TAMPA, Fla. — Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield didn't hold back when asked about the significance of a 29-27 victory over the New York Jets on Sunday.
Mayfield specifically pointed to Steve Wilks, the Jets' defensive coordinator who cut the QB when he was coach of the Carolina Panthers, as to why it was so special.
«I loved it,» Mayfield said. «And also their D-coordinator was the one that cut me in Carolina.
»Lot of stuff was personal today. Haason Reddick, former Jet… lot of people."
Reddick signed with the Bucs in March after a holdout-marred 2024 season with the Jets.
Sunday's game also saw the Bucs' Todd Bowles facing the Jets, which fired him in 2018, for the first time as a head coach.
As for Mayfield, he continued to produce wins for Tampa Bay, something he failed to do while still recovering from a shoulder injury in Carolina in 2022. After the Panthers got off to a 1-5 start, Wilks planned to make him the third quarterback behind P.J. Walker and Sam Darnold. When the Panthers told Mayfield he was going to be the No. 3, they offered to waive him if he so chose and he accepted.
On Sunday, Mayfield became the fourth quarterback over the past 30 years to produce a winning drive in each of his team's first three games of a season, joining Nick Foles (2014, Eagles), Matt Ryan (2015, Falcons) and Ryan Tannehill (2020, Titans), per ESPN Research.
And the Bucs became the fourth team since the 1970 merger to win three straight games with a score in the final minute of the fourth quarter, joining the 1994 Giants, 1998-99 Cardinals and the 2017 Steelers, according to Elias Sports Bureau.
«He's a natural born leader,» said rookie wideout Emeka Egbuka, who caught a 28-yard Mayfield pass in the fourth quarter that helped
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