Going into their Wild Card matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Washington Commanders defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. had one major piece of advice for his team regarding quarterback Baker Mayfield, per Zach Selby of Commanders.com.
“He’s been hard to tackle in the pocket across every team that goes in there,” defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. said on Thursday. “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].”
During the 2024 season, Mayfield has been on a long-awaited revenge tour, leading him to the most productive year of his career. And the Commanders are locked in on ensuring that doesn’t continue on Sunday night.
Buccaneers QB Baker Mayfield Commanders’ top focus ahead of Wild Card
Throughout the 2024 campaign, Mayfield has been a strong reason why the Buccaneers are in the playoffs.
Behind only Joe Burrow (4,918) and Jared Goff (4,629), Mayfield is one of the NFL’s leading passers with exactly 4,500 yards. Along with the third-most passing yards in the league, he trails only Burrow (43) for the most touchdown passes with 41 of them.
However, as Whitt mentioned, the Commanders must keep him from escaping the pocket and improvising.
Though he isn’t a true rushing quarterback, Mayfield’s ability to extend plays is a strong reason for his 2024 success, and the Commanders are fully aware of that ahead of their Wild Card matchup.
“[Mayfield] 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,” head coach Dan Quinn told reporters. “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.”
So, while the Commanders appear to have the right plan for stopping Mayfield and the Buccaneers, they must ensure they execute that plan perfectly on Sunday night.
If they don’t keep Mayfield bottled up, the Commanders’ 2024 playoff run could end abruptly on Sunday night.
