quarterbacks. For one https://www.brownsfanshop.com/James-Burgess-Jersey , he’s willing to make any throw at just about any time. It hurt him a little bit in Houston and Baltimore this year, but decision-making is a part of who he is—it’s an unrelenting, unwavering confidence in his own ability, and the idea that he can make anything happen with his smarts and arm. And you know what? It’s got him where he is today. He’s undersized, he’s not particularly mobile, and he was the first overall pick in last season’s draft. He led a team that literally could not win to seven of them while throwing the most touchdown passes by a rookie in the history of the sport. That confidence, and the personality that went with it, is integral to who he is. And it’s integral to why John Dorsey selected him first overall. With that in mind, there’s justifiable faith that Dorsey knows what he’s dealing with as he looks for the next head coach of the Cleveland Browns. He’s seen Mayfield’s personality from afar at Oklahoma. He pored over it during the draft process. He’s seen it up close over the course of a full NFL season. He watched Mayfield’s relationship sour with Hue Jackson, and then watched the aftermath play out in national media. Dorsey knows more than any of us could pretend to about the slights and criticisms Mayfield has faced over the years—real and imagined—and is more wedded to his success than ever before. There’s a point I’m getting to here, and it’s simple: we’ve seen what it looks like when Mayfield does not have confidence in his coaching staff. It’s fine. It’s better than what we’re accustomed to seeing on Sundays from the Browns quarterback. But we’ve also seen what Mayfield looks like when he does have confidence in his coaching staff. It looks like it might be transcendent. It looks like there isn’t much of a ceiling on what he, and the Browns, can accomplish. Cross-sport comparisons are tough, and the NBA is very different from the NFL. But Cleveland is not a stranger to rookies putting up historic numbers after being selected first overall. The obvious name that you think of is LeBron James. Would that Baker’s career in Cleveland end up as successful as James’. Even with James leaving twice he’s had many years of taking the Cavaliers to the NBA Finals, winning one. Many are already wondering if Mayfield can reach his stature on and off the field for Northeast Ohio. But another rookie with a mercurial personality put together a ridiculously good first season in Cleveland for a team recovering from an epic free-fall. Kyrie Irving. Now look, let’s be as clear as possible, Mayfield is not Kyrie Irving. It’s more difficult for NFL players to force their way out of town than it is in the NBA. There’s no indication Mayfield is anything other than all-in on Cleveland. No one is suggesting anything else. The reason I’m bringing up Irving has nothing to do with the players themselves, but in how the organizations that they are playing for handled, and should handle employing them. In Irving’s case, a rookie season in which it was established that the Cavs had drafted one of the premier scoring guards in the league was followed by the team drafting a scoring guard who thought he was better than him. His pick-and-roll partner Jim Brown Color Rush Jersey , Antawn Jamison, left and was replaced by, well, okay, he wasn’t replaced, but Tristan Thompson took his place, and this was before he determined that he would need to start shooting with a different hand. The team’s first foray into free agency involved signing another ball dominant guard that had an inflated sense of how good he was. In the meantime, Byron Scott was replaced by Mike Brown, a defensive-minded coach that Irving never clicked with (Kyrie later took some responsibility for this, even apologizing). Irving took abuse from the national media who wondered why he couldn’t drag a dysfunctional Cavs team running an outdated offensive system to the playoffs. When the Cavs were asked how they were building around Irving, the team said that they weren’t; they were building with him. No one, not even Irving, probably, would say that he handled these times well. The team was losing, and he was young, and he still says weird stuff on nearly a daily basis. But the Browns can’t repeat the mistakes that led to Irving’s alienation, and the Cavs’ stagnation, in the years before LeBron James came back. Which means it’s time for another simple point: the Browns better make damn sure their next choice of a head coach is someone who’s both aware of Mayfield’s larger-than-life personality and confidence, and someone who embraces it like Dorsey and the fanbase already have. They better make sure that it’s someone that will both challenge and respect Mayfield. It should be someone creative. It’ll need to be someone willing to have Mayfield’s back when the extra-curricular stuff comes up. There might, at some point Jamie Collins Jersey , need to be some tough truth-telling when adversity hits. The Browns seem to have that in Freddie Kitchens, the team’s offensive coordinator. Perhaps they can get it elsewhere. I’d caution, though, against taking it for granted. Mayfield’s ceiling looks higher than someone like Matt Stafford, but we’ve seen how his game has fluctuated depending on the coaching staff his team put around him. Stafford’s generally a go-with-the-flow guy; Baker, generally to his credit, doesn’t do that. Perhaps Dorsey has a plan in mind that will keep Kitchens in Cleveland as a head coach or offensive coordinator. Maybe Bruce Arians is the plan. If he doesn’t have that plan in place, he’ll have to feel very good about what the alternative to Kitchens is—not just on his terms, but on Mayfield’s. I’m not here because I can break