Buccaneers' QB Mayfield Didn't Do Much, but He Didn't Have to

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers didn’t need Baker Mayfield to beat the Carolina Panthers Sunday.

It wasn’t that Mayfield was bad.

He just didn’t really do anything, because he didn’t have to.

He threw just 11 passes, completed just seven for just 64 yards and it was just enough for the Bucs to win. Well, it was more than just enough. The Buccaneers destroyed the Panthers 43-13.

So how did it all happen?

Well, Tampa just dominated in all three phases.

Offensively, Tampa Bay ran the ball at will. 

Bucky Irving ended the afternoon with 106 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries. 

Kenneth Gainwell wasn’t too shabby, either, going for 88 yards on 14 carries, and Sean Tucker added 52 on seven carries and a touchdown.

Tampa also got a defensive touchdown courtesy of Calijah Kancey, and a two-point conversion on a blocked extra point.

Tampa led 33-6 at the half, so, yeah, this one wasn’t close.

Truth be told, the Bucs could have won this game without Mayfield. Jalon Daniels could have won it, as could Jack Daniels.

“We needed a victory no matter how it looked,” Mayfield said after the game via ESPN’s Jenna Laine. “You don’t change the process just because of the results.”

But it’s not going to be this way forever. 

The Bucs need Mayfield if they are to make a run at the playoffs. Tampa is 2-5, and teams don’t dig themselves out of that kind of hole without good quarterback play.

Mayfield is still 1-3 as a starter, with two touchdowns and two interceptions. 

But what Sunday also showed was that the Bucs have talent around Baker. Irving has 452 yards and two touchdowns on 96 carries.

ESPN projects him to rush for nearly 1,300 yards, which would make him one of the leagues better backs, and Irving isn’t alone.

Before Sunday, Gainwell hadn’t done much, running for 36 yards on 12 carries. But Gainwell showed why he was the Pittsburgh Steelers’ team MVP last season. 

In this decade’s NFL, it helps to have a one-two punch in the backfield. The Seattle Seahawks won the Super Bowl last year with the duo of Zach Charbonnet and Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III. 

The Bucs are long shots to get to the playoffs, let alone the Super Bowl, and nothing that happened Sunday changes that. 

But it was still an afternoon Bucs fans will be able to hold on to for the rest of the season.