Baker Mayfield has already had one revenge-game spotlight this season, but Week 8 brings a much more personal one.
When the Tampa Bay Buccaneers played the Cleveland Browns in Week 2, it was framed as Mayfield’s chance to settle the score with the team that let him go. He said it was a game he had circled, but that wasn’t the matchup carrying the biggest edge for him this year.
That one comes against Kevin Stefanski, who is now coaching the Atlanta Falcons.
Stefanski’s presence on the other sideline gives this divisional game a different kind of charge for Mayfield, especially because the quarterback has made it clear he hasn’t forgotten how things ended in Cleveland. The Bucks quarterback has not been shy about how he feels about Stefanski, and that history is now tied to a matchup that already matters in the NFC South.
The tension only grew after Stefanski was hired in Atlanta this offseason. A Falcons reporter called Mayfield a “failure” and said Stefanski had handled a “dumpster fire” quarterback situation in Cleveland. Mayfield fired right back on social media, making sure his message landed.
"Failed is quite the reach pal. Still waiting on a text/call from him after I got shipped off like a piece of garbage. Can’t wait to see you twice a year, Coach,"
Mayfield wrote.
The split in Cleveland still hangs over the story. Mayfield helped lead the Browns to their first playoff win in 26 years in 2021, but after an injury-marred season, Stefanski moved on and pursued Deshaun Watson as his starting quarterback. Reports later said the Browns organization “wanted an adult at quarterback.”
What makes this one sting for Mayfield is that he wasn’t just moved aside - he felt dismissed. He didn’t get a text or call from Stefanski, and that wound has clearly stayed open.
Now the reunion comes with real stakes for Tampa Bay. A fired-up Mayfield is usually a dangerous version of Baker, and the Buccaneers would gladly take that version in a pivotal divisional game with their playoff hopes hanging in the balance.
If he wants the cleanest form of revenge, it would come in the most football way possible: his best performance of the season, a win over the Falcons, and a jump past Atlanta in the NFC South standings.
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That is what makes the trade deadline conversation so uncomfortable around One Buccaneer Place. The Colts have already shown how far a team can go in rethinking its direction with midseason moves, and the Bucs are now weighing whether they should resist that kind of sell-off or at least consider it if the next stretch goes badly. For a team built to expect more than a rebuilding discussion, even having that debate is its own warning sign. [Read more 🡒]