Baker Mayfield believes the way the Tampa Bay Buccaneers handled a wild second quarter, where they lost a 17-point lead, shows their strong mindset.
Mayfield threw for 325 yards and four touchdowns, helping the Buccaneers beat the New Orleans Saints 51-27 on Sunday. This win aimed to lift the spirits of fans who faced damage from Hurricane Milton earlier in the week.
“The last few weeks have been tough for the Tampa area and all of South Florida,” Mayfield said. “Today was a team embracing everything that everybody was going through, ups and downs and handling it the best way you can, fighting through it and trying to make it work. That’s life. Obviously a natural disaster is not easy to deal with, but you find a way to overcome.”
For the Saints, this game marked a rough start for rookie quarterback Spencer Rattler and extended their losing streak to four after beginning the season with two easy wins.
With starting quarterback Derek Carr uncertain to return from an oblique injury, Saints coach Dennis Allen said he plans to start Rattler again on Thursday when they face Denver.
“There were some encouraging things, some things that he’s going to learn from,” Allen said, pointing out that the team’s struggles running the ball and defensive mistakes in the second half made things harder for Rattler. “I don’t think we did enough around him to help him.”
After trailing 27-24 at halftime, the Buccaneers (4-2) took the lead for good with Chris Godwin’s second touchdown, a 55-yard play where three Saints players missed tackles.
“Our tackling was atrocious,” Allen said. “When you don’t tackle, you give up explosive plays … and it just kind of snowballed on us.”
Safety Zyon McCollum’s diving interception of Rattler’s pass started a fourth-quarter drive that ended with Mayfield’s 8-yard touchdown pass to tight end Cade Otton, allowing Tampa Bay to extend their lead.
The Buccaneers showcased impressive stats and highlights in the Superdome, which had mostly emptied by the game’s end. A few happy fans in Buccaneers colors remained as Sean Tucker scored again to seal the win.
The Bucs “were playing with heavy hearts, just seeing what was happening in Tampa Bay,” coach Todd Bowles said, confirming that the team planned to return to their normal headquarters in Tampa after the game.
“Our hearts pour out to the city. It’s a tough city,” Bowles said. “We don’t know what we’re going back to, but in our small part, we wanted to win one for the city.
We are going to try to help any way we can when we get back, so after going through a week like this and coming out on top, it made the guys feel special.”
The Buccaneers rushed for 277 yards as a team, with Tucker leading the way with 136 yards and one rushing touchdown. Bucky Irving contributed 81 yards and a short touchdown. Tucker also caught a short pass and turned it into a 36-yard touchdown.
Tampa Bay became only the fifth team in NFL history to have at least 300 passing yards and 275 rushing yards in a game. The Bucs’ 594 total offensive yards were the second-most ever allowed by the Saints.
Rattler, who was intercepted twice, completed 22 of 40 passes for 243 yards and had a touchdown pass to fellow rookie Bub Means. Alvin Kamara scored his seventh touchdown of the season with a 4-yard run, and Rashid Shaheed returned a punt for a 54-yard touchdown.
Mayfield started the game with a 4-yard touchdown pass to Godwin.
Rattler’s first series ended when receiver Chris Olave was stripped by Tykee Smith just after making a catch. Olave also took a hard hit from McCollum, and safety Antoine Winfield Jr. picked up the loose ball and ran it back 58 yards to make it 14-0.
Chase McLaughlin’s 26-yard field goal extended the lead to 17-0 late in the first quarter.
The Saints then scored 20 straight points in just over five minutes, aided by interceptions in Buccaneers territory by Saints defensive backs Paulson Adebo and Johnathan Abram, which set up a field goal and Rattler’s 10-yard touchdown pass to Means.
Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan’s interception of Mayfield’s tipped pass helped maintain the Saints’ lead through halftime, but this was only a brief pause for the struggling New Orleans team.
