Americans love scoundrels, the scruffier and more battered the better. You know the type: wisecracking hotshots who sure seem unreliable but come through in the clutch. Keep your refined and elitist James Bonds, we’ll take Han Solo, Indiana Jones and Star-Lord seven days a week — and especially on Sundays.
Nobody who plays in the NFL really qualifies as a “scoundrel” — OK, almost nobody — but Baker Mayfield sure comes close. He’s witty, wily, unpredictable, incredibly talented but also incredibly erratic. He’s bounced through four teams in less than two years … and he also managed to achieve complete perfection this past weekend.
In a crucial must-win game for both teams, Mayfield’s Buccaneers beat the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, 34-20. Mayfield threw for 381 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions, giving him a perfect passer rating of 158.3. Not bad for a dude whose entire career was in doubt earlier this year.
The Lambeau Field perfect game was yet another verse in the ongoing Ballad of Baker Mayfield, a tale that’s quickly becoming one of the most fascinating in the NFL today. The Heisman Trophy winner and former No. 1 overall pick-turned-vagabond is back in full control of a team, and somehow, against all expectations, he’s poised to lead that team to a third straight divisional title.
“I’m having fun playing football,” Mayfield said Sunday after the Green Bay win. “I wouldn’t say I’m satisfied by any means. I’ve still got football left, still got the playoffs, still hungry.”
Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield (6) during an NFL football game Sunday, Dec. 17, 2023, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Mike Roemer)
For awhile there, it sure seemed like Mayfield was destined for a perch among the NFL’s elite. The commercials where he lived in the Browns’ stadium managed to thread the needle of being funny while also being everywhere, largely because of the amiable-doofus persona Mayfield put on. Tom Brady…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/baker-mayfield-still-hungry-has-the-bucs-on-the-edge-of-another-playoff-berth-161048458.html
Author : Yahoo Sports
Publish date : 2023-12-19 16:10:48
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