The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New Orleans Saints came to blows during their all-important Week 18 showdown after a late hit on Baker Mayfield.
Mayfield himself ratcheted up the temperature of the game, not liking the extra contact and instigated the brawl with his retaliation on defensive back Will Harris.
The scrum took place in the third quarter after Mayfield ran the ball and gave himself up on the play, later than a usual slide. Will Harris had already committed to hitting him and delivered the contact that was a borderline penalty.
Mayfield did not like that fact that he was hit late, leading to him standing up and getting in Harris’ face, knocking the Saints’ star to the turf.
As Mayfield walked away from the situation, he was approached by several Saints players, which only drew the ire of the Buccaneers offense, who stepped in front of their signal caller.
Several shoves ensued, with offensive lineman Cody Mauch throwing a punch in the middle of the brawl with no penalty flags thrown.
The Buccaneers and Saints came to blows during their all-important Week 18 showdown
Tampa Bay quarterback Baker Mayfield instigated the mᴀss confrontation after taking a late hit
Some exchanges between Saints and Bucs players pic.twitter.com/C3USpsulNs
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) January 5, 2025
The brawl appeared to ignite the Buccaneers, who were down 10 at the time of mᴀss confrontation.
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Tampa Bay held New Orleans to only a field goal in the second half while scoring three touchdowns itself to claim its fourth straight division тιтle with a 27-19 victory.
The Buccaneers will either be the No 3 or 4 seed in the playoffs and will host a Wild Card game next week.
If the Rams defeat the Seahawks on Sunday, Tampa Bay will be locked into the fourth seed and will face the loser of the mega-Lions-versus-Vikings matchup.
If Los Angeles loses, the Buccaneers will start the playoffs the same way they started the regular season – with a home game against the Commanders.
