Colin Cowherd, Stephen A. Smith praise Baker Mayfield, hell freezes over

The staunchest Baker Mayfield critics were impressed with him in Week 13

After the Cleveland Browns and Baker Mayfield put on a record-breaking passing display in the Music City on Sunday, 41-35, it is all good. Generally fans can not count on any validation from the community of vocal sports critics making a living by bashing Baker Mayfield and the Browns. The sports world is totally fickle, so we will have to just enjoy the performance for what it is.

Nevertheless, Mayfield was so good that he even won some grudging admiration from critics such as ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, and the prince of Mayfield critics, Colin Cowherd of Fox Sports.

First of all, TOLD YA SO!

Had to get that out of the way. A normal fan would realize that it was a flawed narrative that said that the Browns could never beat a good team. First of all, they had already beaten the very good Indianapolis Colts. Shouldn’t that count, and if not, why not?

At least in baseball they play 162 games and you might have a shot at making some sort of statistically based observation about poor performance against the better teams. In NFL football, a generalization based on two bad games against the Ravens and Steelers is simply not a large enough data set, especially because it ignores a win against the Indianapolis Colts, and nobody thinks that the Colts are a weak team.

Moreover, the Browns beat both the Ravens and the Steelers last season, and nobody in particular thought that the Browns 6-10 season merited special praise because of it.

Readers of this space have been counseled by this fan that it takes a while for the team to become comfortable with a new coach and a new offensive system. Baker Mayfield is on his fourth head coach and fourth offensive coordinator in his brief career and had an abbreviated summer camp. Those who expected instant results were not being realistic.

Nevertheless, famous critics including Colin Cowherd of Fox Sports and Stephen A. Smith of ESPN make their living by being controversial and entertaining. Smith was willing to admit the facts early on, to his credit.

Cowherd has been particularly precious, blaming Mayfield for getting Hue Jackson and Freddie Kitchens fired.

"“Baker Mayfield is the problem. It’s not the running backs, it’s not their offensive line, and it’s not their coaching staff. Baker Mayfield is holding this team back. They’ve had three different head coaches and all of these coaches have been offensive head coaches; you generally don’t get that as a quarterback.”–Colin Cowherd: Baker Mayfield is Ruining the Browns Franchise, By Wil Leitner, Fox Sports Radio,  Oct 19 2020"

Yes, Colin, you are right.  The Browns were doing just great under Jackson, making enormous progress at 1-32-1. Everybody remember how exciting that was? Then Mayfield came in for Tyrod Taylor and the Browns went 2-4 in one relief appearance and five starts and ruined the team.

That terrible performance got good old coach Jackson fired. It was all Mayfield’s fault. Plus, Mayfield would not even give his old coach a hug after he signed on with division rival Cincinnati.  Imagine that! What a rude, undraftable young man!

Then Freddie Kitchens came in. Freddie would have been Coach of the Year with any other quarterback except for Mayfield. Have we got that right? Anyway, we all loved Freddie because he was and is a great guy, but we did not love 6-10.  Thanks to Colin for pointing out that it was all Mayfield’s fault, and shame on us for thinking that coach Kitchens bears any responsibility for it.  Nope! Quarterback’s won-loss record tells all, no other thinking is required.

Kidding aside, you have to admit that The Herd is must-view TV now. Everybody in Cleveland will be tuning in to find out what Cowherd will say next. Shockingly, on Monday’s show, Cowherd candidly admitted that what he saw, for the first time, convinced him that Mayfield has what it takes to win a playoff game.

The Tennessee Titans are a very good team, and the fact that Mayfield could slice them up says that he can operate against  a good team and move the ball and manage the game. Cowherd did not flat out predict that the Browns would  win a playoff game, but did say that the first pick in the NFL draft is expected to lead his team to the playoffs, especially while he is on his rookie contract, and the team is able to afford expensive free agents.

Cowherd further nagged that Mayfield about the concerns about his level of maturity. To make Cowherd happy, Mayfield has to wear his Covid mask, not go out late at night, maintain an even temperment, and continue to allay the concerns stemming from his occasional indiscretions in college. That is, he has to be a team leader and do the necessary things to lead the team. Fair enough, but is this part of the “obvious news” commercial series that one of the major insurance companies is running?

In other news, hell froze over yesterday. Because that’s the only way it makes sense for these two to praise anything Mayfield related.