ARLINGTON, Texas — Leading an NFL team into his home state of Texas isn’t new for Baker Mayfield. Helping his team on a big step toward the playoffs while playing so close to his roots would be new for the Tampa Bay quarterback. A four-game winning streak has the Buccaneers (8-6) atop the NFC South, where they will try to stay by themselves against Dallas on Sunday night.
The Cowboys (6-8) are close to elimination, which would end a three-year playoff run for a club that lost star QB Dak Prescott to a season-ending hamstring injury after eight games. It will be Mayfield’s second game at AT&T Stadium — the other was a 49-38 victory with Cleveland in front of a pandemic-restricted crowd four years ago. “There’s a lot of memories that I have,” said Mayfield, who won the Heisman Trophy at Oklahoma and played high school football in the Austin area.
“I played a state championship game in high school there, Big 12 championship there. It’s close enough to Oklahoma that you always see a lot of Sooner jerseys in there. For me, it’s special.
” Mayfield lost twice in Houston, the first time as the rookie No. 1 overall pick when the Browns never were in serious playoff contention. A year ago, Mayfield’s Bucs dropped to 3-5 with a loss to the Texans before a late-season surge to the division title and a wild-card victory.
The path is similar this time around, and Tampa Bay is coming off a resounding 40-17 victory over the AFC playoff-contending Los Angeles Chargers..