Baker Mayfield reset his career-high mark in passing yards in 2024, but as he and the Buccaneers prepare for their wild-card matchup with the Commanders this weekend, the opposition is focusing on another area of his game: his running.
Lost in Mayfield's season totals are his career-high 378 rushing yards, more than double his previous high of 165 yards gained on 54 attempts while with the Browns in 2020. He's earned every one of those yards, often taking off when plays break down and running like a bull in a china shop.
Washington has already learned how difficult it can be to bring down Mayfield from its Week 1 meeting, in which the Bucs QB picked up 21 yards on the ground on three carries. They've seen enough on film, too, to know containing his mobility will be paramount to taking down the NFC South champions.
"He's been hard to tackle in the pocket across every team that goes in there," Commanders defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. said Thursday, via the team's official site. "You have to hit him as if you're going to hit a running back. If you go in there like you're going to hit ... normal quarterbacks, you're going to come off [the tackle]."
Save for the last couple of weeks, Mayfield typically scrambled to extend plays while searching for a passing target. But occasionally, he'll drum up the courage to run through the defense, often ending his runs like a car crash.
The slides aren't always pretty, and contact is frequent at the end of the play. In typical Mayfield fashion, he expresses his emotions after the collisions, too, invigorating his team and reminding defenses he's not merely a pocket passer.
Whitt and the Commanders understand they'll need to be fundamentally sound to limit Mayfield's effectiveness as a runner.
"We've gotta stay shoulder to thighs," Whitt said. "He does a good job of sliding up and out, and he's keeping his eyes downfield. I know he does scramble, but he's scrambling to throw. He's just playing high-level ball, and so, we just gotta get him on the ground."
The strategy might end up being familiar to those who have faced Lamar Jackson's Baltimore Ravens. Instead of constantly trying to win with speed rushes around the edge, the Commanders understand maintaining rush integrity will be more important. Only then can they limit Mayfield by forcing him to stay in the pocket.
"He is a rare competitor in that way and there's some guys that, in the pocket, the foot quickness the ability to move a shoulder to get underneath somebody," coach Dan Quinn said. "They do have that. And you do have to make sure when you are rushing somebody that -- we call it a cage -- where you try to put somebody into a spot to at least not allow them to hitch up and go."
That will be the formula the Commanders will follow in their attempt to stop a quarterback who finished tied for the second-most passing touchdowns in the NFL and posted the highest passer rating by a Buccaneers quarterback in franchise history (106.8).
Luckily, they have their own mobile quarterback in Jayden Daniels to practice against. We'll learn Sunday night whether those efforts are enough to earn the Commanders their first postseason win in nearly 20 years.