Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers face the New Orleans Saints in a heated divisional matchup in Week 8. The Bucs are on a winning run of 5-2, while Kellen Moore’s Saints are scrapping away at 1-6.
The Saints have home-field advantage for their first encounter of the season, which should add to the intensity, despite Tampa being in much better shape. Mayfield was asked about his views on the game and had an interesting take.
Baker Mayfield Calls Out Saints’ ‘Dirty Play’ Ahead of Bucs Game
In his press conference on Wednesday, Mayfield had a short reply when asked for his thoughts on the intensity of the Buccaneers’ and Saints’ rivalry.
PewterReport posted the quarterback’s comments on X.
“It hasn’t exactly been clean play from their part when we play them,” Mayfield said. “It’s a physical game. It is what it is. You expect it — division rival. Yeah, not much to say besides that I don’t like them.”
#Bucs QB Baker Mayfield on why he doesn’t like the #Saints:
“It hasn’t exactly been clean play from their part when we play them.”#GoBucs pic.twitter.com/ZxwnG7KXDi
— PewterReport 🏴☠️ (@PewterReport) October 22, 2025
The shot-caller’s words about it being a very physical rivalry are certainly warranted.
The rivalry particularly took off when Tom Brady joined the Bucs in 2020. But there’s always been controversial moments between the two sides, most notably the Mike Evans-Marshon Lattimore saga.
In 2017, temperatures boiled to the point where Evans blindsided Lattimore with a vicious shove, which resulted in both benches clearing in a full-out brawl.
Over the span of the next five years, Evans and Lattimore often made headlines for their rivalry when the two teams faced each other.
In 2020, gloating memes circulated between the two teams when New Orleans swept Tampa in the regular season, only for Brady and the Bucs to eliminate them from the playoffs.
However, that season also included the Bucs’ infamous humiliation game on national TV. Playing the Saints on Sunday Night Football, Brady and the Bucs were run out of town, 38-3.
In 2022, Brady had his infamous meltdown on the Bucs sideline, where he smashed his Microsoft Surface tablet and lashed out at his teammates and the refs. The Saints’ social media team trolled him afterward, saying he “needed a new tablet.”
The years of bad blood are likely to surface once again when Mayfield and the Buccaneers travel to Caesars Superdome to go to war with quarterback Spencer Rattler and the Saints on Sunday afternoon.
