The opposing quarterback was so wet behind the ears that his lobes must have been dripping—if not with sweat, then from a Cleveland Browns’ blood-letting. Chicago Bears rookie Justin Fields, former Ohio State University star, learned in his first start that the National Football League is not the Big Ten and he isn’t in the Horseshoe anymore.

His luck ran out Sunday in the crush of an incensed Cleveland defense. The Browns sacked him nine times—Myles Garrett alone had a record 4½—and at the end of a 26-6 loss he was lucky his jaw could still move to acknowledge: “I am not used to this.”

Other NFL quarterbacks and their alleged blockers might have to get used to such embarrassments if the Browns (2-1) who showed up in FirstEnergy Stadium Sunday decide to make encore performances during the new, long season (17 games) ahead.

This was how the Browns were supposed to look: Imperfect, perhaps, but nonetheless delivering on the promise born of a surprise run into the 2020 postseason. For the first time, it was all there to be taken in and accepted as a completed first step after stumbling again late against Kansas City and then letting Houston hang around.

Garrett, who often suggests that he should be a candidate for NFL Defensive Player of the Year and last week whined that his teammates were not doing enough to help him, stopped whining and started playing with great, winning effort that had his name on the lips of a sellout crowd of 67,431: “Myles Garrett . . . Myles Garrett . . . Myles Garrett.”

And that was hardly all:

• The defense, with many bright, new, and shinier parts, including rookie linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah (JOK), not only ruined Fields’ debut but also limited the Bears offense to 47 total net yards and two field goals. It was as if the defenders suddenly found themselves in a game of Whack-a-Bear. What fun!
• New placekicker Chase McLaughlin looked like a combination of Lou “The Toe” Groza and Phil Dawson. He made his only point-after-touchdown kick and was 4-for-4 on field goals, with a 57-yarder being the longest ever at FirstEnergy Stadium and the third longest in Browns history. It hardly seemed possible for a kicker who has been unable to stick with seven teams, including the Vikings twice, and was not supposed to win the job of a team whose recent kicking shortcomings seemed to have become a perpetual nightmare. McLaughlin could have kicked one through off of the parking lot or from the surface of Lake Erie.
• The offense started hesitatingly, including Baker Mayfield—NFL passing accuracy leader—missing on 4 of his first 5 throws. But then, Mayfield did something at the end of the first half that could bode well for him and his team: With little time (2:54), Mayfield drove the Browns 89 yards and went a perfect 6-for-6 in the process, hitting tight end Austin Hooper with a 13-yarder in the middle of the end zone that he placed high (but not too high, as he can do). Mayfield finished 19-for-31—he was 19-for-21 against the Texans—for 246 yards. Five of his completions for 77 yards were to Odell Beckham Jr. in his first game since his season-ending knee injury at Cincinnati almost a year ago. Some of Mayfield’s prettier back-shoulder throws of the day were to Beckham with whom he has been accused of having no chemistry. The pair deserved an A+.

Among criticisms, on which Mayfield faultfinders like to harp, has been the fact that he has yet to prove himself a top-rung NFL quarterback at orchestrating last-minute winning drives. In a comparison in a previous Mayfield Memorandum blog post, I suggested that Spencer Rattler, current Oklahoma successor to the Mayfield Sooner legend, would do well to observe and listen to his predecessor when it comes to patience. Though Rattler and his Sooners are undefeated yet struggling, he proved in a 16-13 victory over West Virginia to open their Big 12 Conference title defense that he is adept at the late winning drives with which Mayfield has struggled.

“Sure, Rattler is not Baker Mayfield,” Oklahoman sports columnist Berry Tramel observed following OU’s West Virginia victory. “But Rattler did what Mayfield failed to do against Texas in 2015 and Iowa State in 2017. Win a game with a last-ditch drive.” The drive led to Chardon, Ohio kicker “Gabe Brkic’s 30-yard field goal, the last play not only of an eye-opening game but [also] an eye-opening drive.”

Mayfield’s mini-masterpiece against a talented Bears’ defense that sacked him five times did not come at the end of the game but rather at the end of the first half. While it may not have been the game-winner, it did produce a 10-3 halftime lead and set the tone for a second-half offense that better matched the sterling work of the defense.

In the last two quarters Mayfield not only threw better but also displayed the athleticism that he had so often shown in winning the Heisman Trophy. His running will never be mistaken for that of Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson but he can scoot in the right circumstance. More important, increasingly a slimmed-down version of himself has been able to revert to the spinning moves that allowed him to escape college rushers. He can spin like a top or a ballet dancer, leaving defenders to grasp only air.

Add that to Kareem Hunt’s virtuoso running (81 yards) and receiving (74 yards) that resembles a violent storm or whirling dervish and a more complete picture of the Browns begins to emerge.

All in all, the Browns looked Sunday, for the first time, as if they might be becoming the complete team that an offseason of further front-office construction work promised.

NOTE: All of the enumerated Mayfield Memorandums can be found at: https://stevelovewriter.com/blog/