“Keep doubting me, fools!”
Hopefully, things change this fall. For the better.
“This Joe” is still shook by Baker Mayfield’s woeful second half of last season. Yeah, there were a lot of factors why he stunk. Still, a franchise quarterback finds a way to win just one game instead of losing seven of the Bucs’ final nine (and not crap the bed against the tanking Dolphins), which cost the Bucs a playoff spot.
So which Mayfield will the Bucs get this fall,t he Mayfield that for 2 1/2 seasons was one of the NFL’s best? Or will fans get the second half of last season, which made many warmly reminisce of the good ol’ days with America’s Quarterback, Jameis Winston?
Until Mayfield and the Bucs hit the skids after the bye, Mayfield has absolutely thrived.
In fact, in the past three years, even including the 2025 collapse, only Jared Goff has been a more dangerous quarterback than Mayfield has been in Tampa. Since the start of the 2023 season, only Goff has thrown more touchdowns than Mayfield.
Goff has 101 touchdowns the past three seasons to Mayfield’s 95. Matt Stafford (90), Saint Lamar Jackson (86) and Josh Allen (82) round out the top five.
Yet when you hear about great quarterbacks, national types (influenced by fantasy football?) fall over themselves when talking about Jackson, who has exactly one more playoff win in his career than Mayfield.
And you hear the national media types wax about Stafford and Allen. But Mayfield? You hear much more scoffing and doubt than you hear praise. Strange.
So, yeah, just looking at touchdown production, Joe understands why Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht and KitKat-eating Bucs coach Todd Bowles are staunch defenders of Mayfield.