Baker Mayfield - Quarterback, buccaneers Event: Press Conference | Date: 2026-09-20 | Full transcript (primary source).
Baker Mayfield addressed the media during a press conference on September 20, 2026, following a challenging game for the Buccaneers. The discussion focused on the team's offensive struggles, particularly in the red zone, and the need for improvement moving forward.
Transcript
Mayfield: The rings and the delay, how tough was it to throw the ball coming out of the brick? I mean, they were doing a decent job of covering it up and subbing the ball in and out. It's just unfortunate not making the plays all day in the red zone. It was the same story, ending up with field goals instead of touchdowns down there, and obviously negative plays and just not getting enough completions down there. Came back to bite us in the end.
Mayfield: How frustrated are you with the offensive side of the ball right now? Frustrated because it's close. You can feel it. You can see it. We're moving the ball at times and then just shooting ourselves in the foot. So that makes it more frustrating when you know you're right there. Our group is more than capable of handling stuff like this, but we've got to really be self-critical, look at the tape, get stuff fixed, and just can't keep making the same mistakes over and over.
Mayfield: It's rare you have a situation where you have two hours and a very specific situation. How much did you guys talk about what you wanted to do and how close to that was what you did on the field? Yeah, we talked a decent amount. Obviously kept talking as the time kept getting delayed. But yeah, it's one of those situations where you're trying to take off as much clock, but also most important thing is to still score, getting two first downs and then running the clock out and ending up in the end zone. Can't have negative plays and just got to make it happen somehow.
Mayfield: Unfortunately, the rain started once again once you guys got back out there. It looked like Ted might have had a shot at that ball, but obviously wet conditions. Talk about that. Yeah, obviously not an easy catch. Ted's somebody that I trust. That's not going to change anything for me going forward. But yeah, tough play. I didn't get a real good look at it, but I know he had a chance at it. But the ball's going to keep coming back to him, going to keep finding him. We've just got to be able to make the plays in the end.
Mayfield: Obviously, you just got to trust that Max is going to come out of that break a little bit slower with the conditions and give him some air to run under it on the fourth down play too.
Mayfield: Bigger you guys have had these mid-season lulls and spoons where you lose a couple in a row. And you've always had the confidence of knowing that you played better early in the season. How much harder is it with this is all you have for this team right now? I mean, it's still going back to what I was talking about earlier. It's shooting ourselves in the foot, not making the plays when we need them, knowing that these are fixable things. But that also makes it more frustrating. So just got to get it corrected. Like I said, we've got to be hard on ourselves. Watch the tape, get those things fixed, flush it, and move on to the next cut. Got another home game next week against a good opponent.
Mayfield: How shocked are you that you're old too? How shocked? Pretty shocked. But that's where we're at. So got to fight our way out.
Mayfield: You mentioned how close the offense is to kind of figuring things out. When it comes to the deep ball, how does that get going? Yeah, just got to continue to communicate on landmarks and things that we're trying to draw up. So it's got to look at the tape. But yeah, it's timing. It's landmark throws. And just trusting those guys to be in the right spots and also just putting it on them.
Mayfield: What happened on the interception? It's no excuse, but kind of had a little bit of a sweaty ball. And at that point, if I can't put the ball in a perfect position on the sideline, because the throw is there. The guy's got depth, but he's not all the way to the sideline. I've made that throw in practice a ton of times. So at that point, just check it down. Be smart. Yeah, just sucks.
Mayfield: You guys are going too, right? Is this what's staying the work as it is against Cleveland? Just staying the work as we're going too.
Mayfield: It seems like there's a lot of throws in the flat early, pretty much predominantly. Is that just part of the offense, or are they taking away some of your guys down the field? Yeah, they sink out into coverage quite a bit, get a lot of depth. They drop the tight ends and the backs quite a bit. That's just what they put on tape. So we're trying to take advantage of that to lull them to sleep, bring them up closer to hit some of those deep shots later in the game. But yeah, trying to take the completions when they're there.
Mayfield: Anything else? Thank you.
