The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Mayfield setting new standard of excellence
Fans who peeked around the iron posts in old Cleveland Stadium as though those supports weren’t really there remember what December Sundays like the one played out Dec. 23 at FirstEnergy Stadium can be like.
The Browns jumped to a 23-0 lead over the Bengals and then held on to win, 26-18, to finish 5-2-1 at home in 2018. They were 1-15 at home the previous two seasons.
Baker Mayfield asked fans to pack the stadium and be loud, and the crowd responded. At times, the rookie quarterback waved his arms to encourage them, and the fans cheered even louder.
The Browns, 5-2 under interim coach Gregg Williams and 7-7-1 with one game remaining, made their charge too late to make the playoffs this season. But if they are to be true contenders in 2019 and beyond, they’ll have to play at home like they did this season — even better.
“People need to fear coming to Cleveland,” Mayfield said after the game.
“They need to fear coming and playing around at the lake with an exciting crowd, a lot of noise and a team that’s protecting their own turf. That’s how it needs to be.”
Mayfield threw three touchdown passes to three receivers — one to David Njoku, one to Darren Fells and one to Rashard Higgins. He ran for two first downs on the same series in the fourth quarter. Bengals defensive end Carlos Dunlap shoved him out of bounds after the second scramble to the Bengals’ 18 and then rolled over the Browns’ quarterback. Mayfield’s teammates didn’t like it and jumped to Mayfield’s defense like the Secret Service defending the president.
No penalty (rightly so) was called on Dunlap. Mayfield had no problem with the hit. But he appreciated Rashard Higgins and Jarvis Landry stepping in to defend him.
“I got my boy regardless of anything,” Higgins said. “And I hope my teammates would have my back. I won’t shy away from any defender. I only fear God, and that’s the way it’s going to be.”
Mayfield has 24 touchdown passes. He needs two next week in Baltimore to tie the rookie record of 26 set by Peyton Manning in 1998 and tied by Russell Wilson in 2012.
Mayfield is 6-6 as a starter, plus he came off the bench to beat the Jets in the third game of the season in his debut. He
and fellow rookie Nick Chubb, just 28 yards shy of 1,000, could be to this chapter of Browns history what Bernie Kosar and Kevin Mack plus Earnest Byner were to the Browns from 1985 to 1989. As gray and cold as old Cleveland Stadium was more than 30 years ago, it was the Browns’ castle. The players defended it and advanced to the AFC championship game three times.
Mayfield wants to take the two steps Kosar failed to make, which would mean winning the Super Bowl. Mayfield’s value to this team, and Browns fans, goes much deeper than his 24 touchdown passes to only 11 interceptions. He has moxie and charisma that analytics cannot measure.
The Bengals, playing most of the game as though in a hurry to get on the warm bus
and head to the airport, scored two touchdowns in a span of two minutes to trim a 26-3 Browns lead to 26-18 with 2:56 remaining.
Losing to the Bengals after leading by 23 points with less than five minutes remaining would have been crushing. But Mayfield wouldn’t let that happen. With 2:01 remaining, he completed a pass over the middle into tight coverage to tight end David Njoku from the Browns’ 31. Njoku sprinted to the Bengals’ 3 before being knocked out of bounds.
As Mayfield ran to the Dawg Pound end of the stadium, he detoured past the Bengals bench to stare down former Browns head coach Hue Jackson, now a Bengals assistant coach.
Some people believe Mayfield should let his animosity toward Jackson go, but sticking it to Jackson
one more time is who he is. So is him publicly saying if any of his teammates weren’t going to give it their all in the last two games they should clear out of the locker room.
Did Mayfield get the sense some teammates had packed it in?
“No. But I’m not going to say things just to correct them,” Mayfield said. “You have to say it to set the standard. You have to say it to make sure we have the exact same team every week.
“A team that we talk about needs to progress every week, get better every week. There are reasons why I say those things.”
Mayfield can talk the talk because he walks the walk.
Reach Schudel at JSchudel@News-Herald. com. On Twitter: @jsproinsider