Los Angeles Rams: Patty Cake, Patty Cake, Baker Mayfield Is The Man Following Game-Winning TD

Baker Mayfield led an astonishing 98-yard game-winning drive only three days after joining the Los Angeles Rams. What does this comeback victory mean for the franchise going forward?

Against all odds, Baker Mayfield rose to the occasion and snatched victory from the jaws of defeat Thursday evening vs. the Las Vegas Raiders. Trailing 16-3 late in the fourth quarter, Mayfield led the Rams on two touchdown drives and snuck out a 17-16 win in his Los Angeles debut.

The past 12 months have been tough for Baker Mayfield, to put it mildly. The former No. 1 overall pick played through injury in 2021 for the Browns and posted the worst season of his career. It was so bad that the Browns moved Heaven and Earth for Deshaun Watson.

Following the acquisition of Watson, Cleveland searched far and wide for a trade for their disgruntled quarterback. Fortunately for Baker, the Carolina Panthers decided to make the move, allowing Mayfield another chance to be a starter in the NFL.

The problem is he went to a franchise led by Matt Rhule, whose tenure in Carolina went down as the worst in Panthers history. Mayfield was not put in a position to succeed, and following a season of up-and-down play, he was released this past Monday. Few expected his next stop to be with the defending Super Bowl Champion.

Sean McVay and the Los Angeles Rams claimed Baker Mayfield off waivers, reportedly being the only team to put in a claim. Due to the short turnaround time, it seemed impossible for Mayfield to learn the playbook well enough to play Thursday night. But guess what? He did.

Taking over behind center, Baker Mayfield breathed new life into a unit that looked to be phoning it in this year. The Rams sat at 3-9 heading into the night, including a six-game skid with a slew of embarrassing losses mixed in. That streak came to a stop, thanks to Mayfield.

The numbers on paper are rather pedestrian, but the fourth quarter that Baker Mayfield posted was special. Overall, the polarizing signal-caller completed 22-of-35 passes for 230 yards and the all-important game-winning touchdown with under 20 seconds remaining in the ball game.

So, what does this mean for Baker and the Los Angeles Rams going forward? It still is a bit too early to tell. Not to take anything away from Mayfield, but the Las Vegas Raiders are not exactly the stiffest competition, especially defensively.

Mayfield will have four more games to help his case for being with the team in 2023. Given the type of injuries that Matthew Stafford has been and is currently dealing with, it is fair to wonder if we have watched the last of him in a Los Angeles Rams uniform.

The Rams are without a first-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, so they have zero incentive to tank. Another thing to note is the fact that the Rams have very little money to work with in acquiring another quarterback, so re-signing Baker Mayfield could present the best option for the next couple of seasons.

Even if Baker goes crazy the rest of the season and leads the Rams on a winning streak, a new deal for him should be fairly reasonable relative to other quarterback deals in the NFL. The rest of the schedule includes @Packers, vs.Broncos, @Chargers, and @Seahawks.

That reads as three road games, but the Chargers play in So-Fi Stadium as well so it is a pseudo-home game for the Rams. Still, defeating the Chargers and Seahawks will be a challenge. The Packers still employ the back-to-back NFL MVP, so you can never count them out on any given Sunday.

One football game doesn’t erase all the bad that Baker has put on tape the past season and a half. However, the manner in which Mayfield led his new squad to victory is admirable and worth something. These types of performances attest to the “never-give-up” attitude that Baker has exhibited his entire life.

Perhaps Baker Mayfield is poised to rise from the ashes and take over as the leader for the next era of Rams football. Perhaps it was just a blip on the radar against a porous Raiders defense. Only time will tell.