Baker Mayfield’s comeback story can’t be told without his brief stint with the Los Angeles Rams in 2022. Perhaps Mayfield isn’t enjoying a successful second act with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this season if he never got the five games to learn from Sean McVay and his coaching staff.
Mayfield locked himself in a room with Rams offensive assistant coaches Liam Coen and Zac Robinson 48 hours before the 2018 No. 1 pick guided Los Angeles to an epic comeback victory against the Las Vegas Raiders on Thursday Night Football.
The trio reunited for another Thursday night thriller, with Coen and Robinson as dueling offensive coordinators during the shootout between Mayfield’s Buccaneers and Kirk Cousins’s Atlanta Falcons. Robinson got the best of his former Rams coworkers after Cousins found KhaDarel Hodge for a 45-yard game-winning touchdown to defeat the Buccaneers, 36–30, in overtime.
There was pressure on Robinson and Falcons coach Raheem Morris heading into Thursday night’s game because Cousins and his offense had a slow first month of the season. The funk is over thanks to Cousins setting a franchise record with 509 passing yards, including four touchdowns and one interception.
It was a sweet victory against an NFC South rival, and one that might end the snickers about the Falcons (3–2) signing Cousins to a four-year, $180 million contract and using a first-round pick on Michael Penix Jr.
It took a while, but it appears the Falcons made the right move to hand Cousins $100 million guaranteed to help with the development of their standout trio of Drake London, Bijan Robinson and Kyle Pitts. All three former first-round picks contributed in Thursday night’s comeback victory, but London (12 catches, 154 yards, one touchdown) was unstoppable for most of the night before having to come out for one play in overtime. His replacement, Hodge, made the most of London’s absence, recording the game-winning catch-and-run touchdown.
Mayfield nearly had another sensational Thursday night performance, but his offense failed to put away the Falcons after Bucky Irving had a costly fumble late in the fourth quarter. That was followed by a three-and-out drive to give Cousins and the Falcons one more opportunity to send it to overtime. Falcons kicker Younghoe Koo drilled a game-tying, 52-yard field goal as time expired in regulation.
It was a sour ending, but the Buccaneers (3–2) will likely be in the mix for the NFC South crown again based on what they have shown for most of the season. Two years after his stint with the Rams, Mayfield is guiding one of the best offenses in the league with Coen as his play-caller in Tampa Bay. Mayfield’s career revival in 2023 wasn’t a one-year thing, and it might be because Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles hired Coen to replace Dave Canales, who left to become the head coach of the Carolina Panthers.
The chemistry created in Los Angeles two years ago was on display for the first time on the prime-time stage, with Coen’s creative play calls getting the best of Morris’s Atlanta defense throughout the game.
It was a memorable night for close friends and dueling offensive coordinators Coen and Zac Robinson—the two worked together for three seasons as offensive assistants with the Rams. Each entered this season as first-year offensive play-callers with plenty to prove, but they’re now operating hot offenses thanks to the shootout that took place in Atlanta.
Coen was essentially fired as McVay’s OC after a rough season with the Rams in 2022. Robinson didn’t have an awkward L.A. exit after he followed Morris to Atlanta, but he had pressure Thursday night after a slow start to the season with the Cousins-led offense. Four days earlier, the Falcons didn’t generate an offensive touchdown in their victory over the New Orleans Saints.
Robinson finally got a collective offensive effort, reminding the front office why they committed to the 36-year-old Cousins, who was coming off a significant Achilles injury. Cousins connected with seven receivers, also getting major contributions from Darnell Mooney (nine catches, 105 yards, two touchdowns) and Pitts (seven catches, 88 yards). Cousins quickly got in rhythm with all of his playmakers and went into halftime with 253 passing yards—the most by a Falcons quarterback since Matt Ryan in 2009, which was fitting on the night the team honored Ryan.
Coen’s Buccaneers also reached a milestone in the opening half, because it was the first time the team scored at least 24 points in the first half of back-to-back games since September 2019. There were concerns about Mayfield possibly regressing without Canales. But Mayfield has been better in his second season in Tampa Bay and has shown a strong connection with Coen.
Coen had a beautiful play design on Tampa Bay’s first touchdown when he confused the Falcons defense by having running backs Rachaad White and Irving on the field together. That led to an open Mike Evans in the end zone for his first of two touchdowns in the first half.
Pitts got into the action with a 32-yard reception during the Falcons’ impressive opening scoring drive, which ended with an 18-yard touchdown catch from London, who was open often throughout the night. London, the 2022 first-round pick, was constantly open last season, but now has a quarterback who’s capable of giving him the ball.
The offensive explosion finally arrived for the Falcons, and hey, Cousins won another game in primetime. He’s two-for-three on the national stage during his first season in Atlanta. Maybe the jokes will stop if the Falcons’ offense builds off what they did Thursday night.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Kirk Cousins Finally Delivers for the Falcons With Career Night vs. Buccaneers.
