No fairytale encore for Baker Mayfield as Rams wilt in the cold at Lambeau
Baker Mayfield had a dream start with the Rams last week as he came to Los Angeles and won his first game against the Las Vegas Raiders. But in his second game against the Packers at Lambeau, it did not quite work out in the same way.
Mayfield showed some style and substance in his first game as a Ram, bringing his new team back from 13 points in less than four minutes. It was an amazing fairytale story as the quarterback was widely derided by the fans, but came back strong and made some clutch plays to get the win.
There was hope that he would be equally influential, in his second game. He came to Lambeau Field with the game held in frigid temperatures. They played the Green Bay Packers, who had a 5-8 record before this game. Much was expected of him, but it did not quite turn out that way.
Instead, Baker Mayfield and the Rams lost 24-12 to Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers, spoiling Baker's first full week with the Rams.
Baker Mayfield fails to impress against the Packers
It was Baker Mayfield who increased the expectations and hype around him after his exceptional comeback win last week. It was an astonishing comeback for him personally as well because he was released by the Carolina Panthers just that week.
This was him reverting more to type and performing as a quarterback who has only played one week with his new teammates. He only had 12 completions out of 21 attempts. That meant that his completion percentage dropped to 57.1 percent from 62.9 percent last week. He threw for just 111 yards and had one touchdown and one interception. His passer rating was just 67.8.
Baker Mayfield is a new quarterback playing with a new team and coming up against defenses that have played all year together. So, his performance this week was expected. Last week was a Cinderella story and it should not be expected to happen every week. Beyond the stats, there were calls where one could see that he was not the same page and ran down the clock forcing the Rams to take timeouts.
Baker Mayfield calling the offense in the huddle https://t.co/lyXFn6ezCN
It also showed how poor the Las Vegas Raiders were last week, unfortunately for their fans.
As Baker Mayfield himself pointed out, the Raiders playing press coverage in the final few seconds of the game was startling.
The Packers did not make any glaring mistakes on offense and Mayfield struggled to make an impact.
It is time for Baker Mayfield's supporters to get more realistic about his prospects this season and beyond.