Baker Mayfield has helmed some productive offenses during his seven seasons in the NFL. The 2020 Cleveland Browns team he guided to the playoffs scored 25.5 points per game as he threw for 26 touchdowns and the rushing attack produced the league's third-highest yardage total. His first season in Tampa saw him throw a career-high 28 touchdown passes and rank near the middle of the pack in passing yards and points scored.
However, Mayfield had never previously been a part of an offense that was among the league's best in terms of both running and throwing the football. Through 12 weeks, Tampa Bay ranks 10th in rushing yards per game (128.1) and seventh in passing yards per game (241.5). None of the previous three teams he played for had in any season ranked in the top 10 in both categories. In fact, none had ranked in the top 20 in both categories. As impressive as his performance and the Bucs' offensive progression was in 2023, that team ranked dead last in rushing yards per game and yards per carry.
The Bucs also have 11 rushing touchdowns in 11 games after recording just eight all last season. And Tmapa Bay's 4.9 yards per carry is not only fourth-best in the NFL but the highest average the franchise has ever had through its first 11 outings.
"This is the most balanced offense I've been in, strictly," said Mayfield. "Obviously, you talk about the scheme that we've brought in and how we're executing the run game now, and then just the different personnels that we've been forced to get into and learn and grow in with the injuries that we've had. It's fun to see. It's fun to see the different packages that we can have and the stuff that we can… You know, plays off of plays, still calling your bread and butter – the stuff that if it [isn't broken] don't fix it."
When people talk of a "balanced" offense in the NFL, they are generally talking about that combination of run and pass. That's part of what Mayfield is speaking of above, but he's also talking about how many different contributors there have been to the Bucs' offensive success. That has partially been by necessity, as both Mike Evans and Chris Godwin suffered significant injuries in Week Seven and Evans just return to the field last Sunday. But the end result is an offense that can attack opposing defenses in a wide variety of ways and with a lot of different weapons.
That point was made with great emphasis in the team's 30-7 win over the New York Giants last weekend. For the first time in Buccaneers history, four different players recorded a rushing touchdown in a single game, and for just the fifth time in team annals 11 different players caught a pass.
"It's a really balanced attack obviously," said Mayfield. "Everybody is playing well, 11 guys touching the ball – that's big time so that means whatever package we have out there, everybody can get the ball."
With their most potent rushing attack in a long time – the Bucs hadn't finished better than 24th in that category since 2015 – the offense is facing a lot more manageable third downs and the play-action game has more bite. Tampa Bay is converting on 50.37% of its third downs, better than every other team outside of Kansas City. Mayfield's passer rating on play-action throws is 129.4, fifth best in the NFL, and his EPA per dropback of 0.34 is sixth best. Overall, Mayfield has completed 71.4% of his passes, the best mark of his career.
"You know, completion percentage is obviously the play calls and scheme, but trust with the receivers and then also, like I keep saying to you guys, letting the defense dictate where the ball needs to go," he said. "Not trying to force things, not trying to do too much, move through progressions, and then it goes back to check-downs and simple things that are easy throws that these guys are making explosive plays off of. It's me just trusting that and trusting the guys that we have, and we have the right group to do that."
