Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield is continuing to get acclimated to new offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard.
Mayfield explained how him and Grizzard are communicating and connecting after the team’s Week 1 win against the Atlanta Falcons.
“He’s so meticulous about what he wants to call, trying to get the perfect one in there. Sometimes I think you know, as we’re going along and learning together, call one, we’ll make it work, and when we get our shots, we’ll take it,” Mayfield said.
“But, yeah, in the in the high-stress, two-minute situations, he’s calm because we know that when you’re going fast, up-tempo, defenses can only get so many calls out there. So, he knows to call certain things and he trusts us to be able to go out there and execute and our guys are good at it.”
Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield during a game against the Atlanta Falcons. / Brett Davis-Imagn Images
The most important thing between a quarterback and offensive coordinator is trust and communication, and it appears Mayfield and Grizzard have that.
“I trust him and whatever he’s going to call, but there’s certain times…I mean, take for instance last week, when we’re not starting fast, we need to get something going,” Mayfield said.
“When we’re in between series on the sideline, talking about what we really want to get to what we’re thinking…When you’re all on the same page doing that – and that goes throughout the week – we’re all constantly communicating about it and what we’re trying to get accomplished. Then, on the sideline it’s like, ‘Okay, this isn’t working, what do we need to do to give the guys a spark?’ He’s good at that.”
As the season goes along, the connection between Mayfield and Grizzard is only going to get better, which should raise the ceiling of the Bucs’ offense.
If the Bucs can continue to get better on offense, they could put themselves in the Super Bowl contender conversation.
Kickoff between the Bucs and Texans is set for 7 p.m. ET on Monday Night Football inside NRG Stadium.
