Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were looking to come through with a big win and take a step towards winning the NFC South division on Thursday Night Football against the Atlanta Falcons.
While most expected the Buccaneers to defeat Kirk Cousins and the Falcons, that didn’t happen. Instead, Atlanta was able to come through with a big-time win by a final score of 29-28.
Losing to the Falcons was a tough blow for Tampa Bay’s playoff hopes. There is still time to work back into the playoff picture, but the Buccaneers are going to need to beat the Carolina Panthers. They will face the Panthers twice in the final four games of the regular season.
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All season long, Tampa Bay has been dealing with difficult injury issues. The entire offense seems to have been injured at one point or another. Mayfield has been dealing with a shoulder injury himself.
Following the loss to Atlanta, Mayfield has come under fire. A former NFL star spoke out with scathing criticism for the star quarterback.
During an appearance on “The Arena: Gridiron” with Skip Bayless, former star cornerback Aqib Talib made his opinion of Mayfield very clear.
“We can’t put him on a pedestal Skip. This season pretty much sums up Baker’s whole career,” Talib said.
Basically, Talib is saying that Mayfield always comes up short in the big game. It’s easy to point out the flaw in his statement, but the fact of the matter is that Mayfield has never led his team to a Super Bowl appearance or win.
So far this season with the Buccaneers, Mayfield has put together another good season. In 14 games played, he has completed 61.2 percent of his pass attempts for 2,999 yards, 22 touchdowns, and seven interceptions. He has also picked up 286 yards and a touchdown on the ground.
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Those numbers have dropped off some from last season, but the injury could be a big part of that.
Next up for Tampa Bay will be a crucial road game in Week 16 against the Carolina Panthers. The Buccaneers will need to win that game to have a shot at coming back to win the NFC South division.
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