When Baker Mayfield let fly his first pass in Cincinnati straight at the unsuspecting, fleeing back of Odell Beckham Jr., he generated the darkest of déjà vu moments, one that could—perhaps should—have sapped whatever confidence he still possessed.
Against Pittsburgh the week before his first throw led to a Pick Six and a downward spiral that turned former admirers into doubters about his future with the Cleveland Browns and perhaps in the NFL. Cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot wrote a not unkind but nevertheless sharp analysis of Mayfield that began with “time running out on the former top pick to prove he can be the team’s franchise QB,” and ended with “if Mayfield wants to be great, he must step up in the biggest moments and win the game.” Others, including Tony Grossi, dean of the Browns media, have repeatedly said this.
Even the number-crunchers at ProFootballFocus.com had turned against their former darling from Oklahoma. The Akron Beacon Journal’s Nate Ulrich interviewed Steve Palazzolo, PFF senior analyst, and referenced a post by PFF lead draft analyst Mike Renner headlined: “It’s time to panic about Cleveland Browns QB Baker Mayfield.” This is smart if you are, like Ulrich, the newspaper’s Browns beat writer; it offers cover. Palazzolo was not ready to give up on Mayfield but his list of the quarterback’s deficiencies would have sent a lesser person to the corner to cower and suck his thumb.
The numbers had turned against Mayfield and so the numbers guys had no choice but to do likewise, right? Analytics does not take character into account, which is why John Dorsey, the former Cleveland general manager who drafted Mayfield, never had much use for an approach to which others in the Browns front office have pledged their troth.
Though Beckham never saw the ball coming, he certainly saw Cincinnati’s Darius Phillips escaping with it and took up a chase that left him with a torn anterior cruciate ligament and next-to-no chance to play again this season. This meant Mayfield was without his Pro Bowl No. 1 receiver and forced him and his coaches to make use of other resources, something he had done well during a promising rookie season.
Already without No. 1 tight end Austin Hooper, who had undergone an appendectomy, Mayfield was forced to depend on other receivers, including:
- His remaining Pro Bowl receiver Jarvis Landry, who, like Mayfield himself, played with a cracked rib.
- The forgotten, underappreciated Rashard Higgins.
- Rookie tight end Harrison Bryant, who was filling in for Hooper.
- Former starter David Njoku, who has expressed displeasure at his status by seeking to a trade to a team that thinks as much of him as he thinks of himself.
Mayfield did not complete a pass until almost four minutes had passed in the second quarter. By then, Bengals rookie quarterback Joe Burrow was into a fiery passing performance that looked as if it could cook Cleveland’s and Mayfield’s goose. He did end up with 406 passing yards (35 of 47), three touchdown passes and one TD sneak— but not a victory, despite a last-second scary Hail Mary that put fingernails at risk.
By using his available resources and following to the letter advice Beckham gave him at halftime, while nursing his injured knee, Mayfield did what Cabot had suggested he had to do to prove himself—he won a game, 37-34, by playing great in the biggest moment. “Go be great,” OBJ told his quarterback. And so Mayfield did.
He tied the Browns record for most touchdowns in a game, five—four of them in the second half—when he did what he had done so well as a rookie: Get the ball to the right receiver, no matter his status. In 2018, that often was Higgins. Now, it was Higgins again. After missing on those first five passes, Mayfield completed 21 in a row, six to Higgins, including two on the winning 75-yard drive with no timesout. Higgins, who had been inactive for three games, used both skill and wit, including rolling after an untouched catch near to get out of bounds and stop the clock. That allowed Mayfield to find rookie Donovan Peoples-Jones for his first touchdown reception, a 24-yarder, one of his three receptions, first of his NFL career.
When he had Beckham, Mayfield seemed to seek him out regardless of whom might be more open. But as he overcame that first interception on his way to 297 yards, a 78.6 percent completion rate and 135.6 passer rating, Mayfield hit Bryant with two short touchdown passes and started a fourth-quarter onslaught with a 16-yarder to Njoku, which possibly made him a little less unhappy since it was such an important catch.
Kareem Hunt, running back 1A who is carrying a heavier load (18 rushes for 76 yards) with RB1 Nick Chubb sidelined, also caught a touchdown among his three receptions. As Mayfield spread the ball around to six receivers, from star (Landry) to the rediscovered (Higgins and Njoku ) to newbies (Bryant and Peoples-Jones), it made me wonder whether coach Kevin Stefanski might, in the off-season, scheme ways for a quarterback worth keeping to do this with OBJ’s big presence at work again.
Others win with who’s available. In New Orleans Sunday, future Hall of Famer Drew Brees, like Mayfield not the tallest quarterback, found himself without his top two receivers and so spread the ball around to eight others. It worked for a 27-24 victory over Carolina. Mayfield is often compared to Brees, though he thinks of himself more as a Brett Favre “gunslinger,” as Myles Garrett described Mayfield’s self-attitude.
Stefanski had other qualities in mind to explain why Mayfield was able to lift the Browns to 5-2 despite a defense that struggled against Burrow. “Every time I looked at him,” Stefanski said, “he had that steely look in his eyes. He didn’t back down. He just doesn’t give up.” Not even when others are ready to give up on him.
Higgins knows that Mayfield well. He became metaphoric when asked to describe their connection, begun in ’18 and now taken to a new level. The receiver said it was like “wine poured in a cup . . . smooth.” Bet the numbers guys would never put it that way.
