A Baker’s dozen: Baker Mayfield’s finest moments
By John Suchan
Baker Mayfield’s top moments No. 6: Pittsburgh playoff win
After securing their first trip to the playoffs with the win against the Steelers, Baker Mayfield and his teammates had to turn around and travel to Pittsburgh in the opening round of the playoffs and try and beat the Steelers again.
Boy, did they ever.
From the opening snap, in which the Browns defense recovered a Steeler fumble in the end zone, Mayfield and his team ran all over the Steelers and went up 35-10 at halftime. Mayfield had three touchdown throws on the night as well. It was a monumental moment in Brown’s history and Mayfield led the charge like usual.
7. Cincinnati late-game heroics
After an early-season loss to the Steelers this past season in which Mayfield looked bad and seemingly lost at times, the Browns traveled to Cincinnati to face a pretty bad Bengals team.
Mayfield again looked lost, and after a thrown interception where Brown’s star wide receiver Odell Beckham got injured for the rest of the season, something in Mayfield’s brain snapped back into place and that confident Mayfield we’d seen before reappeared!
He went on to throw 22 straight completions and hit wide receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones in the corner of the end zone in the closing moments to win the game for the Browns.
8. The throw to Jarvis Landry against the Carolina Panthers
Sitting up there in section 537 I remember this play like it was yesterday. The Browns were starting to play really well that rookie campaign for Mayfield. At this point in the game, the Browns were down a touchdown and they were facing a long 3rd and 17.
What I remember most about this play from seeing it above the clouds in the upper deck, was that it appeared as though Browns wide receiver Jarvis Landry was triple covered by Panther defenders. The pass was beautifully launched by Mayfield as he squared his shoulders.
The window and timing on this play will remain, in my mind one of the best I’ve ever seen. And the fan reaction around the stadium was one I won’t soon forget either!
9. Dallas win
This was an early road test for the Browns. Most pessimistic fans and national sports media projected the Browns would lose. But the Browns and Mayfield had other things in mind.
Mayfield had two touchdown throws on the day but it’s how the Browns dominated the Cowboys before halftime to go up 31-14 and then extended the lead into the 2nd half that took most around the league by surprise.