The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Seattle Seahawks just wrapped up a candidate for game of the year. It was a thrilling, tight battle for 60 minutes, but it was Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers who escaped with the 38-35 win.

This was easily the most entertaining game of the day. Here are my takeaways from Sunday’s thriller.

Baker Mayfield is elite

When you talk about the best quarterbacks in the league, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, and a few others come to mind. But one name that isn’t talked about enough is Baker Mayfield. Since arriving in Tampa Bay, he’s been nothing short of elite. It’s crazy to think that he was nearly out of the league just a few years ago.

With running back Bucky Irving out, it was clear the Buccaneers would have to rely heavily on Mayfield’s arm, but even I didn’t expect just how much he’d need to do to win. The Buccaneers rushed for 56 yards while averaging 2.3 yards per carry on Sunday, and even though Seattle knew Mayfield was going to throw it pretty much every time, they couldn’t stop it.

Mayfield completed 29 of his 33 attempts (87.9 percent) for 379 yards and two touchdowns without turning the ball over even once. He needed to be absolutely perfect to have any chance in this game, and he answered the call.

The Bucs desperately need Bucky Irving back

We just talked a bit about the Bucs’ struggles running the football, but it’s clear that, if Bucky Irving is out for an extended period of time, the Buccaneers are in trouble. And according to reports, Irving’s injury may be worse than initially feared.

“Turns out that Buccaneers RB Bucky Irving’s shoulder injury, which he did not report to the team until Tuesday last week, is more of an issue than his sprained foot, per sources,” reported Adam Schefter of ESPN. “Irving is dealing with a shoulder subluxation that is expected to sideline him at least two weeks.”

Without Irving on the field, Rachaad White was the Bucs’ workhorse, getting 14 carries, but turning them into just 41 yards. He did punch in a couple of scores, but it was a pretty poor performance overall. Sean Tucker was someone fans thought might get some more work, but he carried the ball just three times for three yards in the win.

The Bucs have two very tough games against the San Francisco 49ers and the Detroit Lions coming up. It appears Irving is likely to miss both of those games, so they’ll need some more Mayfield heroics if they want to even win one of those games.

2024 was not a fluke for Sam Darnold

Sam Darnold had an incredible 2024 season, during which he threw for 4,319 yards and 35 touchdowns. Despite that, the Minnesota Vikings let him walk and sign with the Seahawks, who were happy to take him. Some thought last year was a fluke, but Darnold has officially silenced his doubters.

Darnold played pretty well through the first four games of the season. In fact, he was particularly impressive vs. the Arizona Cardinals. But he had his season-best performance against the Buccaneers. Darnold connected on 28 of his 34 attempts for 341 yards and four scores. Unfortunately, his lone turnover of the day came at a crucial moment, which allowed the Buccaneers to kick the game-winning field goal as time expired.

2024 was not a fluke for Darnold. He is actually a top 15 quarterback in this league.

These Ohio State receivers are here to stay

LSU, Ohio State, Alabama. You can make a case for all three of those schools producing the best wide receiver talent, but there’s no doubt that Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Emeka Egbuka are two of the best young talents in the league.

Both of these guys were all over the field today. They combined for 15 catches, 295 receiving yards, and two touchdowns. They produced over 40 percent of the receiving yards in this game alone. Defenders have had a tough time covering them this season, and that was on full display this afternoon.

It would be surprising if in a few years time, these two are talked about as the top five receivers in this league.