National Football League

Bucs' Baker Mayfield: Rams say Ford Field is 'loudest thing they’ve ever heard'

Updated Jan. 18, 2024 3:27 p.m. ET

Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are hitting the road to face the Detroit Lions in the NFC divisional round of the NFL playoffs after taking down the Philadelphia Eagles in the wild-card round.

The biggest challenge facing Mayfield & Co. in Detroit? It could be crowd noise.

"Talking to some of those [Los Angeles] Rams guys, they said it was the loudest thing they’ve ever heard," Mayfield told the Detroit Free Press on Wednesday. "So we’ve got to be completely ready for that."

The Rams lost a grueling 24-23 battle to the Lions in last week's wild-card round in what was Detroit's first home playoff game since the 1993 season. Just how loud was it? The Center for Disease Control reported that the volume in the venue reached as high as 133.6 decibels, which is the equivalent to the sound of a 747 jet engine at takeoff.

That said, Mayfield and the Buccaneers also enter the divisional round bout with a head of steam.

Mayfield totaled 337 passing yards, three passing touchdowns and a 119.8 passer rating en route to a 32-9 victory against Philly. His three passing TDs were 44-, 56- and 23-yard scores. Mayfield totaled 4,044 passing yards, 28 passing TDs, 10 interceptions and a 94.6 passer rating, while completing 64.3% of his passes in the regular season. His passing touchdowns and completion percentage were career bests.

While Tampa Bay ran for a league-worst 88.8 yards per game in the regular season — and Detroit's defense merely surrendered that precise amount (88.8 yards, good for second in the NFL) — the former's hot passing game bodes well against a defense that has struggled to mute the pass.

Detroit's defense surrendered 247.4 passing yards per game (27th in the NFL) in the regular season, while Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford threw for a season-high 367 yards against them last week — albeit in a losing effort.

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