Swag belongs to Baker Mayfield, Bucs in bounce-back win over Giants He met him during the week at Super Bowl 58 in Las Vegas last February. Tommy DeVito came strutting past the card tables and slot machines, and Baker Mayfield felt like the Giants quarterback could have been a character in a Scorsese movie. "Brief interaction," Mayfield said of DeVito, or Tommy Cutlets as he came to be known during a magical run as a starter last season. "He had his chain. Blinged out. Swag, walking through the casino. It was awesome. It was like a movie scene, obviously." So when Mayfield went airborne, hurdling Giants cornerback Cor'Dale Flott and landing in the end zone to cap his 10-yard touchdown run in the second quarter Sunday, he stood up and mocked the crowd with DeVito's patented pinched fingers gesture. "Tribute. A tribute to Tommy, yeah," Mayfield said following the Bucs' 30-7 win over DeVito and the Giants. "He's a good dude. He's got swag." The swag is back for the Bucs, who won their first game since beating the Saints in New Orleans on Oct. 13. The four-game losing streak? The sieve-like defense that was giving up nearly 30 points per game? The reluctance to lean on all three running backs and feature rookie Bucky Irving? Fuhgeddaboudit! For the fifth time this season, the Bucs scored a touchdown on their first possession of the game, built a 30-0 lead by the fourth quarter, and looked like a team rested and focused from their bye week. Mayfield completed 24 of 30 passes for 294 yards and ran for a touchdown. Irving led the Bucs with 151 yards from scrimmage (12 rushes, 87 yards, TD; six catches, 64 yards), including a 56-yard run in the second half. The Bucs scored on drives of 70, 82, 86 and 95 yards, owning an eight-minute advantage in time of possession. Meanwhile, the Bucs defense limited DeVito to 3 of 5 passing for 31 yards and tallied three of their four sacks in the first half. The Bucs' longest march of the game came after Giants running back Tyrone Tracy Jr. took a direct snap and was stripped of the football by Lavonte David, with Calijah Kancey recovering at the New York 5-yard line during the third quarter. "It's huge," Mayfield said of the Bucs' ability to control the football. "The offensive line played unbelievable today. Sustaining those drives are back breakers. You keep the ball, and the defense can go in there fresh. But when you end with seven points, it's even better." Todd Bowles was nit-picking when he said he didn't like the way the Bucs finished the game, failing on some short-yardage situations in the fourth quarter. But overall, it was hard to find fault with the Bucs on Sunday. They did exactly what they needed to do against a Giants team that not only is winless in six games at MetLife Stadium this season, but had trouble focusing after a week of turmoil that saw them place franchise quarterback Daniel Jones on waivers and have DeVito leapfrog backup Drew Lock to take over as the starter. "It was good concentration," Bowles said. "The guys focused on the little things. For the most part, we executed on both sides of the football. I still would like to finish the game a little better, but they came back mentally tougher and they came back ready to play." If there was a downer from Sunday, it's that safety Jordan Whitehead sustained a pectoral injury trying to make a tackle in the second half and could not finish the game. He will have an MRI but the Bucs have to be fearful he could miss some time. Linebacker Joe Tryon-Shoyinka also injured an ankle. Fortunately, the Bucs claimed their former safety, Mike Edwards, off waivers from Tennessee during the bye week and he was instrumental in providing some pass coverage in the middle of the field against the Giants as Bowles went to a dime package with six defensive backs. "I think it starts with Mike Edwards," Bowles said. "You know, Mike allows us to do certain things. He allows Antoine (Winfield Jr.) to be Antoine and Jordan to be Jordan. He allows the backers to free up some things for us and that gets the D-line to tee off when you know you've got a safety valve back there that can see a lot of things. It really helped us." Last but not least, Mike Evans returned and led the Bucs with 68 yards receiving on five catches. He drew double teams to allow 11 different players have at least one reception in the game - tying a team record. Evans also drew a pass interference in the end zone. "He obviously changes the game, even when he's not getting the ball," Mayfield said. "So it's huge that we have him in. We're lucky to have him as I always say, but just trying to get him the ball early and often and keep him going." Rick Stroud, Tampa Bay Times, published 25 November 2024