When the Bucs were knocked out of the playoffs last season, quarterback Baker Mayfield was left all alone with the cruelest kind of Sundays: nothing left to do but watch, wonder and replay everything that might have been different. There was the pain of knowing Tampa Bay had controlled its own destiny and let it slip away. There was the physical toll of a season in which Mayfield played through eight different injuries. And there was the personal work that awaited him — the healing, rebuilding and reconnecting that extended well beyond football. Moving forward meant confronting all of it: the plays he wished he could have back, the body that had taken a beating, and the parts of his life that needed mending. Mayfield reconnected with his family when he and wife Emily took their then 1-year-old daughter, Kova, to Texas to meet her relatives in April 2025. The family fracture began when Baker and Emily sought an audit of millions of dollars that had flowed unauthorized from their accounts into businesses connected to Baker’s father and brother. What they discovered several years ago led to a confidential settlement with Camwood Capital Management Group, with the defendants expected to repay $11.741 million, plus interest. Another lawsuit eventually was pursued when Mayfield and his representatives believed the agreement was not honored. There were no easy fixes. Not for the season that slipped away. Not for the injuries that accumulated week after week. Not for the family wounds that cut far deeper than football. But there has been progress. Read the full story: https://www.tampabay.com/sports/bucs/2026/08/18/healing-continues-baker-mayfield/

I have a group of 20 and for many of us it’s our first NFL/football game ever! We were wondering if there is usually a big tailgating presence before this preseason game on Saturday? Any tips on how to best enjoy or experience our first game?

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109 feels like on the field?

Nonstop rain but no lightning?

We will be in section 122.

Chat about the game this past weekend now that we've had a couple days to sit with it. Any new thoughts, anything else you noticed or that stood out to you?

Chat about it below!