Buccaneers' Baker Mayfield responds to shot from Lions' C.J. Gardner-Johnson

Quarterback Baker Mayfield spoke with reporters Wednesday as his Tampa Bay Buccaneers prepare for this coming Sunday's divisional playoff game at the Detroit Lions and was asked about a comment delivered by Detroit safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson last week.

"I mean, I don't think he's really watched film because he mentioned Russell Gage," Mayfield said of Gardner-Johnson's comments, per Chris Rosvoglou of The Spun. "You know, we love Russell, but he hasn’t played a snap this year for us. He must be going off the preseason stuff the media was talking about but he didn't play our first game so I'm excited to see him. I think he's a really good player."

As Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press pointed out, Gardner-Johnson said ahead of Detroit's wild-card playoff win over the Los Angeles Rams this past Sunday that the Buccaneers have a "great group" of wide receivers that includes Gage, Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. Gardner-Johnson added at that time that Tampa Bay's weapons need "a good quarterback." 

In the Week 6 20-6 home loss to the Lions on Oct. 15, Mayfield completed 19-of-37 pass attempts for 206 yards with no touchdowns and one interception. He acknowledged after that outing that he and the offense "sucked" versus Detroit. 

More recently, the 28-year-old connected on 22-of-36 passes for 337 yards and three touchdowns in Monday's 32-9 wild-card victory over the Philadelphia Eagles. 

Tampa Bay players aren't hiding the fact that they're on "a revenge tour" this month after many predicted before the season that the club would finish near the bottom of the overall league standings following the retirement of living legend Tom Brady. One wonders if Gardner-Johnson will regret giving Mayfield and company some bulletin board material come Sunday night. 

As of Wednesday afternoon, DraftKings Sportsbook listed the Lions as 6.5-point favorites against the Bucs.