Baker Mayfield Is Hell On Wheels When Scrambling

The Bucs didn’t win pretty on Sunday over the Lions. That didn’t matter, though. Getting a win over a team that beat them twice last year and ended their season was important to see through no matter how it got done. Baker Mayfield is a gritty player who had his will to win front and center in that game.

The exclamation point of it was an 11-yard touchdown run by Baker Mayfield that ended up being the game winning score. It was the play before that, though, that defines the type of player Mayfield is. On a crucial third-and-4, Mayfield somehow got out of a sack and continued to run, gaining 11 yards and a first down. Instead of Tampa Bay running a play where Mayfield could just hand it off, his number was called again and he rushed in for an 11-yard touchdown.

As we came to find out, the quarterback draw was by design, and dialed up by Liam Coen.

“That was a call from Liam (Coen),” Bowles said. “That was something we saw that was a design play, and Baker carried it out.”

“I wasn’t expecting to get in the end zone from that far out,” Baker Mayfield said. “But make a couple of guys miss and good things happen.”

Breaking Down Baker Mayfield’s Scoring Play

Baker Mayfield also gave us a further breakdown of his big play.

“Just something Liam drew up and understanding how they covered the empty package,” Mayfield began. “Made a couple of guys miss. Wound up cutting it back, but yeah, guys up front. It’s not an easy front to block. (Lions DL) Aidan Hutchinson has no off switch. He’s never stopping. So, for (Buccaneers RT) Justin Skule, I want him to keep his head up.

“That’s not an easy matchup to be able to come in there. And our tight ends did a ton of dirty work today. A lot of chips, a lot of help in the protection and just trying to make plays when we needed them. It wasn’t the prettiest win by any means, but we’ll take a win.”

That touchdown by Baker Mayfield also came to be a historic one. It was the longest touchdown run of his career. He didn’t seem too thrilled about it.

“Is it really, 11 yards?” Mayfield asked. “That’s so sad, that’s so sad. No, you know what, I’m not looking to run first by any means. But, if the play call is a QB draw, I’m going to try and make it work. So, for me, like I said, let the defense dictate where the ball is going to go, and if I have to make plays, my legs do it.”

The elusiveness of Mayfield is something that the Bucs may need in their back pocket as the season rolls on. Each week he’s done something with his scrambles to benefit the Bucs.

Tampa Bay and Mayfield are playing loose and free. It almost looks like we’re getting the Heisman-winning Baker Mayfield from Oklahoma again. If that continues, Mayfield has to be in the NFL MVP conversation, but more importantly, it’ll lead to the Bucs having even more success.