Cleveland Browns: A win in Dallas would be special for Baker Mayfield

The Cleveland Browns have a tough test at the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday.

The Cleveland Browns are currently 2-1 on the season, which is a pleasure to write, one must admit. Cleveland hasn’t had a winning record at any point since 2014, and the Orange and Brown have taken care of business against the visiting Cincinnati Bengals in Week 2 and Washington Football Team in Week 3.

The ground attack for Cleveland, led by an offensive line that is really coming together, and of course, Nick Chubb, has had great success in these victories, especially, and hopefully, Cleveland can keep that going this week. Cleveland will be at the Dallas Cowboys in Week 4, in what will be a tough test.

Dallas is 1-2, yes, but this one is going to be a measuring stick-game of sorts, one would imagine for the Browns. While the Cleveland defense has given up their share of production from opponents, it was a positive that they forced five turnovers, obviously, and took advantage of mistakes from Washington quarterback Dwayne Haskins, in particular.

But even while Dallas has coughed it themselves some and looked somewhat out of sorts at times, they are going to be a completely different task for Cleveland’s defense —  which is still pretty banged up, also.

Dallas QB Dak Prescott, who leads the NFL thus far with 1,188 passing yards, is going to be slinging it all over the field on Sunday, to Amari Cooper, Michael Gallup, and CeeDee Lamb, one would think. Ezekiel Elliot is never a bad check down threat, either.

On the plus side, though, Cleveland’s defensive line and seemingly Myles Garrett, Sheldon Richardson, Larry Ogunjobi, and Jordan Elliott, could get their share of hits in on Prescott. That’s due to Dallas perhaps being without starting tackles  La’el Collins and/or Tyron Smith, and Dallas’ offensive line you’d think could be vulnerable to pressures/QB hits.

Nonetheless, it’s still going to be a rough game for much of it for the defense, from my perspective, for Cleveland. So for the Browns to pull off a victory here, it’s going to come from them feasibly outscoring Dallas, and Baker Mayfield, while the run game is still a huge key for Cleveland, needs to play well.

And against a Dallas defense that’s conceded the second-highest opponent passer rating (114.1), Mayfield should have plenty of opportunities to hit chunks, likely via play-action to Odell Beckham Jr., Jarvis Landry, Austin Hooper and others.

In any case, while again it looks to be a tough test, with how high-powered Dallas’ offense is and Dak clicking, a Browns victory at Jerry World, one would think, would be a lasting one for Mayfield.

A Cleveland Browns W at Dallas would be a truly special one for Mayfield

While he won’t come out and say it, really, one would think this game had to previously circled by Mayfield. Mayfield is an Austin native, not Dallas one, but he recently expressed how he’s played at Jerry World before, dating back to a high school championship game for Lake Travis High, a Big 12 championship with Oklahoma and before for Texas Tech.

This quote from Mayfield, via Clevelandbrowns.com, jumped out to me in regards to how this one would seem to be an especially significant one for the Browns QB.

"“Austin is the best city in Texas (laughter). I will have plenty of people there – friends and family, loved ones and all those good people there – but I have to treat it like any other game and have to go do our job.” — Mayfield, via ClevelandBrowns.com"

Here was more in relation to playing at Arlington Stadium from Mayfield in recent media availability, via the Browns.

"“It is always fun to play there. Growing up, seeing the high school state championships there and then playing there a couple times in college, it is a great stadium, and like I said, I am going to have a lot of friends and family there so it will be a fun one.” — Mayfield, via ClevelandBrowns.com"

Mayfield would then hit on how this one could seemingly involve Garrett, who attended nearby Arlington Martin High, having his share of friends/family there, too, as Stevenson noted.

Anyhow, as Mayfield touched on, this is, at least based on what he alluded to publicly, just like “any other game,” and key for the Cleveland Browns will continue to be going 1 and 0. But behind closed doors, one would think that a Browns W at Jerry World, given his prior exposure to it in big games, would be a truly special one for Mayfield.

Hopefully, that relates to him being effective as a passer, by spreading the ball around, ideally, ensuring the passing game complements Chubb, let’s hope Kareem Hunt health-wise and the run game, and the Browns can steal one at Dallas and move to extremely rarified air at 3-1. What a scenario that’d be, huh?!

As DPD’s Randy Gurzi also demonstrated, that’d appear to be difficult, as Dallas is “much better” than their record, and they might be desperate here. But a big game from the Browns offense and/or Mayfield seems reasonable against the Cowboys defense, a unit that’s conceded big chunks often.

Whether or not he’ll say it, or Garrett, a W at Jerry World, one would imagine, would be a lasting one for Mayfield. Albeit let’s hope neither are too juiced up, either.