Mayfield says urgency ‘at all-time high”

The Browns would be very happy if their only crisis was Richard Sherman falsely claiming Baker Mayfield failed to shake Sherman’s hand during the coin toss before the Browns played the 49ers on Oct.7.

The ninth-year cornerback blasted Mayfield in a one-onone interview with Mike Silver of NFL.com in the San Francisco locker room after the 49ers embarrassed the Browns, 31-3, on “Monday Night Football.”

“What’s amazing, and annoying, was him not shaking hands at the beginning,” Sherman told Silver. “It’s ridiculous. We’re all trying to get psyched up, but shaking hands with your opponent — that’s NFL etiquette. And when you pull bush league stuff, that’s disrespectful to the game. And believe me, that’s gonna get us fired up.”

Video clearly shows Mayfield shaking hands with Sherman and the other 49ers captains. Sherman on Oct. 9 said he owes Mayfield an apology during an interview on “The Pat McAffee Show.”

“It’s nice of him,” Mayfield said in the Browns locker room after practice.

“I know what I did. But that’s the one time the camera and something recording me has gone in my favor.”

So now on to more important things – like how do the Browns rebound from the drubbing in San Francisco?

The Browns have scored 10 touchdowns in five games and scored half of those in the 40-25 victory over the Ravens. They scored one touchdown against the Rams and none against the 49ers.

Fortunately for them, at 2-3 the Browns are only one game behind Baltimore in the AFC North. But they have to beat the 4-1 Seahawks on Oct. 13 at FirstEnergy Stadium to avoid losing two straight games for the first time since Oct. 28 (Pittsburgh) and Nov. 4 (Kansas City) of last year.

“Our sense of urgency is at an all-time high right now,” Mayfield said. “I think

we’ve got guys that are locked in and they realize exactly what we need to do, so we’re going to take this short week and see what we can do on Sunday.”

Mayfield has completed 90 of 161 passes (55.9 percent) for 1,247 yards with four touchdowns and eight interceptions. He ranks 33rd in completion percentage and last in touchdown passes among quarterbacks that have played at least four games. His eight interceptions are the most in the league.

Help is on the way. Wide receiver Rashard Higgins, one of Mayfield’s favorite targets, practiced fully on Oct. 9 after missing the last four games with a knee injury. Cornerbacks Greedy Williams and Denzel Ward practiced on a limited basis

after missing three straight games with hamstring injuries. But they still might not be ready until the Browns return from their bye to play the Patriots on Oct. 27.

How the return of Higgins will affect the offense remains to be seen. Head coach Freddie Kitchens is already defensive about why Odell Beckham Jr. was targeted only six times in each of the last two games. After 19 catches in the first three, Beckham caught only two passes against the Ravens and two against 49ers.

“We have plays. We have reads to go through,” Kitchens said. “Coverage dictates that and there are several reasons. I think we threw the ball 24 times the other night and he was targeted six times. I don’t know what the magic number is.

“Everyone is trying to work to get better, and protection is part of that process. Running good routes is part of the process. Going through the right reads is part of the process. Making the throw is part of the process. It’s 11 guys that have to be in sync, and we are working to get better at that every time we go out there.”

Kitchens would not answer when asked whether left tackle Greg Robinson is playing as well last season. Robinson started the final eight games of 2018 when Mayfield was sacked a total of five times. Mayfield has been sacked 16 times in 2019.

“I’m not going to come out here and critique a guy individually,” Kitchens said. “He knows what he has to do to get better.”