CLEVELAND -- Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield had no interest in exchanging pleasantries with former coach Hue Jackson following Sunday’s 35-20 win over the Cincinnati Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati.
Mayfield and Jackson shared a brief exchange following the game, but the quarterback made the decision to have the meeting be quick.
“He said, ‘Good job, good game,’” Mayfield said. “It was brief. I didn’t feel like talking.”
When pressed for why he did not want to talk with his former coach following the game, Mayfield sounded hurt by course of events after Jackson’s dismissal from the organization.
Just eight days removed from being fired by the Browns on October 29, Jackson joined the very team he left following the 2015 season to become Cleveland’s head coach because of the relationship between he and Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis remained strong.
“He left Cleveland and goes down to Cincinnati,” Mayfield said. “It’s just somebody that was in our locker room, asking us to play for him, and he goes to a different team who we play twice a year. Everybody can have their spin on it, but that’s how I feel.”
Although the Browns said all week long before the game that Jackson would have a minimal influence on the final outcome, Mayfield admitted that it added “a little bit” more of a chip on his shoulder heading into the AFC North Division game against the Bengals.
“We have a history with Cincinnati,” Mayfield said. “That’s what happens when you have a division rivalry. We play them twice a year, so there’s going to be that, but the best thing about that is our guys handled it well. That motivation and emotion can sometimes get in the way, but our guys handled it the right way.”
Mayfield completed 19 of his 26 throws for 258 yards and a franchise single-game rookie-record four touchdowns against Cincinnati. Mayfield averaged 9.9 yards per attempt and connected with eight different receivers in the win over the Bengals, and that came on the heels of a strong showing in his previous outing.
Mayfield led the Browns to a dominant 28-16 win over the Atlanta Falcons at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland on Sunday, November 11 by completing 17 of his 20 throws for 216 yards and three passing touchdowns.
Mayfield completed 13 consecutive throws at the start of the game against the Falcons, and since the coaching change, has connected on 65 of his 88 attempts (73.8 percent) for 771 yards and nine touchdowns against just one interception.
“What it comes down to is that we have the same players,” Mayfield said. “That’s what I said when everything was happening -- we just had to play better. You can put your own spin on it, but we have people we believe in calling the plays now.
“Todd Haley was calling the plays before, and I believed in that. It wasn’t about that. We just didn’t execute. Freddie (Kitchens) is running the same system we had then. He’s just putting a little bit of a twist on it, so it’s not about that. I’m not trying to make a headline. That’s not it. It’s the fact that we didn’t do our jobs then, but right now, Freddie has us believing in it. That’s what it comes down to.”
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