed to failure last year. Most every fan in the stands or at home knew it at times. I could see us running into stacked boxes and was screaming for an audible or even a time out.
Same with some of the vanilla pass plays that were short of the first down marker. Screens were almost always very predictable and sniffed out easily.
From what Coen said it sounds like they are gonna not only give him the pen but they will give him multiple plays to call. Meaning he will have options in those doomed situations should they arise.
I am gonna assume that they will happen less often due to a more imaginative running game. And maybe some passes on first down.
Baker has been around long enough that it must have been a bit frustrating.
Go Bucs!