OWINGS MILLS — Quarterback Baker Mayfield had some heated, physical battles with the Ravens when he was in the AFC North with the Cleveland Browns.
Mayfield has resurrected his career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and he’s ready to resume the rivalry with Baltimore on Monday night.
He is expecting another tough game. The Ravens and Buccaneers are 4-2 and tied for first place in the AFC North and NFC South, respectively.
“They’re physical, they want to be the bully, but they have those guys that set the tone for them on all three levels,” Mayfield said about Baltimore’s defense. “Every single position group presents its own challenges. Yeah, we’re playing the Ravens and they’re a physical team, but it still comes down to us executing, running our things and doing it at a very high level.”
Mayfield is having an exceptional season, completing 134 of 189 passes for 1,489 yards with 15 touchdowns and five interceptions.
Mayfield also has two of the NFL’s elite playmaking wide receivers — Chris Godwin and Mike Evans, who are tied for the NFL lead with five touchdowns apiece. The Buccaneers are averaging 230.3 yards passing per game, ranked 11th in the NFL.
Evans was held out of practice early in the week as a precaution because of a minor leg injury.
While the Ravens are ranked No. 1 against the run, the pass defense has been their weakness. Baltimore is ranked 31st in the NFL, allowing 275.7 yards per game.
Coach John Harbaugh expects his secondary to face another challenge against Mayfield and Tampa Bay’s offense.
“I think [Mayfield] is still playing like he plays – he’s playing ‘Baker ball’ at a very high level,” Harbaugh said. “They’ve done a very good job of building the offense around what he does well with his two star receivers. Their offensive line is playing well, too. All those things have kind of come together for them, it seems, at this point.”
Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson is also playing at a high level. He has completed 118 of 176 passes for 1,529 yards with 10 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. Jackson is also second on the team with 403 yards rushing with two scores.
Jackson and Mayfield have a bond as former Heisman Trophy winners and they were part of the same draft class in 2018.
“Baker is a tremendous quarterback, he has been since college, ever since I’ve known him – even going back to the Heisman [Trophy],” Jackson said. “Both of us won the Heisman back-to-back. A little bit, you can say we have a relationship a little bit from there. But outside of football, I’m not really around other quarterbacks.”
