Cleveland Browns: 6 Studs and Duds from heartbreaking Divisional Round loss

Stud: Baker Mayfield

Yes, Baker Mayfield threw a costly interception on the Browns first possession of the second half (perhaps if Landry had worked back to the ball and not just stood around waiting, that wouldn’t have happened.). He was also the only reason the team was in that game.

His receivers were unable to create separation, and dropped plenty of passes on the day; Mayfield had four incompletions at halftime, all four of which hit his receivers’ hands. The degree of difficulty of Mayfield’s passes were very high, and given the fact that the Chiefs were able to play man coverage and single high for the majority of the game, Mayfield had to be almost perfect, and he was.

Cleveland just lacks the speed at WR to open up the field, and that was evident against KC. Mayfield averaged just 5.5 yards per completion, and had some big plays dropped by Nick Chubb and others.

Mayfield also had to deal with left tackle Jedrick Wills Jr. going down on the first snap of the team’s first drive, and backup Kendall Lamm exiting on the first drive of the second half. Backup guard Blake Hance played about as well as could be expected, but the pressure was felt.

The game essentially came down to Mayfield putting the team on his shoulders and carrying them to victory against the defending Super Bowl champions, and he darn near did it.