Steelers can’t win, but here’s how Cleveland Browns can lose

2.  Heroic scrambles rather than throwing the ball away.

Something else we saw versus the Jets was the heroic play in which the quarterback buys time by scrambling while the receivers try to get open. To some extent, it was understandable against the Jets because unfamiliarity with the receivers meant that he could not be sure where they were headed.

With a receiver like Rashard Higgins, Mayfield might have a shot at completing a pass to him blindfolded. But when the pocket is collapsing and all the receivers are covered, the quarterback has got to cut bait and throw the ball out of bounds. Mayfield won’t have the luxury of time against the Steelers because they have a lethal pass rush even without T. J. Watt.

They may play poorly on offense, but they are still very good on defense, especially up front and in the defensive backfield. If Baker pulls the same stunts on the Steelers that he used on the Jets, the results will be the same, except worse — sacks and fumbles.

The mistake is to treat each down as if it is fourth down and that a gamble needs to be taken on each down. Mayfield is experienced enough to not do this.

We also saw this at the beginning of the year. Mayfield wanted to wait for Odell Beckham Jr to get open rather than make his progressions or throw the ball out of bounds. Mayfield actually started to play better when he started to trust his other receivers.

Some fans have turned that around backward and think that it means that OBJ is a worse receiver than others on the team. No, it means that Mayfield was not making his progressions earlier in the year, and if they can get that fixed next season, they will be that much more dangerous.