Those who watched 2026 training camp practices noticed how Baker Mayfield rarely threw deep.
Joe speculated once or twice that perhaps Mayfield had an arm concern, or the Bucs simply had him on a calclulated ramp-up plan.
Well, opening day arrived yesterday and Mayfield took one deep shot — on the second offensive play of the game. It came up short after traveling about 50 yards in the air — from the Bucs’ 29 yard line to the Bengals-22. Emeka Egbuka was open but had to slow down and the defense caught him. Incomplete.
The next longest throw by Mayfield traveled 17 yards past the line of scrimmage.
Mayfield is known for having a big arm and the Bucs certainly have deep threats in Egbuka, Ted Hurst and Tez Johnson, though Joe is not a fan using Johnson in that role.
It’s obvious the Bucs had a throw-short game plan, but it’s also very curious as to why the Bucs pulled the plug on the long ball so quickly.
