Cleveland Browns: 3 Players that will be key in Week 2
By Randy Gurzi
1. Baker Mayfield, Quarterback
It’s hard to put the Week 1 loss on Baker Mayfield, but if we are being honest, he wasn’t at his best. It didn’t help that no one around him was doing their jobs as constant penalties and poor blocking made life hell on No. 6 and the rest of the team.
Having said that, this is the guy who is supposed to save the franchise. He will have the win-loss record and people will point to his three interceptions in the defeat.
In Week 2, he has to be better with protecting the ball. He also has to make up for the lack of blocking from the line by getting the ball out quicker.
We saw him do that in the second half of 2018 when the Browns gave up just five sacks on Mayfield in the final eight games. Yes, they are now without Kevin Zeitler, but four of the five linemen are returning starters meaning they should be able to find some of the success they had last year.
Speaking of last year, Mayfield started out his historic rookie campaign in the bright lights against this very team. Replacing an injured Tyrod Taylor, Mayfield came in and led the Browns to a comeback victory.
He helped them erase the stench of their 1-31 record the prior two seasons while also helping them move past that 0-1-1 start to the season that was supposed to be a ‘cleanse’.
With another early matchup against Sam Darnold and the Jets, Mayfield needs to once again remind the workd why he went first overall instead of the USC product that landed in the Big Apple.
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No player means more to this team right now than Mayfield and he has to show why that is on Monday night if they want to score a road win and even up their record.