Baker Mayfield has been playing smart, near-mistake-free football through the early part of this season. He’s also led the Buccaneers on last-minute game-winning scoring drives in each of their first 3 games, which has spearheaded Tampa’s 3-0 start.
He’s been resourceful, using everything at his disposal to move the offense, particularly in key moments. And no play last week was bigger than his 28-yard completion to Emeka Egbuka to get the Bucs into field-goal range on their final drive of the game. Mayfield’s performance on this play was black-belt level quarterbacking.
Let’s dive in.
This was a 2nd-and-10 with just 1:36 remaining and Tampa trailing 27-26. The Buccaneers started in a 3x1 but shifted to a 2x2 well before the snap:
Notice the Jets’ defensive look. They had 6 men on the line of scrimmage, including two linebackers in the A-gaps. And they had a slot-corner over Tampa’s #2 inside receiver to the right. He was a potential blitz threat:
That clearly triggered something in Mayfield’s mind.
In fact, earlier in the game, the Jets had shown a similar look in another obvious passing situation (a 3rd-and-9). Notice the linebackers in both A-gaps and 6 men on the line of scrimmage on that play:
The Jets would then bring pressure with the slot corner blitzing and the A-Gap linebacker to his side dropping out:
The Bucs protected this as illustrated below with the slot corner unaccounted for. Baker would have to throw hot off of him:
Mayfield’s hot throw was taken away by the coverage. Not to mention, the blitzing slot-corner was in his face, obstructing the throw. The Jets would drop Mayfield for a sack as a result:
Fast forward to that 2nd-and-10 on the Buccaneers’ final drive. The pressure look was similar, but it appeared the slot blitz would be coming from Mayfield’s right this time (note the safety’s position over him as a tell):
If it was indeed the same pressure, that meant the linebacker to the side of the slot-blitz would be dropping out: