Mayfield eager to face the Panthers

Texas-born Baker Mayfield is eager to get back in the saddle and face another team after playing his worst game since becoming the Browns starting quarterback.

Mayfield doesn’t have much longer to wait. The Browns host the Carolina Panthers at 1 p.m. Dec. 9 at FirstEnergy Stadium.

“Oh, very eager,” Mayfield said after practice Dec. 5 in Berea. “Obviously, take it one day at a time to get better throughout the week. But this group has learned exactly how we need to start the game, how we need to attack, so I think everybody’s eager, not just myself.”

Mayfield threw three firsthalf interceptions in Houston on Dec. 2, handing the Texans a 23-0 halftime lead. He looked like a different quarterback in the second half — like the quarterback who threw nine touchdown passes and one interception in his three previous games. But by then the damage was done. His 351 passing yards in the second half could not undo his mistakes of the first half.

Mayfield has too much self-confidence to sulk about a poor 30 minutes of football. But he is also smart enough to know he shouldn’t make the same mistakes

again. He was talking specifically about the Texans’ defense, but he could have been talking about the Panthers or any defense when he described the consequences of forcing the ball.

“They’re athletic guys that can drop into coverage in certain packages,” Mayfield said. “You have to be smart. You have to take dink and dunk passes until they give you some of the stuff down the field that we were getting later in the game. It’s just playing smart when you play a team like that.

“I know (the 6-6 Panthers) haven’t won as many games as they’d like to. But defensively they’re playing well. It’s about us doing our job. We have to know they have a guy in the middle

(Luke Kuechly) who’s going to know our plays just as well as we know them. We have to play fast. We have to be precise.”

The Panthers have intercepted 11 passes and they’ve given up 27 touchdowns through the air. Only Tampa Bay (28) and Oakland (29) have given up more touchdown passes.

Being smart with the ball doesn’t mean being timid. Interim coach Gregg Williams said Mayfield was as passionate as ever in practice Dec. 5.

“With those mistakes, he accepts responsibility and gets on to the next play,” Williams said. “I’ve been around those kinds of people, too, and not just at the quarterback position but a lot of times at the cornerback position.

“You have to get on to the next play. Those are what really good players do, and (Mayfield) has that in him. Today he brought a smile to me as he’s getting everybody fired up out there today on lots of different competition type things, and so no worries at all.”

So things are fine with Mayfield. But the defense, not so much.

Cornerback Denzel Ward (concussion) and defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi (biceps) did not practice Dec. 2. The good news is cornerback Terrance Mitchell ready to be added to the 53-man roster. He suffered a broken wrist in the fourth game of the season and last month was designated to return from the injured reserve list.