Sam Darnold Is No Baker Mayfield
January 14th, 2025
So last night Joe watched Sam Darnold eat sack after sack against the Rams, nine total.
It was like Joe tackling the midnight fried chicken fingers served in The Licht House press box.
Joe has no love for the Vikings or Rams yet was heard shouting, “Get rid of the damn ball.” It started to feel like the game was fixed.
First, officials mysteriously overruled a Rams fumble (video below), and then Darnold refused to throw the ball away.
Joe brings this up because week after week, the 2024 edition of Darnold was compared to Baker Mayfield.
Both were castoff quarterbacks and prime first-round picks. They were on the same Carolina roster in 2022 and both are in their late 20s.
The difference? Mayfield played great ball during his two-game playoff run last season on his new team. Darnold was dreadful last week against Detroit (essentially a playoff game) and last night in his first playoff foray. Mayfield also was good Sunday night except for one brutal fumble.
Joe is very pleased the Bucs have Mayfield, who is a true franchise quarterback turning 30 this year. He’s not a top-5 quarterback, but he’s certainly a top-10 guy. And the Bucs have him relatively cheap for the next two seasons.
The Vikings aren’t quite sure what they have other than a quarterback controversy with free agent Darnold and injured rookie J.J. McCarthy.
Incomplete pass or touchdown?? Stafford says he threw this forward. pic.twitter.com/826KfclEUK
— Rate the Refs App (@Rate_the_Refs) January 14, 2025
January 14th, 2025 at 9:40 am
That happens when you focus on the Dline with DOGS. Verse and Fiske were home run picks for them.
January 14th, 2025 at 9:43 am
Well said BuckyBuc!
January 14th, 2025 at 9:49 am
Dogs and not JV players or players on the bench every year (Dean).
January 14th, 2025 at 9:54 am
@JOE where is the video of the Rams Fumble? both videos are the Vikings fumble
January 14th, 2025 at 9:55 am
🤣🤣🤣 why isn’t he he found lighting in a bottle just like Mayfield and both of them are home 1 and done in the playoffs. Minnesota should actually let him walk its a reason he’s been on 4 teams choking in big games. The jury is still out on Mayfield but he threw a pick to end our season last year and fumbled in a crucial time this year so don’t be so quick to say he isnt Darnold … regular season warriors at best …
January 14th, 2025 at 10:14 am
Baker Mayfield is currently the highest-rated postseason passer in NFL history, with a 105.9 passer rating (leading all QBs with 150+ attempts). In 5 games, he’s thrown 12 TDs and 3 INTs and is averaging 268 yards per game. Apparently he’s a post season warrior, too.
January 14th, 2025 at 10:21 am
IMO…No comparison between the two QB’s outside then both being former first round picks that looked washed when playing for the Panthers. Mayfieid was QB’ing the Browns to a playoff win in year three, Darnold was getting run out of New York. I was a Trask fan back in 2021 (still hope he gets his chance somewhere), but after two seasons of watching Mayfieid play well and give 100% on the field for this team (see plays like throwing a clutch pass to White with Bosa hanging on his left shoulder or the angry run on Sunday where he bowled over a linebacker) he has shown me he’s the real deal franchise QB here. I highly doubt that level of moxie is in Darnold, but hopefully he can find a team to call home like Baker has.
January 14th, 2025 at 10:23 am
What makes Baker so much better than Darnold? They both had nice regular seasons, they both had 1 and dones in the playoffs. They both have been cast off by their former teams…. I’m failing to see how one is so much better than the other. And I’ve grown into liking Mayfield this season but I refuse to put him on a pedestal he doesnt deserve.
January 14th, 2025 at 10:27 am
Hold Up… Says:
January 14th, 2025 at 10:14 am
Baker Mayfield is currently the highest-rated postseason passer in NFL history, with a 105.9 passer rating (leading all QBs with 150+ attempts). In 5 games, he’s thrown 12 TDs and 3 INTs and is averaging 268 yards per game. Apparently he’s a post season warrior, too.
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Hold Up,
You make a mistake using facts to make your case with most of these bozos. Many of them lost a $10 bet on the Bucs game last Sunday night. Might not seem like a lot but is a half of a days wage to many of these bloggers. Mayfield took the heat for the fumble but it really looks like when you look at it frame for frame that the rookie was early and wide. Mayfield should have just eaten it but the play worked nicely all year and Baker is always game to try.
January 14th, 2025 at 10:29 am
Darnold was brought in as a Back Up and barring injury to McCarthy he would probably not have seen much play time.
Rams would have beaten the Bucs just as bad last night. Mayfield has only tucking the ball and running when pressured. Unlike a Daniels that can evade pressure and throw over it.
