Baker Mayfield reflects on Buccaneers season & his wildest Las Vegas story
Yahoo Sports' Jason Fitz is joined by the Tampa Bay quarterback on Radio Row at Super Bowl LVIII to discuss his strong season with the Buccaneers and his wildest Las Vegas story. Baker joined Yahoo Sports on behalf of Advance Auto Parts' "False Starts Kills Drives" campaign.
Video Transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING]
JASON FITZ: Baker Mayfield hanging out with us on behalf of Advance Auto Parts. We'll get to that in a second. But first we're gonna play a game, What's in the Cards? It's simple. Higher, lower. We've all played this before.
I'm gonna flip over a card, and you're gonna tell me, is the next card gonna be higher or lower? You get it right, you get an easy question. You get it wrong, you get a hard question. Are you ready?
BAKER MAYFIELD: I'm ready.
JASON FITZ: All right, let's see how the cards play out. The first card's a 5. Got a 5 first. So next card--
BAKER MAYFIELD: We're going higher.
JASON FITZ: Oh, he's going higher. He's confident. Dude didn't even wait-- it's a 3. Oh.
BAKER MAYFIELD: Oh, crazy.
JASON FITZ: He's 0 for 1, and now we can just suddenly give us the hard question. What made things click this year in Tampa?
BAKER MAYFIELD: Oh. That's a loaded question.
JASON FITZ: Take it. That's why it's on the hard list.
BAKER MAYFIELD: Honestly, it was a great group. A lot of the key pieces that were there for the deep playoff runs are still there. We had some young guys that stepped up in a big way, but they were all watching the vets that had been there before. And just everybody believed in it, even in the ups and downs, the lulls in the season that everybody just kind of stuck together. So when you stay together through adversity, good things happen. And that's what we did.
JASON FITZ: Does it hit different, though? Like, given the adversity you've been through in your career, the ups and downs, right?
BAKER MAYFIELD: Yeah.
JASON FITZ: Does it hit different when you're part of that, and you're like, man, this is working?
BAKER MAYFIELD: Yeah. It definitely does 'cause I've been on the other side where you lose a few games in a row, and everybody starts to get real cynical, negative. But this team didn't. And that was the special part about the run that we had the back half of the year.
JASON FITZ: All right, let's go. Where do we go here? I can't--
BAKER MAYFIELD: We're going higher now.
JASON FITZ: Look at that. These-- think it's a 9! Oh, he gets a wildest Las Vegas story. Aha! Don't let me down here, man. When we put these questions together, I said, this is the one we gotta-- like, you're gonna have something good.
BAKER MAYFIELD: First time in Vegas, had just turned 21. My friend's bachelor party. Didn't tell my parents I was going to Vegas. Was flying standby. Couldn't get into Vegas, so I had to fly into LA. Called a buddy that was living there. And we drove over four hours. Had a great weekend. But then, trying to get out of Vegas, I finally had to call my parents 'cause I slept on the Vegas airport floor for about five hours before I could get out. Then finally resorted to calling my parents to get a flight. So if you saw me open-mouth breathing in 2016 in the Vegas airport, yes, that's true.
JASON FITZ: What's amazing about it is you flew to LA and drove. All I can think is the hangover. Like, it just feels like there's somebody screaming, "Vegas!" in the car.
BAKER MAYFIELD: It definitely was.
JASON FITZ: OK. All right, let's go. Higher or lower, what do you got for this one?
BAKER MAYFIELD: Is ace high? I gotta ask that question.
JASON FITZ: That just depends on whether or not I want to give you an--
BAKER MAYFIELD: Fair enough.
JASON FITZ: I make the rules. Come on.
BAKER MAYFIELD: All right, we're going lower.
JASON FITZ: OK, we're gonna go low. 6. By the way, he's the first person that's asked that question. That says something. All right, you got another one. You said that you had-- at the Pro Bowl, you said you didn't like that you had to go first. You hadn't thrown a pass since the last playoff game.
BAKER MAYFIELD: Yeah.
JASON FITZ: How long do you usually go in between, you know, throwing sessions?
BAKER MAYFIELD: I mean, postseason, I usually give my arm about a month and a half, almost two months' break. I mean, still doing workouts and stuff, but don't pick up a football at all. So that was a little premature for me.
JASON FITZ: You're joining us on behalf of Advance Auto Parts. And it's the False Start Kill Drives initiative. So when you're walking up, and you get a false start-- when somebody commits a false start, what's the first thing that goes through your mind?
BAKER MAYFIELD: Why are we shooting ourselves in the foot? It's the most frustrating thing. So, yeah, not very good.
JASON FITZ: Does the guy that do it, like, does he come into the huddle and give you a my bad, or does he just, like, not look at anybody?
BAKER MAYFIELD: He's like, yeah, that's my bad. And then, we're all like, yeah, no crap it's your bad. We know that. We didn't move. You did. But, yeah, it's frustrating.
JASON FITZ: So tell us what you're doing with Advanced Auto Parts.
BAKER MAYFIELD: So obviously this is Super Bowl Sunday coming up. But National Car Battery Day is the following Sunday, on February 18. And so if there is one false start in the game, and you register at AAPfalsestarts.com, you have a chance to win a free car battery for life. And that's not your car, that's your life.
So you get a chance to win that. But there has to be a false start in the game. So we'll see. I'll be rooting for a false start in the game.
JASON FITZ: There is gonna be a false start in the game. Thanks for hanging out with me, man.
BAKER MAYFIELD: Appreciate it. Good to see you, Jason.