Cleveland Browns: What to worry about and what not to after Week 3

Reason not to worry: The quarterback

The stat line was ugly. Baker Mayfield was just 10-of-26 passing on Friday and had 72 yards as well as a pick. While the defense continued to shine in this one, Mayfield and the starting offense just couldn’t get anything going.

This had to be great for those who want to see Mayfield fail. His haters were there to pounce and say that the team needs to worry about him. And if we were to look at this game in a vacuum, that may seem true. But, there was a lot to unpack in this performance.

One was the play of the offensive line. They simply weren’t on their best in this one and that was forcing Baker to get rid of the ball quicker than he wanted to. He had plenty of concerns in this regard last season and kept overcoming it. Then again, he also had all his starters on the field with him.

In this last game, Mayfield was without Odell Beckham, Jr., Jarvis Landry, and Nick Chubb. Also on the sideline was second-year receiver, Antonio Callaway. With them not on the field, Mayfield was working with backups and you could see they weren’t all on the same page.

When next we see Mayfield — which should be Week 1 of the regular season — he won’t be dealing with that problem. Many of his throws on Friday would have been hauled in had it been No. 13 and No. 80 out there running routes.

As for his pick, that was the final offensive play of the half when he was simply trying to move the ball downfield late. He took a chance and it didn’t work out, no big deal.

There’s no reason at all to worry right now about the quarterback in Cleveland. Mayfield is the man and one bad night in the preseason literally means nothing.