What Buccaneers QB Baker Mayfield learned about Lions from Rams players

Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield enjoyed a cup-of-coffee stint late last season with the Los Angeles Rams and reached out to former Los Angeles teammates to better understand what competing in a playoff game against the Detroit Lions is like. 

Tampa Bay plays at Detroit this coming Sunday afternoon. 

"They said it was the loudest thing they’ve ever heard," Mayfield explained on Wednesday, as shared by Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times. "We’ve got to be completely ready for that. It just comes down to everybody knowing exactly what our game plan is — all the calls to and from, because there could be certain times where they can’t hear certain things. They might have to plug and play some of the words." 

The Lions defeated the Rams 24-23 at Detroit's Ford Field in this past Sunday's wild-card playoff matchup. That was the Lions' first postseason win since January 1992, but DraftKings Sportsbook listed Detroit late Thursday morning as a 6.5-point home favorite to get past the Buccaneers in this Sunday's divisional playoff showdown and reach the NFC Championship Game. 

Per Kyle Meinke of MLive, the sound inside of Ford Field this past Sunday evening "officially topped out at 133.6 decibels." Meinke added that the loudest roar at the stadium was "equivalent to the sound of a 747 jet engine at takeoff." Such an atmosphere likely will make life much harder for Mayfield and company against an opponent that previously beat them 20-6 at home in Week 6. 

"Just everybody doing the mental work to get prepped for that," Mayfield added about what he and his teammates will experience this weekend. "But it shouldn’t be a surprise for us. It’s going to be a great atmosphere." 

Mayfield completed 22 of 36 passes for 337 yards and three touchdowns in this past Monday's 32-9 wild-card playoff win over the Philadelphia Eagles that occurred in Florida. For what it's worth, Tampa Bay earned road wins at the Green Bay Packers in Week 15 and at the Carolina Panthers in Week 18 en route to claiming the NFC South division crown.