'He looked normal': Mayfield upgraded to 'limited participation' Thursday

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – Buccaneers Quarterback Baker Mayfield returned to practice Thursday after missing walk throughs on Wednesday. Mayfield was out there going through warm ups, jogging around and doing passing drills in the open portion to the media. On the official team injury report he was upgraded from ‘did not participate’ to ‘limited participation’ from Wednesday to Thursday.

“I mean, he looked normal when he was in there,” said Bucs wide receiver Mike Evans. “He was throwing the ball great—hit me in stride a couple times today. He looked normal.” “He had a third down period, took all the reps in a nice third down period and he threw some accurate balls,” said Bucs Offensive Coordinator Dave Canales.

“He looked pretty good […] As far as throwing, like he looked functional today. He ripped a couple balls down the field and looked OK.” If he’s able to go Sunday, protecting Mayfield will be a top priority, as is protecting the football. The four times the Bucs have lost the turnover battle this season, they’ve lost the game—including this past weekend against the Saints.

That served as a big reminder for what the coaches have been emphasizing all season “It does give me a little bit more weight and little more juice to say, ‘Guys, here’s what it is—if we’re plus one turnovers, our defense—other than last week—had been doing a fantastic job’,” Canales said.

“If we can flip that, it’s 70 plus percent win percentage. Let’s give ourselves a chance there.’” “That’s what we preach and that’s what offensive coaches and head coaches preach all the time—turnovers lead to losing,” Evans said. “And that’s what happened. It showed big time.

We’ve got to take care of the football this week if we want to win.” When the Bucs have come out on the positive side of the turnover differential in seven games this season, they have won five of them..