CLEVELAND — Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield was the subject of much criticism leading up to Sunday’s game against the Baltimore Ravens, and former NFL coach Rex Ryan was one of the loudest critics.
And Ryan’s words were heard, loudly and clearly within the Browns’ locker room as Mayfield, coach Freddie Kitchens and wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. all responded to the criticism during the week.
After leading the Browns to a 40-25 victory over the Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Mayfield addressed the media, and said there was “absolutely not” any added fuel to his fire during the AFC North Division matchup.
“Rex Ryan does not get any credit for this week’s win,” Mayfield said.
In his second road start against the Ravens, Mayfield exorcised the demons from the Week 17 game in 2018 and engineered seven scoring drives by completing 20 of his 30 attempts for 342 yards with one touchdown and an interception.
Mayfield took one sack on the opening drive for a five-yard loss, but was able to avoid Baltimore’s fierce pass rush for the remainder of the game. It was the least amount of sacks allowed by the Browns in any single game this season.
“It’s kind of like what I was talking about earlier in the year,” Mayfield said.
“We’ve got a bunch of guys that are more than capable of making plays. It’s one of those things where you can pick your poison of what you want to take out of our offense. We have to be very good at working on whatever they’re not taking out -- we have to get that.”
After inconsistent play over the first three weeks of the season, Mayfield engineered five touchdown drives, and the second-year quarterback said his success and the achievements of the offense come down to individual improvements.
And that was obvious from the first of those scoring drives.
Mayfield was seven for eight with 87 yards and the touchdown to Ricky Seals-Jones on the drive, and had to overcome a first-and-25 after a blindside block from wide receiver Damion Ratley on a Nick Chubb run.
Following the penalty, Mayfield completed an 18-yard pass to tight end Pharaoh Brown, and then, a 19-yard swing throw to running back Dontrell Hilliard that turned a third-and-two from the Baltimore 35-yard line into a first-and-goal from the nine.
“I just did my job today,” Mayfield said. “I got the ball out of my hands and into the playmakers’ hands, like I’ve been talking about -- what we needed to do.
“I just had my eyes in the right places. I talked about it earlier in the week -- I had my feet and eyes where I needed to go … Just getting the ball out of my hands, and they made plays.”