When Mayfield goes 14-3 in the regular season you can start a comparison.
January 14th, 2025 at 10:29 am
Darnold played in a very tough division and won 14 games.
Mayfield played in the worst division and won 10 games.
Both melted down under the bright lights.
Would I choose Baker over Sam? 1000%
But that’s just polishing a turd at best.
Another meaningless article by the Joes.
How about calling for Bowles to be fired for his Swiss cheese defense and limp wristed approach in playoff games?
Mike McCarthy is out there now. Hire him and Coen can learn under him for a few years.
And bring in an actual defensive coordinator with a functioning brain.
Toilet Bowles can go pound sand.
January 14th, 2025 at 10:45 am
The Vikings are blitz-happy just like Bowles does with the Bucs. Top level QB’s have no problem with it, if they are healthy.
January 14th, 2025 at 10:50 am
Who would have thought that 9 sacks can help you win a game.
That is something new. I bet because this is a copycat league Defensive Coordinators will pay more attention in the future.
But i dont think we should go down that road.
Soft Defense, Soft coverage has served us so well. I mean in the last 2 seasons we have better Defense than 4 NFL teams. You cant ask anymore than that.
Go Bucs
January 14th, 2025 at 11:06 am
Just goes to show anything over 11 wins is just window dressing. The games that matter are played in January.
January 14th, 2025 at 11:12 am
Six division winners played last weekend.
Five won, one did not….
Five defended their home turf, one did not…
Five limited their opponents to 14 or fewer points, one did not….
Five averaged two take-aways per game, one had zero….
SHAME
January 14th, 2025 at 11:22 am
You know what I saw last night Joe? I saw a great defensive game plan by the young Chris Shula. He was coaching the hell out of his players last night, and they were feeding off his energy like a pack of hungry wolfs! Wish we had a D.C. like that,with this offense we’d go all the way. Alas we have drop your edge rushers in coverage, while leaving wide open holes in your soft zone Bowles. Then stand on the sidelines like a statue staring off into space arms folded. Surprised pigeons don’t land on his head. That’s what we have to look forward to next season.
January 14th, 2025 at 12:03 pm
I didn’t realize how poor some NFL QBs are at pocket awareness… Mayfield has really good pocket awareness, yeah, he might run on rare occassions where he didn’t have to, but for the most part he doesn’t simply eat sacks, similarly to how Drew Brees managed throughout his career… Horrible pocket awareness’, imo, Justin Fields, kids got all the gifts to be really good, but horrible pocket awareness.
January 14th, 2025 at 12:08 pm
Btw, Vikings dodged a bullet these last 2 weeks, even if they lost, if Donald finished with solid games, he ends up making $40M under the franchise tag. We all knew Donald was conning the Vikings fans. JJ McCarthy is the guy moving forward in Minnesota. If Donald is smart he stays right there and enjoys the comforts of being a $10M per backup vs going to be a bridge somewhere else.
January 14th, 2025 at 12:18 pm
My opinion being a FSU fan is that Verse was the best defensive player in the draft and showed it this year with the Rams.
That being said, Fiske was very good as a situational pass rusher but clearly is not a 3 down player in the NFL — not a homerun or even close. It was the rest of the Rams defense with Verse that are dogs.
January 14th, 2025 at 12:25 pm
Baker mayfield is not a winner I don’t think lvd comes back
January 14th, 2025 at 12:26 pm
Didn’t see the game but didn’t need to. When your QB gets sacked 9 times, nothing good is going to happen. Doesn’t matter whether your QB is Tom Brady. Not sure why that is a hard concept for “fans” to grasp. Here is another concept; if a QB, regardless of talent, is surrounded by a junior varsity line playing against a varsity line, what do you suppose will happen to that QB?
January 14th, 2025 at 12:46 pm
Mayfield only had three incompletions in the playoff loss. Problem was, the defense couldn’t stop Commander drives ( zero punts ).
Consequently, the Bucs offense only had the ball for 7 drives the entire game (50% below league average). Vikings offense had 11 drives ( league avg.).
January 14th, 2025 at 12:47 pm
D-Cone the Rams would have likely beaten us but not like that. Minnesota offense disappeared the last 2 weeks. Darnold sucked and the play calling wasn’t much better. Baker would have been getting the ball out and Coen would have helped him do it. No way the Rams were holding Bucs to 9. Puka and co would have roasted us but 30-24 game something like that, not 30-9.
The real question is… what would Minny inept offense have done to Bowles D? I doubt we like the answer.
January 14th, 2025 at 1:00 pm
Darnold lost himself some serious coin over these past few games. Dang
January 14th, 2025 at 1:26 pm
“Verse and Fiske were home run picks for them”
Both were picked before the Bucs had a chance in those rounds.
