Baker Mayfield heard "MVP!" chants during the first month-and-a-half of the 2025 season, and it wasn't all due to his prolific passing numbers. With 158 rushing yards through the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' first six games, Mayfield was on pace to blow away his previous single-season high of 378 yards, set just last year. Clutch scrambles late in wins over Houston and San Francisco helped the Bucs run out to a 5-1 record and came in handy as the Bucs' talented receiving corps kept taking injury hits.
Unfortunately, the injury bug started to bite Mayfield, as well. First a knee ailment and then an oblique strain put an obvious limit on his mobility; that coupled with some opponents starting to use a backfield spy on him shut down his rushing opportunities for multiple weeks. In fact, Mayfield didn't attempt a single run in a three-game stretch from Weeks 8-11. That was the first time in his career that he had gone three consecutive games without a rush, and in his previous 40 starts for Tampa Bay he had only turned in one game without a single carry.
Well, Mayfield is clearly feeling the benefits of a bye week and a game against New England in which he didn't take too many abject hits. On Sunday against the Buffalo Bills, his legs were once again a significant weapon in the Bucs' attack. Though the Buccaneers lost the game, 44-32, they had the lead five different times, including a 32-31 edge early in the fourth quarter, and Mayfield's running was a big reason why. He carried five times for 39 yards and a touchdown, picking up key first downs both on designed runs and heady scrambles. That was part of a 202-yard rushing output for the Bucs on Sunday.
"I'm feeling better, and just taking advantage of what was there," said Mayfield. "Some zone-read stuff and then obviously some scrambles on pass-play designs and going from there."
One of the zone-read plays led to six points and an early lead for the visiting team. At the end of an 11-play, 69-yard drive that stretched from the first quarter into the second, the Bucs faced a fourth-and-one at the Bills' four after a seven-yard catch by Rachaad White on third-and-eight. The Bucs went for it on fourth down and Mayfield faked a handoff to White before keeping the ball and running around right end for the four-yard touchdown. It was his first running score of the year and his fifth since joining the Bucs in 2023.
Mayfield said the Bucs included that zone-read in their game plan under the assumption that Buffalo might not be expecting it, given his limitations in recent weeks.
"A little bit, yeah, but also physically I was feeling better," he said. "It was just one of those little wrinkles that obviously they probably weren't game-planning for."
Earlier in that same drive, Mayfield scrambled for 13 yards on third-and-two just inside Buffalo territory to avoid a punt. Early in the third quarter, another scramble converted a third-and-three and got the ball down to Buffalo's six-yard line two plays before Sean Tucker ran in one of his three scores on the day.
"We weren't trying to get him to run more," said Head Coach Todd Bowles after the game. "We had two designed plays where they were minor runs, but he tried to win the ballgame. He's a competitor. Obviously he's a little healthier, he hasn't been hit as much, so he took advantage of certain things and he made the best of them."
