Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield led his team to a blowout Wild Card Round playoff win over the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night, and afterward, Mayfield was very grateful to all of the Buccaneers fans in attendance.
“Big difference in tonight’s game compared to the first one with how many Eagles fans there were tonight. Tampa showed up, so we appreciate that,” Mayfield told reporters, via Tampa Bay’s official YouTube account. “Unfortunately, it was the last one here. But it was a electric. We could feel the energy, and we fed off that.”
Mayfield was referring to the Bucs’ Week 3 matchup with the Eagles, where Philadelphia won by a score of 25-11 with plenty of Philly fans in the crowd at Raymond James Stadium.
This time, however, the Buccaneers fans were out in full force and were treated to a 32-9 victory. Mayfield went 22-for-36 with 337 yards and three touchdowns in one of his best performances of the season.
“I said [to ESPN] immediately after the game, we worked extremely hard to get a chance to be in the playoffs,” Mayfield said. “We just wanted an opportunity, and our guys came out and played really, really well.”
Tampa Bay has been one of the NFL’s most pleasant surprises this year, going 9-8 and winning the NFC South division title. Much of that has been thanks to Mayfield’s resurgence.
A year ago, Mayfield’s career appeared to be on life support, as he split the 2022 campaign between the Carolina Panthers and Los Angeles Rams, totaling 10 touchdowns and eight interceptions.
The 28-year-old then proceeded to sign a one-year deal with the Bucs last offseason. He ended up throwing for 4,044 yards, 28 touchdowns and 10 picks while completing 64.3 percent of his passes and posting a passer rating of 94.6 in what has been arguably the best season of his NFL tenure.
Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers will battle the Detroit Lions in the Divisional Round of the playoffs next Sunday.
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