Baker Mayfield led his Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a narrow win over the Minnesota Vikings in the quarterback’s first start as a member of the team on Sunday.
Mayfield and the Buccaneers’ offense dropped 10 points in the final stanza after struggling through the first three quarters or so.
In listening to teammate Rachaad White explain it after the game (h/t JoeBucsFan), there’s a good explanation for the Buccaneers’ second half success. Mayfield knew Minnesota’s signals on defense.
“I just remember Bake came in the locker room, literally at halftime, he said, ‘I got it. We got all these signals.’” We’re in there talking as an offense and he’s like, ‘I know all these signals. If they do this, they’re going into Cover 2. If they do this, they’re going into Cover 3. Every time I alert this and they do this signal, they’re dropping back to this.’ And I’m like, ‘Wow, that’s amazing.’ … I was just listening to him and we were listening to him and we just kind of understood.”
Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Rachaad White on Baker Mayfield
That would certainly explain things. Mayfield completed 16-of-18 after the half compared to 5-of-16 through the first two quarters. In fact, the Bucs put up just 29 total yards on the first six drives. They concluded the game with three drives of 10-plus plays in the second half.
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There are a few different ways to look at this. First off, Mayfield is now a savvy veteran. It should not come as a surprise that he was able to pick up on the pre-snap reads once the quarterback settled in.
On the other hand, this does not paint defensive coordinator Brian Flores and the Vikings in the best of lights. They must change this up heading into Thursday night against the defending NFC Champion Philadelphia Eagles.