TAMPA, Fla. — Quarterback Baker Mayfield may have looked like he was trying to carry the hopes of a very depleted Tampa Bay Buccaneers ball club when making his epic 15-yard scramble on third-and-14 in Week 6 in their 30-19 victory over the San Francisco 49ers.

Just moments before that play, it was announced that rookie wide receiver Emeka Egbuka — his top target this season — was doubtful to return with a hamstring injury, leaving him now without the team’s top four receivers — with Mike Evans, Chris Godwin Jr. and Jalen McMillan all out because of injury.

But when asked in his postgame news conference if he felt like he was shouldering more of the load in that moment, he said, “No,” and instead used it as a chance to build up the guys who stepped up — such as rookie receiver Tez Johnson and second-year receiver Kameron Johnson, who both caught their first career touchdowns in that game.

“I truly, genuinely trust the guys that are in there,” Mayfield said. “They’re ready. Guys are on the same page and that’s real. I trust these guys, even though some of them might not have played a whole lot of ball.”

One look in Mayfield’s eyes, and you can tell he’s sincere in his belief. And then there’s a guy such as Sterling Shepard — Mayfield’s former teammate at Oklahoma, who thought his career was over last year before Mayfield lured him from “daddy drop-off duty” to becoming one of Mayfield’s most dependable weapons this season. He showed that when he caught the game-tying touchdown in a Week 5 last-minute win over the Seattle Seahawks.

Now, the Bucs (5-1) hit the road to take on the Detroit Lions (4-2) on “Monday Night Football” (7 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN), where Mayfield will once again try to help lead an injury-ravaged team. In short, they will be without Godwin (fibula) and McMillan (neck), and they also will be without standout second-year running back Bucky Irving (shoulder/foot).

There is some reason for optimism though, with Evans likely to play, while Egbuka “has a real chance” to be on the field, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

“Our team, I believe in it,” Mayfield said. “I said it from training camp — I like the young guys that we have, I like the people that we have. Obviously, it is never ideal when you are having to move people around all the time, do not get me wrong, but nobody cares. Nobody feels bad for you, so you have to find a way to make it work.”

When Mayfield first arrived in Tampa Bay in the wake of Tom Brady’s retirement in 2023, he was on a one-year deal with a base salary of $4 million — where he had to prove himself.

The move was about being surrounded with a talented supporting cast, where he wouldn’t have to be the hero. But he has led his team to the postseason and smashed personal-best records in each of the past two years — including throwing 41 touchdowns last season. He earned a new three-year, $100 million contract extension in 2024 and was rewarded with an additional $30 million guaranteed for 2026 in July.

Now, for a third straight year, Mayfield has found a way to once again elevate his game. And if anything, that scramble in Week 6 showed a key point of emphasis he has tried to drive home to his squad: “You don’t have to have the perfect play when all your guys are fighting for each other and are on the same page.”

“I mean, everybody knows that Baker’s playing at an unbelievable level right now,” Kameron Johnson said. “So, I mean, it don’t matter who’s out there. Any given Sunday, whenever Baker Mayfield is out there, there’s a chance to win. And he’s playing at an unbelievable MVP level right now.”

When training camp first started, Tez Johnson, a seventh-round draft pick out of Oregon, said he felt like “bullets were flying.” The competition was intense, and the group was quite easily the deepest position group out on the field.

Mayfield pulled him aside and said, “Just settle down. It’ll come to you,” Johnson recalled.

Mayfield then invited him to watch film together at 5 a.m.

“He was already here at 4:30,” Johnson said. “He just gave me advice on how the league works and how I should think on certain routes and that allowed me to know, ‘All right, he believes in me, so I’m going to do my best of my ability to go out there and perform for him.'”

Two plays after Mayfield’s scramble, Johnson was supposed to go across the field on second-and-11 from the San Francisco 45-yard line, but when he saw a void in the defense, he instead waved his arm to get Mayfield’s attention and turned it into a go route.

Mayfield saw it and heaved it deep while Johnson raced to the end zone — where he punctuated the score with a tumbling celebration.

“A good adjustment on his part,” Mayfield said. “Safety’s waiting on the other side for him, so he just takes it up the middle. It’s not necessarily a busted coverage, they had it covered well if you run the drawings on the paper, but Tez making an adjustment on the fly — that’s huge for a rookie to be able to do, and do it confidently in the midst of the game like that, especially in that moment.”

Mayfield said that’s part of what leadership means to him.

“You’ve got to know your job, and do it well, but also empowering the guys to feel like they can go above and beyond,” Mayfield said. “And that’s a huge thing of leadership, instilling confidence. And it’s not a false confidence though. It’s making sure they really have it down, and then at that point, they realize it and then they take it on their own. So those guys have done a good job and now we just trust them.”

