Mayfield knows he has to get rid of ball quicker

It took less than a month for Baker Mayfield to go from being the Browns’ savior to being a quarterback that looked a lot like one of the 29 that started before him over the last 20 years.

It did not take long – less than a month – for Baker Mayfield to go from being the savior of the Browns to being a quarterback that looked a lot like one of the 29 that started before him over the last 20 years.

Mayfield led a 21-17 comeback over the Jets on Sept. 20 in his first action in the regular season. He could have won a race for mayor the next day.

Ten days later, Mayfield turned the ball over four times in his next start, a 45-42 overtime loss to the Raiders. He led a heroic drive to beat the Ravens, 12-9, in overtime, and then completed 22 of 46 passes while throwing two interceptions and a touchdown pass in a 38-14 beat-down delivered by the Los Angeles Chargers on Oct. 21.

“When it’s going well (for a quarterback) it’s great,” Coach Hue Jackson said Oct. 17. “When it’s not going well, it’s tough. I said this a long time ago. Quarterbacks might as well start on their knees, because they’re going to be brought to their knees in this league. He has to bounce back.”

Mayfield was sacked five times by the Chargers. That is the number the Browns should be concerned about as they prepare to face the Buccaneers on Oct. 21 in Tampa, Fla., because the Chargers got those sacks by surrounding the rookie in the pocket and not giving him any escape routes to buy time and find a receiver downfield.

This is a copycat league. The Buccaneers and every other team the Browns play will try the same thing until the Browns show they have a solution.

“If the ball’s out of my hands, it doesn’t matter if I’m in the pocket or out,” Mayfield said in the locker room before practice on Oct. 17 in Berea. “Get it in (playmakers’) hands and let them do the work. I have to do a better job of that.

“If they’re covering people down the field, I have to get to the check-down. If not, throw the ball away or make a play.”

Mayfield twisted his ankle running out of bounds in the first quarter against the Chargers. He said the ankle did not slow him down last week. He was not on the Oct. 17 injury report.

Jackson likes his quarterback taking blame, but he wants more from his offensive line.

“As I said to our line coaches, we have to fight longer and harder,” Jackson said. “We have to make sure we give up ground grudgingly. I don’t want people hitting our quarterback. He’s been hit way too much. And he has to get the ball out of his hands.

“I’ve seen things where he can improve, but I’ve seen things where the unit can improve more than anything.”

Tyrod Taylor, the starting quarterback until a concussion and ineffectiveness cost him his job, broke his silence in another corner of the locker room. He said he isn’t bitter and understands it’s part of the business, but he has some advice for Mayfield. Mayfield said it was the most lopsided loss he experienced on any level.

“Of course, you learn from it, but put it behind you,” Taylor said. “Take the positive things you’ve done well, build on that, but erase the things you didn’t do so well, more so just critique it and have a hard eye when you look at it. Games are going to happen like that. It’s just how you respond to them.”

Mayfield, 1-2 as a starter, is ranked 32nd among quarterbacks with a 72.8 passer rating. He has thrown four touchdown passes and five interceptions.