down x’s and o’s. The last time I wrote here I ended up being wildly wrong about some things. I’m not predicting Mayfield’s time in Cleveland will end up like Irving’s (although, hey, Irving’s time wasn’t really that bad). But I do think that Mayfield should be catered to. His personality demands it. His play on the field has earned it. The Browns ability to win could very well rely upon it. CLEVELAND (AP) — Baker Mayfield took the snap in victory formation and dropped to one knee. The cocky rookie quarterback urged the crowd to make more noise, and when the clock hit zeroes, the stadium's sound system blasted "Danger Zone."The Browns have become hazardous to your playoff health.Mayfield outplayed Cam Newton, Jarvis Landry caught a touchdown pass and ran for another score and the Cleveland Browns damaged Carolina's postseason hopes with a 26-20 win Sunday over the Panthers, who dropped their fifth straight. Mayfield bravely threw a 51-yard TD pass into traffic to Landry, who had a 3-yard scoring run and added a long run — on a similar call — early in the fourth quarter to set up a go-ahead touchdown.Playing the spoiler role down the stretch, the Browns (5-7-1) kept their faint playoff hopes alive while improving to 3-2 under interim coach Gregg Williams, who needed just five games to match former Browns coach Hue Jackson's win total over two-plus seasons."Everybody loves winning," said defensive end Myles Garrett. "It's different for us because of the negatives we've been through, but that's all in the past."Mayfield finished 18 of 22 for 238 yards Christian Kirksey Color Rush Jersey , continuing his bounce back after throwing three interceptions in the first half last week at Houston. The brash No. 1 overall pick continues to develop and the Browns are growing with him.Mayfield was asked if he woke up feeling as dangerous as he did three weeks ago before beating Atlanta."I think you know the answer to that one," he said, drawing laughter.Landry felt that way, too."I guess waking up feeling dangerous is contagious," he said. "We pulled together as a team."There were no smiles or laughs in Carolina's locker room as the Panthers (6-7) suffered a loss that could haunt them for months and will increase the heat on coach Ron Rivera.Newton passed for 265 yards, but overthrew Jarius Wright on 4th-and-goal at the 3 with 2:35 left. Carolina got the ball back, but Newton, who has been playing with a sore right shoulder, badly missed Devin Funchess and was intercepted by Damarious Randall with 57 seconds left.Following the game, a glum Newton didn't offer any excuses."We're done with the cliche sayings, it just comes down to doing our jobs," Newton said. "I'm not talking about nobody but myself."Carolina came in just a half-game out of the second wild-card spot in the NFC, but with only three games left, including two against New Orleans, the Panthers are going to need help to make the postseason.Christian McCaffrey had two TD runs for Carolina and finished with 101 total yards."It stinks," McCaffrey said. "A lot of people are against us right now, but I'll fight for every one of these guys. That's exactly what I'm going to do and I know a lot of guys will do as well. We lost. We've lost a few in a row. It's kind of us against the world right now."Browns rookie Nick Chubb scored on a 1-yard run to give the Browns a 23-20 lead with 13:05 left. The score came one play after Landry took an inside handoff and weaved his way down field. Greg Joseph clanged the extra point off the left upright, keeping the Panthers within three.Newton drove the Panthers to the 3 before throwing two straight incompletions, ending Carolina's best chance to take the lead.Mayfield's 51-yard TD pass to Landry tied it 14-all with 8:27 left in the second quarter.Rolling left out of the pocket to buy some time, Mayfield stepped up and confidently delivered a perfect strike to Landry https://www.brownsfanshop.com/JC-Tretter-Jersey , who was well covered on the play by safety Eric Reid, his former LSU teammate. As fans celebrated, Landry and several teammates sat down in the end zone's corner and pretended to warm themselves around a camp fire."It was cold outside," Landry said, smiling.FAST STARTOn Cleveland's first play, Mayfield unloaded a pass that traveled more than 60 yards in the air to wide receiver Breshad Perriman for a 66-yard pickup. Two plays later, Landry scored on his short run.HOME SWEET HOMEThe Browns improved to 4-2-1 at FirstEnergy Stadium, clinching their first winning home season since going 7-1 under coach Romeo Crennel in 2007."That's pretty cool because the Dawg Pound has always been loyal to us," said guard Joel Bitonio, who has spent all five of his NFL seasons with the team. "We want every team to say, ‘We don't want to go to Cleveland to play.'"NEWTON'S LAWWith his first completion, Newton eclipsed 3,000 yards passing for the eighth straight season. He came in needing 1 yard to reach the plateau and surpassed it on a 25-yarder to Curtis Samuel on Carolina's second snap.Newton joined Peyton Manning as the only quarterbacks in history to reach 3,000 yards in each of their first eight seasons.PAY DIRTChubb became the first Browns player to score a rushing TD in five consecutive games since Greg Pruitt in 1975.ROOKIE RECORDMayfield joined Kurt Warner (1999) and Brad Johnson (1996-97) as the only players since 1966 to throw at least one TD pass in each of their first 10 career starts.INJURIES:Panthers: No significant injuries.Browns: C JC Tretter barely made it off the field in the third quarter before dropping to his knees. Tretter, who has played several weeks with a severely sprained right ankle, returned to the game.UP NEXTPanthers: Host New Orleans on Sunday.Browns: At Denver on Saturday.
