
Thursday, 4 a.m.
The crowd gets louder. The air gets thinner. The goal line seems farther away.
The clock matches your heartbeat. The opposing linebackers froth at the mouth. The yards seem more precious.
There is desperation that comes with a two-minute drive. So many things can go wrong. A receiver can drop a pass. A tackle can miss a block. A defender can make a play.
It is football-on-high-speed, a balancing act between time and distance. I've said it before: For all the ways of measuring a quarterback -- yardage, touchdowns, turnovers, rating -- this one is my favorite. It is a blend of poise and pressure, of character and competitiveness.
You wnat to know the ultimate way you can tell the importance of the fourth-quarter comeback. It's that the great ones dominate the category. No one has more comebacks than Tom Brady's 58. Peyton Manning is right behind him at 54.
And, far down the list (for now), you will find Baker Mayfield. Mayfield has four comebacks this year alone. He has 14 for his career.
Oh, don't blame Mayfield. He has eight comebacks as a Buc. Before that, he had six in Cleveland and none in Carolina -- franchises not exactly known for coming back. He had one with the Rams.
Still, 14 isn't bad for a 30-year-old who has kicked around and traded in one offensive coordinator after another. These are the days when Mayfield is writing his legacy. For now, it includes. lot of comebacks.
Already, Mayfield has more comebacks than Roger Staubach, Steve Young, Otto Graham, Kurt Warner, Bob Waterfield, Sammy Baugh and Sid Luckman. If you're looking for those guys, you can check the Hall of Fame.
The most notable is Staubach. When he played, they called him Captain Comeback. But Staubach, whose career was shortened by his military service, only had 13.
There are other notables. Vinny Testaverde had 29 comebacks, but 20 of them were after he left Tampa Bay.
Jalen Hurts, whose team won the Super Bowl last year, has just 10 comebacks. Lamar Jackson only has 10, as well. Jordan Love has just five.
Russell Wilson has 32, never mind that he's trying to play his way out of the Hall of Fame. Matthew Stafford has a suprising 39. Drew Brees ahs 36.
Joe Montana, old Joe Cool? He's in 17th place with 26 comebacks.
How many more will Mayfield get? It's hard to say. But anymore, games all seem to go down to the last minute. Bucs' games, in particular.
And so Mayfield keeps writing his legacy.
Don't mind him if he waits to the lsat second to do so.