Kameron Johnson was a 2024 undrafted free agent and missed significant practice time this summer because of injuries, but he found his way onto the roster after showing something as a punt and kick returner in his lone preseason game.

When his number was called, he turned his first target of the season into a 34-yard touchdown.

“I’m this wide-open? I was just in shock,” said Johnson, who had four catches for 64 yards. “I saw the safety press down on [tight end Cade Otton]. I thought he was going to bump off then. Lo and behold, he never bumped off, and I was just running and I was like, ‘Oh Lord, let me see if Baker just makes eye contact with me.’ It was just wide-open. It was a walk-in, easy touchdown.”

Wide receivers coach Bryan McLendon said regardless of whom Mayfield is targeting, their success is a function of him holding everyone to the same standard he holds himself to.

“That is what has been a really good thing right now — that shows the person that he is, the player that he is, the leader that he is, the franchise guy that he is, I could go on-and-on-and-on with what he means to us,” McLendon said. “The biggest thing is just the confidence that he shows, and everybody out there on the field with him [are like], ‘Hey, you do your job, I am going to do mine and let’s go out there and see what happens.'”

NEW YORK — The president of the NCAA is urging schools and conferences tempted by riches offered through potential deals with new equity sources to think about the long-term repercussions before jumping into the deals.

“My message to everybody on this would be really simple: ‘Be really careful,'” Charlie Baker said Monday at a Big East roundtable on the future of college basketball.

With schools and conferences under increasing pressure to raise funds to pay their players, reports of them negotiating with new equity sources for college sports are becoming more frequent.

Recent headlines out of the Big Ten are about its negotiation to bring in an investor that would pay $2.4 billion to help market the conference’s media rights and other properties.

A meeting of the conference’s presidents and chancellors last week didn’t produce a vote on the deal, with Michigan and USC holding out.

One of the most outspoken opponents has been Michigan regent Jordan Acker, who at a monthly regents meeting last week called the equity proposal, which would last through 2046 and pay more than $100 million to each school, an attempt at solving “the same old problem with a new, and this time, rushed solution.”

In a statement, the Big Ten said its potential partner — the investment arm of the University of California pension system — was not a private equity firm, but rather a nonprofit organization (that still would seek a profit on its investment.)

“Ultimately, it is the decision of the Big Ten member institutions’ presidents and chancellors to decide if it’s the right opportunity and those conversations are ongoing,” the conference said in a statement.

Baker wasn’t speaking directly about the Big Ten issue when discussing equity. He also wasn’t completely dismissive of the idea.

“People should try to play the long game,” he said. “If I’ve learned anything about college sports, it’s very hard to get anybody to think past tomorrow. … People should be thinking vey hard about the long term, and we’d all be well-served, especially in terms of the kids” who the schools are in business to help.

Sri Lanka snatched victory from the jaws of defeat to record their first win of the Women’s Cricket World Cup, edging out Bangladesh by seven runs in a nerve jangling finish in Navi Mumbai on Monday.

With Bangladesh cruising and only nine needed off the final over with five wickets in hand, having mustered just three runs off the penultimate over, skipper Chamari Athapaththu took the ball herself and turned the game on its head.

Four wickets tumbled in four balls as Bangladesh collapsed, losing five wickets for just two runs.

Athapaththu, calm amid the storm, finished with career-best figures of 4-42.

The drama began with Rabeya Khan trapped leg-before off the first ball, followed by a run-out next delivery.

Then, Bangladesh’s hopes sank when their captain Nigar Sultana danced down the track only to find long-off lurking.

When Marufa Akter was adjudged lbw next ball, Athapaththu had conjured the unthinkable, defending nine with a single run conceded in the over.

“We handled the pressure well. We knew that if we took the game deep, teams could crumble,” Athapaththu said. “It wasn’t perfect, batting collapses and dropped catches hurt us, but luck smiled at us today.”

For once, fortune favoured Sri Lanka, whose campaign had been marred by rain, missed chances and misfiring batters.

Hasini Perera, who struck her maiden ODI half-century, made 85 off 99 balls, peppered with 13 fours and a six.

She was the backbone of Sri Lanka’s 202 all out as she reached the milestone of 1,000 runs in ODIs.

A 74-run partnership with Nilakshika de Silva gave Sri Lanka a solid launch pad, before another collapse saw six wickets fall for 28 run.

Even so, the Sri Lankans held their nerve in the death overs to seal the win and climb to sixth in the standings.

With four points, they are level with New Zealand and India, although will need results to go in their favour to grab the last semi-final spot.

Australia, South Africa and England have already booked their places in the last four.

“We kept losing wickets at crucial times,” admitted Bangladesh skipper Sultana, whose fighting 77 was in vain as her side were eliminated.

“I tried to take the pressure off with a boundary, but it just didn’t come off.”