Mahomes, Mayfield meet for first time in NFL

BEREA, OHIO >> Back when their chances of playing quarterback in the NFL were still in the dream stages, Patrick Mahomes and Baker Mayfield sat in an apartment near Texas Tech’s campus and played video games. It was 2013.

Three years later, they appeared to do the same thing on the field.

“It was a basketball score,” Mayfield recalled.

“That game was crazy,” Mahomes said, remembering the October night in 2016 when he and Mayfield re-wrote the NCAA record book.

The quarterbacks and friends will renew their old rivalry — and perhaps embark on a new one as pros — Sunday when Mahomes leads Kansas City and the Chiefs’ high-flying, high-octane offense, into Cleveland to play Mayfield and the Browns, who are again in disarray following the firings this week of coach Hue Jackson and coordinator Todd Haley.

The previous time they met between the hash marks, Mahomes and Mayfield put on a stunning statistical show unlike anything college football had seen before.

They combined for 12 touchdown passes, 1,279 yards passing and broke the total yardage mark with 1,708 yards — 854 for each school.

Looking back, Mayfield, who threw seven TD passes to Mahomes’ five and led the Sooners to a 66-59 win, still can’t fathom what happened.

“That was my ‘Welcome back to Lubbock’ moment,” said Mayfield, who began his college career as a walk-on at Texas Tech before transferring.

“Weird things happen in Lubbock, Texas, on Saturday nights. It is pretty funny, Oklahoma goes back to Lubbock this weekend and then I am playing Pat on Sunday.”