TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Todd Bowles could barely contain his laughter when asked to share his thoughts on Baker Mayfield’s mobility and ability to run.
The usually stoic coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers cracked up when a questioner suggested his quarterback might not be as elusive as Baltimore's Lamar Jackson, Washington's Jayden Daniels or Buffalo's Josh Allen, but he's still capable of making game-changing plays on the move.
“He’s fourth, let’s just say, behind those three guys,” Bowles said, still smiling. “He’s mobile enough to get the yards we need.
“You don’t have to be a fast quarterback to be a mobile quarterback,” the coach added. “He understands when he has to run, and he’s great at that.”
Mayfield, who faces Jackson and the AFC North-leading Ravens on Monday night, agrees he’ll never be confused with being one of the best runners at his position.
But that hasn’t prevented him from straying from the pocket when necessary while helping the Bucs (4-2) to a strong start that has his team tied atop the NFC South.
“I would not put myself in that category with those guys by any means. It amazes me when you get to watch some of these guys on tape. Lamar, Jayden, Josh, the things they can do, extending plays, just the vision that they have, that’s a God-given gift that they have,” Mayfield said. “I’ll do what I can, but it’s not to that level.”
Jackson, a two-time MVP, arguably is playing the best football of his career, and the Ravens (4-2) have won four straight following an 0-2 start.
Mayfield has thrown for 1,489 yards and a league-leading 15 touchdowns. Baltimore leads the NFL in rushing and total offense, with Jackson passing for 1,529 yards and 10 TDs and running for 403 yards and two more scores.
The quarterbacks have known each other since both were Heisman Trophy winners in college, with Jackson receiving the award in 2016 and Mayfield winning it the following season.
Mayfield was the first overall pick in the 2018 draft. Jackson entered the NFL the same year as the last selection of the first round.
The Ravens star said there’s no extra motivation going against a quarterback from his draft class on Monday night.
“No, I just want to win. I go out there, and I look at every game the same way. (Mayfield) is a tremendous quarterback, he has been since college, ever since I’ve known him — even going back to the Heisman,” Jackson said.
“You can say we have a relationship a little bit from there. But outside of football, I’m not really around other quarterbacks. ... I love his game. He’s still the same person from what I see," Jackson added. “From afar, he’s still the same Baker.”
Jackson is 22-1 against the NFC opponents, including 2-0 against Tampa Bay. That’s the best mark by a quarterback against an opposing conference in NFL history.
“It’s probably because we see each other (every once in a while), so it’s hard to game plan for us,” Jackson explained. “(It’s) a little bit of everything.”
A third Heisman winner, running back Derrick Henry (2015), has been a huge factor in Baltimore’s success with a league-leading 704 yards and eight TDs rushing.
“It’s always fun to see those guys. You go from filming a couple days in the offseason, seeing them, catching up, and then just watching them and obviously trying to root for them in season when you’re not playing them,” Mayfield said of Jackson and Henry.
“Obviously, bringing in Derrick is just a huge addition for them. I mean he’s a monster,” Mayfield added. “Our team has to know what to expect but we just have to react and find a way to win.”
The Ravens lead the the NFL with 1,232 rushing yards this season and have run for at least 150 yards and scored a touchdown on the ground in every game.
They enter Monday night 168 yards shy of becoming the fourth team since 1980 to begin a season with at least 1,400 yards in their first seven games.
The others are the 1984 Chicago Bears (1,508), 2006 Atlanta Falcons (1,476) and 2019 Ravens (1,429).
Henry has run for at least one TD in every game this season. With a rushing TD against the Bucs, he would become the first player since Emmitt Smith in 1994 to score on the ground in each of his team’s first seven games.
The Bucs, coming off a 51-point outing at New Orleans, are one of the NFL’s highest-scoring teams. They’re averaging 29.7 points per game, up from 20.4 last season.
That’s making Bowles’ job as a defensive play-caller a little easier.
“It definitely helps. If you can get a lead and you can make somebody one-dimensional, the gym bag is open,” Bowles said. “You can kind of reach in and pull out anything you want to pull out. Those guys start flying around and making plays and you can see the results.”
___
AP freelancer Todd Karpovich in Owings Mills, Maryland, contributed to this report.
___
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl