Baker Mayfield = “Must-See TV”
March 16th, 2025
So two big-name ex-Bucs in the national spotlight are massive Baker Mayfield fans.
On this football Sunday, Joe enjoyed the Fitz & Whit podcast featuring retired QB Ryan Fitzpatrick and left tackle Andrew Whitworth.
Their guest? Jon Gruden.
Joe’s interest piqued when Fitzpatrick said his “must-see TV” quarterbacks each week are Josh Allen, Mayfield and Matthew Stafford. He then asked Gruden what QBs drive him to watch every one of their snaps.
Chucky jumped on the Mayfield ship, along with those of Jared Goff and Joe Burrow.
“I love what Mayfield’s doing here, Ryan. I went to see him play the 49ers, he deserves a lot of credit,” Gruden said of Mayfield. “I love Jared Goff. I love the way the Lions play offense. They do a lot at the line of scrimmage. They do a lot before the ball is snapped. I’m really interested into what I call ‘R.C.E.’ Recognition, that leads to communication, which leads us to high levels of execution. I love seeing quarterbacks that are in charge of recognizing the blitz, getting their teams in good play selection.”
Yeah, Mayfield was that good last year. He was so underrated for throwing 41 touchdowns with 16 interceptions, and 4,500 yards with a stunning 71.4 percent completion rate.
Can Mayfield repeat that performance? Joe’s not sure, but Joe does know Mayfield should be able to take lots of pressure off his rookie playcaller, which is a very good thing.
March 16th, 2025 at 1:56 pm
How about not choking in the 4th quarter of playoff games, would that be too much to ask?
March 16th, 2025 at 1:59 pm
The Bucs are getting a lot of love from sports commentators across the country. I guess they’re tired of being wrong the last five years.
March 16th, 2025 at 2:04 pm
He will get better every year till he wins a ring. Go Bowles!
March 16th, 2025 at 2:18 pm
Sly that concerns me. Usually everyone says we suck and we prove em wrong. Whenever they say we are going to be good, historically speaking we usually don’t live up to the expectations. I hope for Tampas sake they aren’t feeling good about themselves this offseason. Stay hungry and go win some big games this year!
March 16th, 2025 at 2:19 pm
We’ve got one of the best clutch QBs in the league. At least he didn’t get thrashed by 4 touchdowns in the wildcard game like happened the year before he got here. Who was QBing that team? That team looked like it was having the opposite of fun. I’m sure glad we’ve got a QB that can have fun and not be totally stomped like happened the year before he got here. They looked(including the QB) like a team that quit that game against the Cowboys. Do you remember that like I remember it Rod Munch?
March 16th, 2025 at 2:33 pm
I love Baker but who cares if they are having fun if it still ends with a L in the first round of the playoffs. Brady said it perfect when it was brought up. If I wanted to have fun I would go to Disney. I’m trying to win championships. That’s the mindset this team has to have. Their window of opportunity is now and we all want to see them accomplish it! Go Bucs!
March 16th, 2025 at 2:41 pm
Okay… I have the perfect scenario here.
Win… AND have fun simultaneously. How bout that?
Have fun scoring AND have fun shutting down opposing offenses. Keep the opposition well under 20 Pts per game.
The dream for 2025. Go get em HR!
March 16th, 2025 at 2:46 pm
I’ve been on my feet or butt barely on the chair a lot the two years. Nail Biters, wtf moments, like what happened they were just, for those Dah where did the offense go. I mean there has been some ups and downs and truly devastating losses of the players to injury, but Baker brought his A game and continued to lead his offense. Lots of fun!! Let’s Go Bucs!!!!
March 16th, 2025 at 2:49 pm
Oh Mac, take a ‘lude, but wipe your mouth of Tom Brady Juice first. The Bucs goal is most certainly to win a championship you HARDO. And stop making the false equivalent comparison of the 2020 Bucs and a team that is still getting Brady’s contract off the books. These were supposed to be rebuilding years and they have exceeded expectations by miles. Learn to live in the present and be a little appreciative that we have a franchise quarterback that is still young and not going through a public divorce ok
March 16th, 2025 at 2:50 pm
Mac, you’re right we all want to see them accomplish it. The mindset this team has to have? Damn sure better not be the mindset we exhibited that playoff game the year before Baker got here.
March 16th, 2025 at 2:55 pm
Fire Todd
March 16th, 2025 at 2:57 pm
Turnovers have to be reduced. If he does that he’ll take another step.
