Let’s relax when it comes to Baker Mayfield

Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield played well in their win over the Cincinnati Bengals, but let’s pump the brakes a bit.

Before we get started let’s acknowledge that Baker Mayfield did play well in their win over the Cincinnati Bengals Thursday night. Mayfield did everything he was asked to do en route to a 219 yard 2 touchdown performance. Now, it is time to relax.

The performance of Baker Mayfield was entirely a product of the scheme put together by Kevin Stefanski. There was a dominant rushing attack which made the Bengals respect the run and set them up for the pass. Cincinnati could not sell out and only expect passes, something that Baltimore was able to do the week before. The Bengals had to account for Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt which led to opportunities in the passing game. When it came time to pass, players were open due to the scheme and the respect Cincinnati had for the rushing attack.

To be blunt, the pass catchers were schemed open and Cleveland took advantage, kudos to Baker Mayfield competing a pass to a wide open receiver. Congratulations, you have surpassed the long list of quarterbacks that have lined up under center in Cleveland since 1999 who were not able to do that. Much like other quarterbacks who play in this scheme, they do not need to be elite for the offense to work, they just need to hit an open receiver. When things are clicking the quarterback looks good. When the offense is struggling the deficiencies of the quarterback are exposed for everyone to see, exactly what happened in Week 1.

Even though Baker Mayfield looked better in Week 2, he was far from perfect. A mistake that was prevalent last season came in the 4th quarter.

A better team may have been able to use this as a way to propel themselves to victory. Kevin Stefanski even acknowledged that corrections need to be made and this has to be one that is on his mind.

Want to celebrate a rebound performance from Baker Mayfield? That’s fine, but until he is able to do this for a complete game and multiple games afterward, he is not “back”. Not to mention doing this against a quality opponent which does not describe the Bengals. When/if he does this against the Ravens or Steelers a discussion can be had. Until then, let’s all calm down.