By Dan Zaksheske
Copyright outkick
If there’s one thing that Tampa Bay Buccaneers QB Baker Mayfield loves, it’s playing football. If there are two things that Mayfield loves, the other is talking trash. Combining them represents everything that Mayfield loves in life, and he showed it on Monday Night Football against the Houston Texans. Following a play late in the game where Mayfield appeared to suffer an injury, the veteran quarterback jumped to his feet—seconds after grabbing his leg in pain—to get in the face of Texans DB C.J. Gardner-Johnson. Apparently, leg pain heals instantly when there’s an opportunity to trash talk. At least it does for Baker Mayfield. The best way to back up trash talk is to perform on the field. Mayfield did just that, leading the Buccaneers on a last-second game-winning touchdown drive that included a 15-yard fourth-down scramble to keep the drive alive. On Wednesday, Mayfield spoke to the media. A reporter asked him about the altercation. “We don’t take any sh*t. That’s about it,” he responded. The trash talk spilled over into social media, too. Mayfield posted two photos of himself jawing at Gardner-Johnson during Monday’s game with the caption, “Built different. 10 toes down.” Gardner-Johnson responded by replying, “Boy this cute but still ringless.” This was a shot at Mayfield not having won a Super Bowl, something Gardner-Johnson accomplished with the Philadelphia Eagles. You really have to love Baker Mayfield. After spending years with struggling franchises, the Cleveland Browns and Carolina Panthers, he finally found a decent home and that has allowed his obvious talent to shine through. Beyond the talent, though, he’s one of the toughest guys in the NFL, and it’s clear that his teammates love him. Standing up in front of the media and telling them that the Bucs don’t “take any sh*t” certainly isn’t hurting his standing in the locker room.
