Bucs’ Baker Mayfield on the Falcons: ‘They’re going to be flying around’
Here’s what Tampa Bay quarterback Baker Mayfield had to say to Tampa-area media members about the Falcons on Wednesday. The teams will play at 1 p.m. Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in the season opener for both teams.
On what he has seen on tape from the Falcons: “Obviously they had some personnel changes. I haven’t seen a lot of tape of Leonard Floyd with them, but we know who he is — great player. They spent some early picks on edge rushers as well. Some changes in the secondary (too). AJ Terrell is still there, great player. Jessie Bates, ballhawk, a game-changer guy. And Divine Deablo, a new guy in the interior, linebacker level for them. (There are) some younger (defensive backs) that are going to play. Just personnel wise, trying to figure out who’s going to be where without really being able to get non-(exhibition) season tape up there to prepare with.
“But yeah, they’re flying around. Obviously they’re coached hard, just knowing Raheem Morris and then from talking to Haason (Reddick) about Jeff (Ulbrich), their (defensive coordinator), they coach those guys hard. They play hard for him and everybody that plays for him loves him, so they’re going to be flying around.”
On not playing in the exhibition games like other quarterbacks such as Patrick Mahomes: “I’ll be all right. Defenses don’t show a lot in preseason anyway, so I’ll be all right.”
On entering Week 1 without much film of the Falcons’ new scheme: “It’s a lot of overcommunication. Just making sure that we talk about, ‘Hey, we’re expecting to get this look, but we’re not in their meetings so we can’t guarantee it.’ So, all the adjustments that could possibly happen. … Once you get into Week 1, you don’t have a lot of practice to be able to run plays over and over again against different looks. So, it’s overcommunicating what we can possibly do, whether it’s run or pass, just making sure we’re on the same page no matter what the look is.”
On how much he was thinking about Week 1 during training camp: “For me at least, I always think about the last loss, so that was Washington. Then you hit the reset button and start looking forward to what type of team you have and try to take it one day at a time. You’re really not thinking about it too much until you start game planning because you can’t get ahead of yourself in this league.
“Obviously, Atlanta got us twice, but nothing carries over, whether it was their wins against us or how good we were on offense. None of that matters. It’s a clean slate for everybody. We’re looking forward to opening up on the road with a divisional opponent and that’s all that matters – how do we find a way to win?”
On facing Falcons CB AJ Terrell and S Jessie Bates III: “When you have players of that caliber, those are your game-wrecking guys. When you do your scouting report early in the week, coach (Todd) Bowles gets up there and goes through the offense, defense, and special teams game-wreckers, and those guys are on there. There’s no avoiding that. You have to make sure of where they’re at, but other than that, it’s about trusting your eyes, trusting your reads, and trusting our guys to make plays.”
On preparing for a division opponent in Week 1: “When you’re preparing for Atlanta, it’s a similar offense with Zac Robinson there and it being similar to what (then-offensive coordinator) Liam (Coen) installed last year.
“So, you understand you’re going to see a lot of those looks in practice, training camp, and offseason work. They know us, we know them. It’s about who executes and does the little things right. I can’t imagine a better Week 1 than on the road against an opponent that knows you, and divisional at that.”
About the Author
Honored by the Pro Football Hall of Fame in recognition of his "long and distinguished reporting in the field of pro football," D. Orlando Ledbetter, Esq. has covered the NFL 28 seasons. A graduate of Howard University, he's a winner of Georgia Sportswriter of the Year and three Associated Press Sports Editor awards.
