Trash talk can rattle some players, but for Baker Mayfield, it became rocket fuel. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were coming off as NFC South champions in the 2025 season. After breezing past the Atlanta Falcons 23-20 in Week 1, the Buccaneers faced the Houston Texans in Week 2. At one point, the Mayfield-led team was trailing. However, a verbal shot from Texans safety CJ Gardner-Johnson paved the way to a standout comeback for Mayfield.

“I was banged up. Sprained my MCL, bone bruise, not feeling great,” said Mayfield on the latest season of Quarterbacks on Netflix. “But then I hear ‘get your b**** a** up’. So you pop up, adrenaline kicks in & forget you’re hurt. I had to let him know that it doesn’t matter if I’m 100% or 50%; you can still get it anywhere.”

The game took place on September 15, 2025, at NRG Stadium, an away game for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. While they may have been confident facing the Houston Texans, who were coming off a defeat against the Los Angeles Rams in Week 1, the game didn’t turn out as Baker Mayfield & Co. expected.

The Buccaneers went into halftime leading. However, the Texans fought back in the second half. A 25-yard touchdown run by Nick Chubb with just 2:10 remaining in the fourth quarter put the home team ahead 19-14. Following that, the confrontation between Mayfield and Gardner-Johnson took place.

The Buccaneers QB entered the Week 2 game completely healthy. However, late in the fourth quarter, when he scrambled for a crucial 16-yard gain on a 4th and 10, he sustained severe knee injuries (sprained MCL, PCL, and a bone bruise). While Baker Mayfield was down on the turf struggling with pain, CJ Gardner-Johnson started trash-talking.

“That’s what you get. Get your b*tch ass up… I’m gonna f*ck you up,” the Texans safety said.

Driven by the confrontation, Mayfield completed the drive with a touchdown to secure a 20-19 Buccaneers victory. But as it seemed, the outcome was not solely because of Gardner-Johnson’s trash talk during the game. Instead, it was a result of the safety’s digs against the Tampa Bay signal-caller.

The absolute peak of his shots against Mayfield came in January 2024, right before the Buccaneers faced Gardner-Johnson’s team at the time, the Detroit Lions, in the NFC Divisional Playoff round. When asked about Tampa’s wide receivers, Gardner-Johnson took a shot at Mayfield’s passing abilities in front of the media.

“This group probably is one of the better groups we’ve faced all year,” he told reporters. “If you give that Tampa group a good quarterback, that’s a great group. [Mike] Evans, [Chris] Godwin, [Russell] Gage, that’s a great group.”

To this date, the rivalry between CJ Gardner-Johnson and Baker Mayfield remains memorable, as they seemingly draw fuel from antagonising one another.