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Cleveland Browns: 5 Bold Predictions vs. Patriots

By Justice Sunderland

CLEVELAND, OHIO - OCTOBER 13: Nick Chubb #24 of the Cleveland Browns celebrates his first quarter touchdown with Jarvis Landry #80 while playing the Seattle Seahawks at FirstEnergy Stadium on October 13, 2019 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
CLEVELAND, OHIO - OCTOBER 13: Nick Chubb #24 of the Cleveland Browns celebrates his first quarter touchdown with Jarvis Landry #80 while playing the Seattle Seahawks at FirstEnergy Stadium on October 13, 2019 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /
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SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA – OCTOBER 07: Quarterback Baker Mayfield #6 of the Cleveland Browns gets up after being hit by the defense of the San Francisco 49ers during the second quarter at Levi’s Stadium on October 07, 2019 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA – OCTOBER 07: Quarterback Baker Mayfield #6 of the Cleveland Browns gets up after being hit by the defense of the San Francisco 49ers during the second quarter at Levi’s Stadium on October 07, 2019 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /

2. Baker Mayfield Will be Seeing Ghosts

We all heard the Monday Night Football audio of Jets quarterback Sam Darnold saying he was seeing ghosts, referring to the how he was being confused by what the Patriots defense was showing him.

If you watched the game you probably had the same feeling, New England was lining guys up all over the place and usually blitzing from somewhere other than where they were showing it.

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It was honestly confusing to watch so it had to be hard to call protections to block it. But that was Belichick’s plan and that’s why he has been so successful against young quarterbacks.

He wants to show them looks that they have not seen and even when they think they know what they are seeing it’s actually something else.

Not only has Baker Mayfield had trouble identifying the blitz this season, his offensive line hasn’t done a good job picking them up either. It is both of their responsibility to come up with a protection to pick up the pressure.

It’s also the responsibilty of the coaching staff to notice when the offensive line can’t handle the pressure and call some quick passes and screens. The Browns offensive staff has not been doing a good job of that either.

I expect the game plan to be a lot of the same things for the Patriots as they ran against the Jets, disguised blitzing and tight man coverage in the secondary.

Mayfield and this offensive line have not shown that they can handle pressure so there is no doubt Belichick is going to send it.

It’s okay for Mayfield to take a few sacks but he can’t turn the ball over. He has at least one turnover in every game this year and is not going to work against a championship team like the Patriots.

Mayfield has a lot of questions to answer with his performance so far this season not looking anything like what he did last season. His stats may not be great this week but he needs to be a great leader and handle success and failure the same way.

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