Buccaneers soar in latest power rankings
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are 3-1 and after an offseason full of doubt and people saying they'd probably win three games over the course of the entire year – the team is receiving some major respect. Sports Illustrated's latest power rankings have the Bucs ranked as the NFL's 13th-best team heading into Week 5. Obviously, […]
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are 3-1 and after an offseason full of doubt and people saying they'd probably win three games over the course of the entire year – the team is receiving some major respect.
Sports Illustrated's latest power rankings have the Bucs ranked as the NFL's 13th-best team heading into Week 5. Obviously, they are on a bye, so it'll be interesting to see where they're ranked next week. Regardless, if they fall – it won't be through any fault of their own.
But what's even more impressive about the Bucs' ranking is the fact they jumped seven spots from last week's rankings. Tampa Bay came in at No. 20 after losing to the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday Night Football, but are now in position where they'd make the playoffs if the season ended today and if playoff seeding were based on SI's power rankings.
Last week: win vs. New Orleans Saints, 26–9
Next week: bye
The best part about Baker Mayfield 3.0 is that when he faces pressure—which he’s done at almost every stop in his career—he now keeps his eyes locked robotically downfield and always seems to have a plan as to when and how he’ll get rid of the ball. A lot of younger players struggle with this and Mayfield, undoubtedly, had his issues in Cleveland. But now, despite a similarly shaky offensive line (the Buccaneers came into this week 24th in pass block win rate), Mayfield is so much less dependent on the idea that he can finesse his way out of a situation and so much more confident that Chris Godwin or Mike Evans will help him figure it out.
Mayfield has been great under pressure
I actually wrote about this more in-depth and SI is correct – Mayfield has been great under pressure in 2023. And it's a big reason why the team is 3-1.
"I think the cool part about having somebody like Baker [Mayfield] is [that] he turned a couple of really average play calls into some touchdowns," Bucs offensive coordinator Dave Canales told reporters earlier in the week. "… Baker didn't panic in those situations, he just said, 'Okay, this isn't what the play was designed for, but I have outlets.' He found Cade [Otton] inside on one of our plays, the extension to 'D.T.' [Deven Thompkins] on the other one, the flat route he threw to Rachaad [White] that Rachaad took down to the 1-yard line.
"Those are just him saying, 'Alright, not the design, boom, go to the next one quickly.' That's good football. That gives me a lot of confidence to be able to make those pass calls and know he's going to get us into a positive play."
It'll be interesting to see what this team looks like coming out of the bye. They should be a bit healthier, which could easily lead to even more wins down the road.
You can check out the rest of SI's power rankings, here.
