5 Studs and Duds for the Cleveland Browns on Sunday

Stud: Baker Mayfield, Quarterback

Third-year quarterback Baker Mayfield played his best half of football as an NFL player in the first half of the game on Sunday. For the first time all season, the running game wasn’t quite clicking and Mayfield was forced to throw the ball to win the game.

Not only was Mayfield extremely accurate with the football, but his receivers were also making extremely difficult catches to just keep his confidence growing. Odell Beckham caught his most acrobatic ball of the season, while Jarvis Landry picked a ball off the linebackers back in the first half.

While the second half was more disappointing, it wasn’t all on Mayfield. He did throw two interceptions, but one was not his fault. He was hit on his blind side at the last second which pushed his throw right to a defender.

But also remember, Landry dropped a crucial pass in the third quarter that deflated the entire offense. Landry was in the flats on a play-action pass that had worked all day and was set to get 7-10 easy yards before the ball bounced right out of his hands.

The stat line wasn’t as good as Mayfield was on Sunday. He was 21-of-37 for 247 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions. Both touchdowns were tremendous passes to Kareem Hunt and Rashard Higgins, while only one of the two interceptions were ugly.

Mayfield will walk away from this game thinking “I must get better,” but he also walks away with a win which will make the improvement process that much smoother. Mayfield was one strong drive in the third quarter away from being stud No. 1, but he was still a huge factor in the win and did just enough to get the job done.