The Bucs would have had to pick Fiske instead of Barton and hope a quality center was there instead of Braswell.
January 14th, 2025 at 1:34 pm
They both choked when it mattered both.
January 14th, 2025 at 1:40 pm
Baker put up a net 13 points vs one of the worst defenses in football.
That’s why the Bucs lost.
January 14th, 2025 at 2:00 pm
Rod Munch Says:
January 14th, 2025 at 1:40 pm
Baker put up a net 13 points vs one of the worst defenses in football.
That’s why the Bucs lost.
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Munch, you have reemerged from your hole to batter Baker. That’s your thing. When you couldn’t batter Baker this season, you beat up Skule. Here is a complicated concept that I know will be hard for you to grasp. When an offense has a total of 7 possessions in a game, not many points are going to be scored. Too bad about the $5 bucks you lost. We are aware that is a significant chunk of your weekly income.
January 14th, 2025 at 2:03 pm
Gipper, I loved your reply. That play call was also very bad considering where the Bucs had the ball.
January 14th, 2025 at 2:13 pm
Gipper – 13 points in 7 possessions? You’re defending that as a good output vs one of the worst defenses in football?
Baker choked when it mattered most, just like his previous playoff game.
January 14th, 2025 at 2:26 pm
Glad we got baker but he’s got to limit turnovers. If he takes care of the ball then we win a few more games this past season and prob against the redskins. People will say the defense lost us games and I don’t disagree but our defense has bin the same the past 3 seasons we know what we have in our defense so knowing that our defense isn’t the best we have got to take care of the ball.
January 14th, 2025 at 2:32 pm
Everyone who isn’t a Baker Boi just trying to make excuses knew that the Redskins, with an elite offense, as going to wipe the floor with the Bucs defense – and the Bucs offense would have to win in a shootout.
Instead, the defense makes a huge goal line stand in the 4th quarter, gives the ball back to Baker with a chance to go up by two scores, and Baker choked the game away.
The defense gave up a net of 16 points.
Baker scored a net of 13 points.
That’s why the Bucs lost. Baker, in the 4th quarter of his second straight playoff game, choked.
January 14th, 2025 at 3:22 pm
There are at least 20 teams that wish they had Baker Mayfield over their current QB1 (Including the Browns and Panthers). That cannot be said about Darnold. Baker played solid over the course of the game. The fumble was unfortunate. They lost in the last second to a good team. That’s far less of a shame than Darnold refusing to get rid of the ball all night long and getting destroyed. Probably 5 or more of those sacks were on him. Baker is better by leaps and bounds. Your team isn’t going to win the Super Bowl this year, sorry…. But Baker Mayfield certainly isn’t the reason. You guys have a lot of young weapons and a very good QB. Maybe not elite, but very good. Consider yourselves fortunate. Good luck next year.
January 14th, 2025 at 3:24 pm
Easy Quaterback envy munch, you don’t know anything about who choked what. All we know for sure is that once again Baker quickly took full responsibility to keep the “team” together and proved he is a true leader. Willing to take the heat for a process that involves 3 people. You know nothing about where the responsibility lies envy. But since when has not knowing anything shut you up.
Washington had the perfect game plan, keep the ball out of the hands of the 3rd highest scoring offense with the record breaking quarterback in the league. And they did. Baker threw the ball 18 times. Daniels almost 40.They couldnt keep him from throwing a near perfect passer rating though could they. The last 3 games he has a 136 rating. Higher than anyone. Baker IS OUR franchise quarterback and will be for years to come!!!!!
January 14th, 2025 at 3:33 pm
Rod Munch Says:
January 14th, 2025 at 2:13 pm
Gipper – 13 points in 7 possessions? You’re defending that as a good output vs one of the worst defenses in football?
Baker choked when it mattered most, just like his previous playoff game.
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The fumble wasn’t Mayfield’s fault and you know it. Just a convenient way for you to salvage some of your wrong 2 year analysis of Mayfield. By the way there is no official metric regarding net QB points. Again, you are posing as some sort of footfall guru when you are really just a cheap, punk hack.
January 14th, 2025 at 3:45 pm
Hey “JOEBUCSFANS” please help us out here! I see you like to put out polls for us. How about taking a poll for this:
if the game was on the line with under 4 minutes left, would you want Mayfield & his offense out there or Bowles & his defense out there? Thanks!
Joe doesn’t take poll requests. However, Joe will be posting the final weekly Todd Bowles confidence poll tomorrow. –Joe
January 14th, 2025 at 3:52 pm
This sums up your whole existence on this site envy.
