While Kevin Stefanski is setting out to assemble his coaching staff, he's finally getting a taste of life in the NFC South. Baker Mayfield went nuclear on him on social media last week, which is only fanning the flames of a Falcons-Bucs rivalry that's already been growing across the last couple of seasons.
Initially, Stefanski took the high road by opting not to respond to his attacks, which was the right call. But when the 43-year-old was asked about the situation during his introductory press conference, he addressed the comments directly, but didn't dignify them with the attention the rest of the media did.
"“Baker's somebody that I have a ton of respect for as a player and a person. I love rivalries in sports, and obviously, Buccaneers-Falcons have a great rivalry. It’s something that I’m excited about. But I would not get into the specifics of those type of things, other than to say I have a ton of respect for Baker as a player, as a person, that's a great team with a great player.”"Kevin Stefanski
While Mayfield was busy taking chop shots with his Twitter fingers, his old coach was dismissive of his negativity and instead chose to kill him with kindness. Obviously he was never going to clap back, but seeing Stefanski heap so much praise upon his former QB confirms that the Falcons hired a high character individual.
Kevin Stefanski proved Falcons fans right with the way he handled the Baker Mayfield saga
Things don't necessarily add up here, as the pair have defended one another on several occasions and it was reported that the two-time Coach of the Year never wanted to move on from him in favor of Deshaun Watson, but it's unclear how true that rumor is even with how the Watson deal panned out.
Stefanski did have bad QB luck in Cleveland, and this doesn't change that. Jimmy Haslam definitely helped force the the Watson deal and the Shedeur Sanders pick, but there almost definitely would have been some sort of explosive falling out with Mayfield eventually even if he wasn't traded.
In his opening presser, Stefanski came off like a no-nonsense guy and for as talented as Baker is, he comes with a lot of baggage. He's a player who thrives most with a chip on his shoulder, and he'll do anything to maintain his "underdog" persona even though he's as brash and arrogant as they come.
The Bucs-Falcons rivalry has definitely grown across the last few seasons, and now that Zac Robinson is on Tampa Bay's sideline, this game will come with more bad blood than ever, regardless of whether or not Stefanski holds ill will towards his former QB.