The Carolina Panthers were able to get a big victory on Thursday night over the Atlanta Falcons, which led to a dangerous moment involving Panthers quarterback Baker Mayfield.
Mayfield was the backup quarterback behind P.J. Walker in the game, but that didn’t stop him from being extremely pumped up following the victory.
The Amazon Thursday Night Football broadcast showed a helmet-less Mayfield head-butting helmet-wearing teammates in excitement as the Panthers celebrated the victory.
Amazon play-play-man Al Michaels said, “That’s a good way to wind up in concussion protocol even though you don’t get into the game.”
"That's a good way to wind up in concussion protocol even though you don't get into the game."- Al Michaels on Baker Mayfield's head-butting celebration. 🏈#TNF pic.twitter.com/8CfrrbPmw4
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 11, 2022
This interaction had the NFL world agreeing with Michaels, with many taking to social media to express their concern for Baker.
Baker Maynotremembermuch https://t.co/Ek5DhblvhY
— Sean Keeley (@SeanKeeleyIsMe) November 11, 2022
Baker Mayfield, whose commercial-starring fame went to his head, just couldn't resist getting in on tonight's act with a helmet-less head butt of a helmeted Panther.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) November 11, 2022
You good, Baker Mayfield? pic.twitter.com/ZIghwEJsKy
— Jordan Dajani (@JordanDajani) November 11, 2022
I’ve seen Baker Mayfield do a lot of inexplicable things but this one may take the cake https://t.co/0Sh2smFjY7
— Brooke Pryor (@bepryor) November 11, 2022
Baker Mayfield’s best moment as a Panther and there is no runner up. https://t.co/Cqonf9JPcN
— Jay Croucher (@croucherJD) November 11, 2022
Baker Mayfield is a madman 😂 https://t.co/fByPgYdQH8
— The Sporting News (@sportingnews) November 11, 2022
Despite coming into last week’s game for Carolina when P.J. Walker struggled, Mayfield hasn’t started a game for the Panthers since Week 5.
The Panthers have been seeing much more success with Walker as the starter over what Baker was producing, so it doesn’t look like interim head coach Steve Wilks is in a hurry to reinstall Mayfield as the starter.
It’s great to see Mayfield engaged in Panthers games on the sidelines without being the starter, but this is the wrong way to go about doing that.
With as much attention as the NFL has put on concussions and head trauma this season following Tua Tagovailoa’s scary concussion earlier this season, they will certainly not be too happy about Mayfield’s celebration tactics on Thursday.
[Photo Credit: Amazon Prime Video]
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.