How did Baker Mayfield and the Bucs keep the Vikings defense on the field for two-thirds of the second half on Sunday? Mayfield apparently was able to understand the hand signals the Vikings were using to call plays. Bucs running back Rachaad White said Tuesday that Mayfield had figured it out by halftime.
“I just remember Bake came in the locker room, literally at halftime, he said, ‘I got it. We got all these signals,’” White said of Mayfield during an interview on Bucs Total Access.
“We’re in there talking as an offense and he’s like, ‘I know all these signals. If they do this, they’re going into Cover 2. If they do this, they’re going into Cover 3. Every time I alert this and they do this signal, they’re dropping back to this.’ And I’m like, ‘Wow, that’s amazing.’ … I was just listening to him and we were listening to him and we just kind of understood.”
Mayfield did nothing illegal. He wasn’t sign stealing. He was sign deciphering. That’s a brilliant level of play and a pock mark on the first game under Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores, who if he’s not paying attention is in danger of the same thing happening Thursday night against the Eagles.
Want to dig deeper into this? Mayfield was the quarterback at Oklahoma from 2015-2017. Eagles QB Jalen Hurts transferred from Alabama to Oklahoma in 2019. Is there any way possible that the two Heisman winners have a relationship and Mayfield has told Hurts about the signals?
That’s a bit of a leap but it’s obvious that Flores needs to change things up immediately.