March 16th, 2025 at 2:57 pm
Rodmunch
how about a rookie WR not running too close on an end around? And bake took all the blame for that one. How many games did the offense come thru clutch in the final minutes, only to have a soft defense lose the game at the last moment? That has to be a lot of pressure on baker’s shoulders. If this defense can come together, i see great things in our future.
But you just seem to enjoy trolling, don’t you?
March 16th, 2025 at 3:02 pm
When your quarterback, Baker Mayfield, out plays all the other 13 quarterbacks in the playoffs he’s not the problem. It’s like coach Bowles said “Baker IS the REASON we are here. Fix the defense and the superbowl will happen because we have our offense and our 2 time pro bowl quarterback that gets us to the red zone in 5 and 6 plays at will. And that’s with the second string receivers. Lmao
March 16th, 2025 at 3:03 pm
Baker Mayfield is a gunslinger. He will mature even more but he is who he is. Football professionals appreciate him. As a fan I really enjoy watching him. As Buc fan l am so happy to have him.
Go Bucs!!
March 16th, 2025 at 3:04 pm
Kenton Smith,
Muncher just looking for attention. He still hasn’t recovered from the band director taking away his clarinet and making him play the triangle. Few could high step with a triangle the way Munch did.
Munch has been envious of football players, especially QB’s, ever since high school. Even back in those days, Muncher was often wrong, but never in doubt.
March 16th, 2025 at 3:14 pm
I’d love to see Baker get his picks down to single digits. If he could do that and keep the yardage and TDs in the same ballpark we could be looking at a strong MVP candidate next year. Big ifs but I can definitely see it happening.
March 16th, 2025 at 3:18 pm
Thanks Gipper, I think Rod is probably getting a good chuckle out of getting some of our goats. Gotta give him some credit though. He darn sure gets my goat.
March 16th, 2025 at 3:27 pm
Vegasbuccanerer when did u become a fan if its not before 2000s your probably not even a real fan most of the fans that are here today only came with Brady and Gronk don’t get me wrong. I love to see the support of my books but if you have not been here from 1999 or before unless your younger than that then you’re probably a guy that jumps ship first sign of trouble go be a jaguar fan I here the saints are cowboys are looking for phonies
March 16th, 2025 at 3:41 pm
Rod munch, how about a defense that gets off the field after third down? What about a defense that doesn’t let a team control the majority of the game clock. What about a coach that doesn’t sit on his timeouts and knows a little something about game clock management, I mean you want to put all this stuff on baker, but don’t say anything about the defense which was the problem with this team all year, that makes no sense. I remember the start of the season people were just hoping baker put up close to the same numbers as last season and he surpassed all of them by large margins, plus if the offense stays healthy all year baker will be fine
March 16th, 2025 at 4:37 pm
I have said this before and I will say it again, Baker was NOT the reason the Bucs lost in the first round of the playoffs. This was on Bowles. He was determined to win the game on the ground despite all the evidence that it was not working. In that game
Baker had the fewest pass attempts of the season. The team only threw the ball 41.9% of the time vs 54.2% in the regular season.
Now there are four legitimate reasons to take the ball out of a QBs hand.
1. He is not completing passes. Baker completed 83.3% of his passes in the game vs 71.4% regular season. For those who have trouble with numbers. that is MUCH BETTER.
2. The passes are yielding nothing, all dinks and dunks. Baker averaged 10.3 YPA in the game vs 7.9 YPA regular season. That is an over 30% BETTER number.
3. He is throwing picks. Baker had no picks in this game. Can’t have less than ZERO picks.
4. The run game is dominating the game. The Bucs averaged 4.0 YPC in this game vs 5.3 YPC regular season.
So Baker was more efficient with better results by over 30% in YPA and the run game as 25% LESS efficient in YPC, and Bowles takes the ball out of his hands. Anyone who thinks this was on Baker is ignoring the FACTS.
March 16th, 2025 at 4:43 pm
2024 Playoffs Quarterback Play
Passer Rating Completion %
Baker Mayfield: 146, 83
Josh Allen: 135, 76
Lamar Jackson: 132, 76
Jayden Daniels: 122, 71
Russel Wilson: 121, 69
Jalen Hurts: 119, 77
Matthew Stafford: 117, 70
Patrick Mahomes: 111, 69
CJ Stroud: 95, 67
Bo Nix: 93, 59
Sam Darnold: 77, 62
Jared Goff: 59, 57
Jordan Love: 41, 60
Justin Herbert: 40, 43
The NFL uses both of these statistics to determine how well a quarterback is playing.
