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For the first time since the 2014 season, the Detroit Lions were a top-10 scoring defense in the regular season. This tells how good the Dan Campbell’s Lions have been defensively. Offense is already a huge boost for the Lions with their star QB Jared Goff having his best season. But this still might not be enough for their playoff round against the Washington Commanders. And there is no one better than the Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield to tell about the Commanders, who faced them first-hand in the wild-card round.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers simply had no answer to the Commanders’ defense on Jan 12. Campbell’s side dominated the host team at Raymond James Stadium. The game culminated in a 20-23 win for the Commanders after a crazy field goal by kicker Zane Gonzalez.

Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield had a shocking response after the loss. Obviously, Mayfield wanted to repeat what the franchise had done in the 2020 season- winning the Super Bowl- but it didn’t become true. Post-game Mayfield said, “I think today was the example of offensively taking advantage of the defense.” That wasn’t just his feelings about the Commanders, but also a strong message to Dan Campbell‘s Lions.

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He continued, “You gotta stop them… see if they are not trying to motion the defense to switch.” The Bucs lost because of the miscues in the last quarter. So he further said, “There’s the thing that doing all the little things right. They will come back to each other well close. Because you always trying to deploy offense there and capitalize on it.” The Detroit Lions will play against Jayden Daniels and crew in the next stage.

The Buccaneers‘ wild-card game against the Commanders was nothing but a Super Bowl before the Super Bowl. After the game started, Mayfield and Co. started owning the place with a 3-0 score at the end of the first quarter. But in the 2nd quarter, the CommandersJayden Daniels threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Dyami Brown and changed the scoreboard from 0-3 to 7-3. Then Zen Gonzalez’s FG beefed their lead before Mayfield threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to WR Mike Evan, equalizing the score to 10-10.

So, what went wrong after 2nd quarter? Baker Mayfield admitted post-game why the Bucs had to face a loss.

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Is Baker Mayfield the right quarterback to lead the Bucs back to Super Bowl glory?

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Baker Mayfield expressed on the Buccaneers’ wild-card game loss

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The first thing Mayfield confessed was, “I believe in this team.” And set an example to protect the teammates and motivate them to move forward. Talking about what went wrong, QB said, “If you look at a lot of these defenses, they are extremely disappointed. Because you can’t control everything.” He further added, “Just driven the field and tried to point to take a lot of time off the blocks and taking the lead. And uh, we didn’t do that enough.” That seems true. The game actually went like a see-saw, with scores tipping both sides.

via Imago

The Bucs made miscues at a crucial time in the fourth quarter. At the end of the 3rd quarter, the Buccaneers were in the lead with 17-13 by Mayfield’s crazy 4-yard touchdown pass to Bucky Irving. But at the start of the 4th quarter, Jayden Daniels threw a 5-yard touchdown pass (score 17-20). At the 4:41 mark, Chase McLaughlin made an FG to equalize the scored board. But on the last second of the game, kicker Zane Gonzalez’s 37-yard FG helped Commanders to snatch the victory by 23-20.

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So, Baker Mayfield’s team has made a huge mistake. The Bucs should work on that first as the offseason has also started. They now need to buckle up for the next season.

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Is Baker Mayfield the right quarterback to lead the Bucs back to Super Bowl glory?