Baker Mayfield is no stranger to trash talk, especially when it comes to Houston Texans defensive back C.J. Gardner-Johnson, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback didn’t miss an opportunity to revel a bit in Thursday’s victory.
Mayfield took to social media after leading his side to a dramatic 20-19 win in Thursday’s matchup and did some trolling with a post that said “Built different. 10 toes down.”
The two players were center stage on the most important play of the game.
With his team facing a 19-14 deficit in the final minutes, Mayfield broke free from a pass rush and scrambled to pick up a critical first down on a 4th-and-10 play. It kept the drive alive, and the Buccaneers eventually scored the winning touchdown when Rachaad White found the end zone.
Gardner-Johnson just so happened to be the one who tackled Mayfield in the open field, but it was too late.
“Me and my buddy Chauncey (Gardner-Johnson) in the open field,” the quarterback told reporters after the game. “Fortunately, I was able to get out of that (rush) and get through. Seeing green grass and fourth down, two-minute drive, trying to do anything it takes to get a chance to win.”
Earlier in the game, Mayfield seemed to be injured after a scramble but jumped up to celebrate a first down and stare down Gardner-Johnson after the defensive back said something.
As Cole Thompson of USA Today’sTexans Wire noted, this isn’t the first time there has been some back-and-forth between the two players. When Gardner-Johnson was with the Detroit Lions in 2023, he said ahead of a playoff game “if you give that Tampa group a good quarterback, that’s a great group.”
The defensive back was less audacious with his comments after Thursday’s loss.
“He got the dub. Leave it at that,” Gardner-Johnson told reporters. “Great player, great competitor. He won the game for his team. Congrats to him and on to the next.”
Mayfield’s Buccaneers and Gardner-Johnson’s Texans are in quite different places at this point of the season. Tampa Bay is 2-0 following yet another narrow victory, while Houston is 0-2 and sitting in last place in the AFC South alongside the Tennessee Titans.
Mayfield has led Tampa Bay to an NFC South crown as a Pro Bowler in each of his two seasons as a starter, and he seems to be on the way to doing just that again in 2025.
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