Out of ALL these great quarterbacks only 1 sits on top of not only 1 category but both categories. And we have him as our quarterback. He leads our offense that is in the red zone in 5 or 6 plays, at will. And that’s with the second string receivers.
If we can fix the defense and the silly mistakes we make, we will be in the superbowl. And both are fixable in 2025…. 🤔
March 16th, 2025 at 4:46 pm
Joe … ‘Can Mayfield repeat that performance? Joe’s not sure, but Joe does know Mayfield should be able to take lots of pressure off his rookie playcaller, which is a very good thing.’
Interesting perspective Joe. I’m thinking that the reverse is also true: if Baker’s stats are down this year, it’s gonna be Griz who gets blamed. And since Baker had a career 2024 year, it’s a lot to ask for his numbers to go up from what they were last year.
March 16th, 2025 at 4:48 pm
Rod Munch implies that the 4th qtr. fumble on the jet sweep was Baker’s fault. That is COMPLETE bullspit! The only things a QB has control of in that play is the following:
1. Set the play in motion by some call or action at line.
2. Receive the ball from the center.
3. Turn and hand the ball off to the runner.
That’s it for the QB. If the center delays snapping the ball or the runner is off by a fraction of a second the play blows up and you get a fumble or a QB holding the ball. The fact that Mayfield immediately took the blame is a sign of a good QB taking the heat off two rookies (center and runner). Maybe some wizard like Rod can explain an error in my thinking.
March 16th, 2025 at 5:18 pm
Muncher of Rods is a clown.
March 16th, 2025 at 5:22 pm
Defense Rules- There won’t be a falling off of Baker’s game at all. Unless he gets seriously injured and plays through it. I have watched him play 10 straight seasons now. Three years at OU and they let him be Baker. About 120 touchdowns and he had over a 70 percent completion rate a few times. This is the first time in his professional career that he’s being encouraged to be Baker. He will have less interceptions with less rookie receivers. He’s going to prove doubters wrong the rest of his career. But he’s not someone you’d want to bet against. Just ask the Cleveland Browns.
March 16th, 2025 at 5:43 pm
Funny…I looked up ignorant in the dictionary and there was a picture of Rod Munch and funny thing was he was holding triangles… lmao
March 16th, 2025 at 7:03 pm
#1 BUC QB ALL TIME
Baker will be 2nd all time TD passes next year and #1 in two years. He’ll need 3 years to be #1 in passing yards. Love to see him get a SB too.
March 16th, 2025 at 8:55 pm
Munch didn’t understand what the high school football players were calling him. He thought they were calling him a band “hag.”
March 16th, 2025 at 8:59 pm
Man I’m tired of the Rod Munch schtick
March 16th, 2025 at 9:02 pm
Rod when do u choke when u r wife wants a sack job,what a dirt bag u are!
March 16th, 2025 at 9:10 pm
All the responses to munchkin only emboldens his hatred for the bucs that guy is really the old David with a new posting name
March 16th, 2025 at 9:30 pm
What if that fumble on mayfield against washington wasn’t his fault at all because the WR on that jet sweep missed the call and over ran the handoff and mayfield being a team captain ate the mistake standing up for his rookie WR knowing the media would’ve crucified rookie WR.
You know, what if mayfield was just being a better man and a team captain. We will probably never really know for certain, will we.
March 16th, 2025 at 11:16 pm
You would think Rod would move on to another subject. He is stuck in neutral. Some how Mayfield really made him mad or maybe he really isn’t a Buc fan. He can’t be a football guy he just says things that make no football sense. Who knows but the shadow.
March 17th, 2025 at 12:22 am
Not to mention how he immediately and willingly takes the blame for the mistakes they make on offense. Mistakes the coach should man up to but Mayfield never balkes he takes and wears it in the following press conferences. I have NEVER seen him try to escape from what was best for the team. He will go down in history as the most loved quarterback in Bucs history superbowls or not. It’s like the players have already said, we will run through the walls for him. The coaches love him and the fans that are getting to know him love him. Even the press who hated him a year ago, are beginning to love him. I think his goal this year should be to continue his success from 2024 any at all cost stop making the mistakes they have been making!!!!!!!!!!!