Football isn’t the only thing Baker Mayfield has improved at during his time in Tampa. The Buccaneers starting quarterback had the perfect response to Lions safety CJ Gardner-Johnson insulting him before Sunday’s divisional round playoff game.
In case you missed it, here’s what Gardner-Johnson said about Mayfield when recently asked about the Buccaneers receiving corps.
“This group is probably one of the best groups we’ve played all year, other than Tampa,” Gardner-Johnson said, via the Detroit Free Press. “If you give this Tampa group a good quarterback, it’s a great group. [Mike] Evans, [Chris] Godwin, [Russell] Gage is a great band. I played against them for real.”
Mayfield, who clearly knew the question was coming, jumped at the chance to respond when asked about Gardner-Johnson’s comments.
“I don’t think he actually watched any film, because he mentioned Russell Gage,” Mayfield said via Sports Illustrated. “We like Russell, but Russell hasn’t played a single game all year for us. He needs to get away from the preseason stuff that the media was talking about.
“(Gardner-Johnson) didn’t play in our first game, so I’m looking forward to seeing him. I think he’s a really good player. He’s been doing it for a while. He’s had an impact in every team he played on. “He’s a good player, but yeah, he needs to do a little more film study. ”
Gardner-Johnson’s undermining of Mayfield’s ability before a playoff game is a questionable decision at best. Mayfield had a solid regular season and is coming off arguably the best game of his career to date. He threw for 337 yards and three touchdowns in Tampa Bay’s 32-9 blowout victory over Philadelphia on Super Wild Card Weekend.
While Mayfield is playing at a high level, the Lions secondary is not. The unit struggled against elite passing attacks all year and finished 27th in the NFL in passing yards allowed during the regular season. Detroit’s secondary recently had Puka Nacua record the most receiving yards by a rookie in a playoff game.
It was nothing but Gardner-Johnson’s trash talk that added even more intrigue to what is already a highly anticipated game. But if the Lions lose, he’ll have to prepare for the criticism he’ll surely face in Detroit and the rebuttal he’ll undoubtedly receive from Mayfield himself.
