The Las Vegas Raiders and Los Angeles Rams faced each other last night in another Thursday Night Football Game sleep fest, and the lights started to shine on the new quarterback in town.
Another New Home For Mayfield
The Carolina Panthers released quarterback Baker Mayfield on Monday after he asked to be, and then he found a new home with the Rams on Tuesday. It was a quick turnaround for Mayfield since he had just gotten to the team, and they had a game in less than 48 hours.
Rams Super Bowl-winning quarterback Matthew Stafford will be sidelined for the rest of the season with a neck injury, and the Rams needed to make a move for a quarterback.
The Rams were the only team to place a wavier claim on Mayfield, and after a horrible 2022 season in Carolina, he may have some new luck in the city of stars.
What Happened To Mayfield?
Mayfield was a star quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner at the University of Oklahoma, leading him to be the first overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft by the Cleveland Browns.
Mayfield helped lead the Browns to the playoffs in 2020; in 2021, his career started to go down the drain. He suffered a shoulder injury in Week Two, and it kept getting worse throughout the season, but that was not why he struggled at the position. He was not the same quarterback with accuracy, footwork, pocket presence, and pretty much whatever made him an elite college quarterback.
The Browns traded for Deshaun Watson in the off-season and sent Mayfield packing to Carolina, where he was awful. He was either bad, hurt, or benched in his short stint with the Panthers, and they decided it was time to go in a different direction.
What A Night!
Mayfield didn’t start the game last night against the Raiders, but he came in early in the first quarter and didn’t look bad. The Rams were stuck at three points for most of the game until Mayfield led the team down the field with four minutes left in the fourth quarter and made it 16-10 Raiders.
The Raiders would get the ball up six with under four minutes to go, and they would go three and out and had to punt the ball back to the Rams.
Mayfield had under two minutes and no timeouts and had to go 98 yards to tie the game up with a team he had only been around for 48 hours.
Mayfield took control of the offense and threw an interception on the drive, but it was called back due to a defensive penalty. Still, Mayfield took that second chance; he got on the drive and went down the field, and found wide receiver Van Jefferson in the endzone from 23 yards out to tie the game with 10 seconds left, and then kicker Matt Gay kicked the extra point to give them the lead and win 17-16.
I give Mayfield a lot of credit to join the team on Tuesday and play a game on Thursday and lead them 98 yards down the field to win the game. Mayfield has shown flashes like this throughout his five-year NFL career; last night was another moment.
We know what Mayfield is at this point in his career, and last night might have been the last big moment of his NFL career. Mayfield will likely be on his fourth team in six seasons next year, and there is a good chance he will be a backup in this league for many years to come.
