TAMPA BAY, Fla. — He studied the Philadelphia Eagles defense in the dark, the only illumination coming from the monitor of his Microsoft Surface computer. His wife, Emily, and 5-month-old daughter, Kova Jade, lay asleep next to him in a hotel room at the Renaissance International Plaza hotel.

Baker Mayfield was forced to evacuate his home on Davis Islands late this week to escape the storm surge from Hurricane Helene.

“Definitely a dark hotel room with a laptop on,” Mayfield said. “It’s not a very fun place to be when you’ve got to be quiet, so it is what it is.”

The dim working conditions turned out to be only a minor inconvenience, as Mayfield and the Buccaneers lit up the Eagles defense in a 33-16 win Sunday at Raymond James Stadium.

Mayfield passed for 347 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another score.

One week after a lackluster loss to the Broncos, he and the Bucs offense came out on fire, with Mayfield connecting on 12 of his first 13 passes while helping his team build a 24-0 lead midway through the second quarter.

Of course, the win was the biggest thing, but darned if it didn’t feel like Mayfield had something else to prove Sunday.

Not to the Eagles. To Tom Brady.

The only thing as interesting as the Bucs performance was the fact that the former Tampa Bay quarterback and seven-time Super Bowl champion was calling the game for “NFL on Fox.”

The two exchanged pleasantries on the field before the game, of course. But Brady also came prepared to push back on comments Mayfield made recently on a podcast, saying Bucs players were “stressed out” playing with Brady.

“I thought stressful was not having Super Bowl rings,” Brady said when Mayfield’s comment was shown in a graphic during the first half. “So, there was a mindset of a champion that I took to work every day. This wasn’t daycare; if I wanted to have fun, I was going to go to Disneyland with my kids.”

Poke the GOAT, and you may get the horns.

Following Brady can’t be easy. Just ask Mac Jones how that went for him in New England.

But in many ways, Mayfield was the perfect guy to replace Brady in Tampa Bay with his authentic, devil-may-care playing style and huge chip on his shoulder.

“I think a lot of that got taken out of context,” Mayfield said after the game. “None of that was personal by any means. It’s just what he demanded of the guys, and that’s the aura of Tom Brady and that’s what he did to bring a championship here. Nothing personal.

“I talked to him before the game. He’s obviously happy for me. He knows the guys. He knows how much I enjoy throwing to Mike (Evans) and Chris (Godwin), because he got to do the same. It’s fun to be able to talk about the same experience with a guy like that.”

After being targeted only three times last week against the Broncos, Evans had game highs of eight catches on 14 targets for 94 receiving yards. He also caught a 2-yard touchdown pass. The tone was set from the first play, an 8-yard completion to Evans on a simple hitch route.

Mayfield spread the football around to nine different receivers, threading the needle on a 15-yard TD pass to Trey Palmer.

“He made some huge plays,” Bucs coach Todd Bowles said. “I mean, the ball he threw to Trey was right in there. The DB had great coverage on that. ... But it was a hell of a catch and a hell of a throw. He was sharp all day. He was on point.”

The Eagles were missing receivers DeVonta Smith and A.J. Brown, and tackle Lane Johnson. That seemed to even out the Bucs being without safety Antoine Winfield Jr., defensive lineman Calijah Kancey and tackle Luke Goedeke. Defensive tackle Vita Vea returned from an MCL sprain to record the first of six sacks of Jalen Hurts.

What was the difference from the 26-7 loss to the Broncos?

“Taking ownership of what we put on tape last week,” Mayfield said. “Like I said, that wasn’t the Buc brand of football, what we put on tape last week. So, owning it and correcting it. ... Everybody owned it. That’s an accountable team.”

Here’s the thing: Nobody can ever be Brady. But the Super Bowl 55 team was stacked with talent.

Mayfield, the consummate grinder who plays with reckless abandon for his body, is what this Bucs team needs at quarterback.

Tackle Tristan Wirfs admitted that as a 20-year-old rookie, he was scared of Brady.

“I don’t think Tom put stress on guys,” Wirfs said. “I think people were just stressed around him because he’s Tom Brady. I get that question a lot about the difference between Tom and Baker, and they’re two completely different people. You can’t compare them. They’re both great individuals and great football players.

“I’m incredibly lucky to have played with both of them now. I was 21 years old, and Tom was 42. I was very scared of him. I’d do anything to not make him mad.”

Afterward, Brady named Mayfield his player of the game. He made it clear during the telecast that he made “no apologies” for the way he drove the Bucs.

Then he offered some advice to Mayfield before leaving the television booth.

“Keep putting some pressure on those guys to be even better,” Brady said. “I know what you guys are capable of. Keep going out there and grinding and getting it done.”

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