One of the best NFL stories for the last two seasons has been the resurgence of No.1 overall pick Baker Mayfield with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Baker got a playoff victory last season before falling short in the divisional round and is off to an incredible start this year at 3-1. In just the first month of football, Baker is playing at an MVP level for this team.
But they had a multiple-time MVP before Baker in NFL legend Tom Brady who had brought Tampa their second Super Bowl Victory. Baker, who brings a certain type of energy and ‘fun’ to the team, spoke out about what he had to do to be the starter after the great Brady. There may have been a better way to do it.
Baker Mayfield Takes ‘Shot’ At Tom Brady
Ahead of Tampa’s matchup with the Philadelphia Eagles, Mayfield may have mistakenly taken some shots at the GOAT with what he said about the team when he came in. On the “Casa de Klub” podcast, Baker revealed the differences between his and Brady’s approach, and that the team was very ‘stressed out’ because of Brady:
“The building was a little bit different with Tom in there,” Baker explained. “Obviously, playing-wise, Tom is different. He had everybody dialed in, high-strung environment, so I think everybody was pretty stressed out. … They wanted me to come in, be myself, bring the joy back to football, for guys who weren’t having as much fun.”
The sound bite came from a longer conversation, but this was a bit careless by Baker to say what he was trying to say in that way. Brady has proven that ‘his way’ equals the greatest winner of all time, and he was the man who turned around the Tampa organization for Baker to now thrive in.
This was an easy ‘shot’ for Brady to savagely destroy, which he did on-air while calling Tampa’s destruction of the Eagles.
Tom Brady Explains Championship Mindset To Baker Mayfield
Brady was obviously not going to let this go unchecked, and he addressed it on-air in the most Brady fashion ever:
“I thought stressful was not having Super Bowl rings,” Brady fired back. “There was a mindset of a champion that I took to work every day. This wasn’t daycare. If I wanted to have fun, I was going to go to Disneyland with my kids.”
“There’s a way to approach this game, and it’s that with the right mindset to try to push each other outside of our comfort zones,” Brady added. “And great teammates do that … There’s high expectations for us. We got to make sure we go out there and deliver.”
Tom Brady just cooked Baker harder than he used to cook the AFC East
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) September 29, 2024
While Baker and the Buccaneers look fantastic over the last two seasons and are the favorites to win their division, they are not Super Bowl contenders. Baker is doing great and he should be acknowledged and celebrated for revitalizing his career, but make no mistakes, Brady brought the Super Bowl mentality and not ‘fun’ or ‘joy’ that took away from winning.
Baker probably meant to say just that he brings something different than Brady did, but now it sounds like Baker brings the joy, and Brady brings the rings.
When speaking to reporters after the game, Baker said his comments were misinterpreted and that he did not mean any disrespect to the quarterback that everyone was attempting to get close to.
“I think a lot of that got taken out of context, and none of it was personal by any means,” Mayfield said. “It’s just what he demanded of the guys, and that’s the aura of Tom Brady. And that’s what he did to bring a championship here.”
“Nothing personal, but yeah, talking before the game, he’s obviously happy for me and he knows the guys, so he knows how much I enjoy throwing to Mike [Evans] and Chris [Godwin] [because] he got to do the same,” he continued. “It’s fun to be able to talk about the same experience with a guy like that.”
We will have to wait and see what the ‘fun’ and ‘joy’ will look like in the postseason, but for Brady, the only ‘joy’ came from winning the last game of the season each year.
Related: Ryan Fitzpatrick Fires Back At Tom Brady After Baker Mayfield’s Criticism
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