Baker almost has a perfect game-the evidence is there 146.5
You twist it around and say he had a bad game-no evidence but yet you say it. Yeah you are that shallow
Baker IS OUR franchise quarterback because like the coach said, “Baker’s the reason we are here”
January 14th, 2025 at 4:15 pm
Anyone who has coached knows on a reverse like this you have the receiver aim for just behind the quaterbacks back foot. This way it helps the timing be more consistent. In this case McMillan was 2 yards behind Mayfield’s foot causing him to reach and therefore causing the timing to be off. They all know it but someone had to take the fall. Baker took it on like a man and leader of the team should. Good job Mayfield.
January 14th, 2025 at 4:43 pm
Bucblind Says:
January 14th, 2025 at 4:15 pm
Anyone who has coached knows on a reverse like this you have the receiver aim for just behind the quaterbacks back foot.
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Bucblind,
Of course, you are right but therein lies the problem. Most of these band camp boys never played competitive sports. They don’t have a clue what they are talking about. Wish Brady had done the game the other night he would have said what you just said. Doesn’t matter the play was broken, Baker should have eaten it but everyone knows he rarely gives up on a play.
January 14th, 2025 at 5:06 pm
Well well well, lookie here, lookie here, looks like envy munch is wrong AGAIN concerning Baker. He just can’t get the goods on him
January 14th, 2025 at 5:30 pm
I would extend Baker now and help the future cap number. The longer we wait the more expensive it gets with each year QB’s getting more and more. I would love to have our franchise QB locked in for the championship window we should have. Without him we will sink to the Saints level quickly.
Maybe Rod Munch can chip in some coin for his favorite QB. Because the fact is, without Baker we would be in complete rebuild mode right now.
The defense outside of the DT’s and LVD are garbage. Without a QB the offense would have been garbage. Especially losing M1K3 and Chris.
This team would have a top 7 pick right now without Baker Mayfield. That guy makes me proud to say “That’s my quarterback!”
January 14th, 2025 at 6:47 pm
So glad the Buccaneers have Baker Mayfield and not Sam Darnold !! Look at the stats !! Baker is a better quarterback, he never quits fighting!!
Go Bucs !!
January 14th, 2025 at 6:59 pm
Chiefs said: “This team would have a top 7 pick right now without Baker Mayfield”.
Agreed. That affirmed, even if they had the first pick, they wouldn’t get anything close to Mayfield as a QB.
Would love to hear what the Baker haters’ actual solution would be in terms of replacing Mayfield. Who’s out there or has been out there as a free agent (or draft pick) that is better?
If I hear “Kyle Trask”, I’m going to have to vomit. The supposed better than Baker QBS of the past two years in free agency – Carr, Cousins, Rodgers have all been busts – light years behind Baker. Tons of cap dollars wasted on them, too!
January 14th, 2025 at 7:18 pm
What a joke
January 14th, 2025 at 7:36 pm
Sam darnold
Season
35 TD 12 int. 8 fumbles
4319 yards
Passer rating 102.5
14- 3 record
Conference nfc north
3 out of 4 teams over 500 and all makes playoffs
Mayfield
Season
41 TDs 16 int 13 fumbles
4500 passing yards
Passer rating 106.8
10-7 record
Nfc south
1out of 4 teams over 500
1 team makes playoffs
January 15th, 2025 at 12:33 am
So Joe says this”Joe has no love for the Vikings or Rams yet was heard shouting, “Get rid of the damn ball.” It started to feel like the game was fixed.” Lol! just picturing Joe screaming out loud for Darnold to get rid of the damn ball. Likely every household in America watching football were screaming something related to Darnold taking 8 sacks–who does that? damn dude run!!!!! or throw it oob or dirt the ball. My husband and I also could care less about those 2 teams also but we were tuned in just to watch if Darnold came out alive. He looked crazy eyed too. WTF was wrong with the pass protection from his offense? Hard to watch.
January 15th, 2025 at 12:38 am
ScottyMacks says this “The supposed better than Baker QBS of the past two years in free agency – Carr, Cousins, Rodgers have all been busts – light years behind Baker. Tons of cap dollars wasted on them, too!” well said–agreed, so glad to watch Baker, proud of the fighter he is, he is the ultimate Buc. What a great season with him!
January 15th, 2025 at 12:54 am
Really so mayfield didn’t beat him up in the 1st game against cammadoes u people r jokers baker was playing top grade football til the I don’t call fumble it was a miss from what I saw I did not c jmac try to put that ball away when baker was trying to hand it off things happen was hard to believe that q play can lose u a game we had in the bag he was having an outstanding game with a 146 qb rating for the game wtf is wrong with u losers on this site