The Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the brakes off the New York Giants in Week 12 to get back to their winning ways. The Bucs, now 5-6 on the year, took a 23-0 lead before the half and quarterback Baker Mayfield decided to kick the Giants while they were down.
Mayfield scrambled into the end zone for a touchdown to give the Bucs a 23-0 advantage over the struggling Giants. After getting the score, Mayfield swiped opposing quarterback Tommy DeVito’s touchdown celebration to further beat down a team already trending downwards.
Mayfield was asked about the celebration following the game and said it was “A tribute to Tommy”.
Baker Mayfield clarifies reasoning for Tommy DeVito TD celebration
Some might have seen this touchdown celebration and looked at it like Mayfield was mocking DeVito and kicking the Giants quarterback while he was down but that doesn’t appear to be the reasoning. Even if he was, that’s part of the sport. Players mock other players’ touchdown dances all the time and it just so happens that DeVito’s happens to be one of the more notable ones in the league.
The Giants started DeVito this week after finally realizing that Daniel Jones wasn’t the guy at quarterback. DeVito and the Giants offense struggled all day long, only putting up seven points with DeVito throwing for 189 yards and getting sacked four times.
This was a game that the Bucs had to win to keep their division hopes alive and they not only took care of business, they made it look easy. For anyone trying to start drama amid the touchdown celebration, they might want to look in a different direction because there doesn’t appear to be anything there to nitpick at.