NFC Notes: Baker Mayfield, Buccaneers, Dennis Allen Firing, Saints, Raheem Morris, Falcons

Buccaneers

The Buccaneers and Commanders are set to square off in the NFC Wild Card round, pitting two top-five scoring offenses against each other. Baker Mayfield said they are only focused on finding “any way to win” regardless if it’s an offensive shootout or defensive battle. 

“Obviously, if you come out on the right side of it, yeah [a shootout is good],” Mayfield said, via Scott Smith of the team’s site. “It’s [about] mentality for us, find any way to win, whether the game is a shootout, whether it’s low scoring. Make the plays that matter when it counts. It’s going to be a full game, [we] have to be locked in. That’s just playoff mode, all the little things really matter. The margin for error is just so much smaller at this point in the season and everything counts.”

Mayfield said they can’t psych themselves out in preparing for the game and just have a little extra “attention to detail.”

“You’re excited to get to the playoffs and you’re excited for the next opportunity and getting to play this group guaranteed for one more time,” said Mayfield. “That’s the mentality going into it but other than that, preparation wise you don’t want to psych everybody out. You want to handle it the best way you can but just a little bit more attention to detail and ensuring the fact that everybody is on the same page and can handle things correctly.”

Tampa Bay’s offense has outrushed its last seven opponents. Mayfield thinks their rushing attack is the “biggest difference” between this year’s team and last. 

“I’ll speak offensively – the biggest difference is the run game,” said Mayfield. “When we’ve needed to run the ball to win games, we’ve been able to do that. That’s a physical mentality and everybody being on the same page with that and understanding that when you get to a certain mode late in the game when you’re having to run the clock out, we’re able to do that. To me, that’s the biggest difference. Skill player-wise in the pass game, yeah, we’re connecting quite a bit but the biggest difference is the run game.”

• Per Howard Balzer, the Buccaneers hosted DL Jonathan Marshall for a tryout on Tuesday.
• Balzer adds Tampa Bay hosted DL Adam Gotsis, DL Benning Potoa’e, and DL Deadrin Senat for tryouts Wednesday before signing Gotsis to the practice squad.

Falcons HC Raheem Morris is excited about entering his first offseason with Atlanta and said that he and GM Terry Fontenot will get to work on reshaping the roster.

“We’ll be together in this process,” Morris said, via the team’s website. “We’ll be together over the next couple of weeks talking to our players, really setting expectations for what we want to be and some of those different things as we get a chance to connect with our whole team. Everything that we’re going to do, we’re going to do together, and we’re right next to each other.”

Atlanta will enter the offseason short on cap space. While a decision on QB Kirk Cousins seems imminent, they’ll need to make a few tough decisions to free up money in order to improve the roster.

“It’s our job to get right into this offseason process and look at every aspect of everything that affects football,” Fontenot said. “And make sure we’re doing everything we can do this offseason to put us in position next year to win more football games.”

Saints

• When appearing on Jay Glazer’s podcast, former Saints HC Dennis Allen said GM Mickey Loomis came into his office the Monday after their Week 9 loss to the Panthers to give him the news of their decision to fire him, via Katherine Terrell. 
• Allen mentioned Loomis “was not really in favor of this move.” 
• Allen did not have the chance to address New Orleans’ players for a final time because of how fast news spreads: “As a prideful man, I didn’t want to be walking out of the parking lot with 1,000 cameras on me.” (Terrell)
• Allen didn’t take things personally when the Saints decided to move on from him: “When I think about getting fired, I really think about, this is your company, this is your organization, you have the right to do whatever you want with that. I don’t look at it as, I failed. I look at it as, they just decided they wanted to go in a different direction.” (Terrell)
• Allen thinks being a head coach is more about “managing people” than it is about Xs and Os: “Oh it’s definitely more about managing people. Because there’s so much more that goes into it than just football. In the world that we live in with social media. Everything that every person does in the NFL is lived out in the public eye.” (Terrell)
• Allen tried to pay less attention to outside noise and to communicate well with his players: “You’re constantly having to deal with what other people’s thoughts and opinions are about you. That’s where you just have to be able to talk to your players and get them to understand … control the things that you can control.” (Terrell)
• Allen continued: “A) You’re never going to make everybody happy and B) You can’t control the way somebody else is going to feel about you. And that’s easier said than done. … You can’t avoid it. … You’ve just got to try to educate them on, you’re not going to make everybody happy.” (Terrell)
• Per Howard Balzer, the Saints hosted CFL DL Ralph Holley and DL DeVere Levelston for tryouts on Tuesday.