Five amazingly stupid myths about the Cleveland Browns

The east coast and west coast national media sites are united in their effort to bring you misinformation about your favorite sports team. So let’s clear up some Cleveland Browns myths

You would think that there is enough controversy in New York and Los Angeles by themselves so that it would not be necessary for the national media to invent false narratives about the Cleveland Browns.

Nevertheless, it seems as though they love to present misleading if not downright inaccurate reports about your favorite team. But never fear, Your intrepid reports at Dawg Pound Daily are always vigilant and ready to set the record straight.

Similarly, Fox Sports is headquartered in the beautiful Westwood region of Los Angeles, California where there is a story breaking every 15 minutes. The press was so mean they managed to chase the Rams out of Los Angeles once, only to have them return. They also chased the Chargers out of Los Angeles in 1961 to become the San Diego Chargers, only to them return also. The Raiders played in Los Angeles from 1982 to 1994, only to flee back to Oakland, at least temporarily. So Fox should be able to keep itself busy.

Nevertheless, the national sports media seems to take a special pleasure in presenting a distorted version of reality concerning the Cleveland Browns. Here we have listed five of the most inaccurate and distorted realities that are making the rounds about the Browns.

This is not an exhaustive list. Readers are invited to identify additional myths and their source, if possible, in the comments below.

Cleveland Browns Myth No. 5: Baltimore always shuts down Baker Mayfield

This wonderful myth was mainly started by Colin Cowherd, the entertaining and controversial host of the Herd, who may be still struggling to live down the fact that he fell in love with Sam Darnold in the 2018 draft, proclaiming him the savior of the moribund New York Jets (“Congratulations to the New York Jets! They got their dude!”) and at the same time proclaiming Baker Mayfield to be undraftable.

Cowherd has never forgiven Mayfield for completely outperforming his boy. Let’s consider what happened the first time Baltimore shut down Mayfield, in the third game of his career in 2018.

First of all, readers of this space realize that this reporter has great respect for the players of the Ravens, especially Lamar Jackson, coach John Harbaugh, general manager Ozzie “The Wizard” Newsome, and many in the organization.

But I despise Arthur Bertram Modell for his decision to move the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore. I further deplore his decisions to fire Marty Schottenheimer and Paul Brown and trade Paul Warfield and force Jim Brown into early retirement. I root against the team, but I do not hate the players or coaches as individuals.

Moreover, a little friendly debate between Westwood, California, and Cleveland, Ohio is not a bad thing. Fundamentally, we are all just people who like to talk about sports. I really do not believe that Colin Cowherd hates Cleveland and Baker Mayfield so much as he loves to start a debate. Ditto for Bristol, Connecticut, and Stephen A. Smith, who is not nearly as wild and crazy in real life as he comes across. Okay, guys, you’re on.

If you close your eyes, you can probably imagine Cowherd’s accusing voice as he acts as the prosecuting attorney. “Mayfield is never going to be an elite quarterback until he proves he can beat Baltimore, or at least proves he can prove he can throw for 300 yards against them. So when is it going to happen, Mayfield? How long is it going to be, huh? What do you have to say about that?”

Well, sorry to disappoint Mr. Cowherd, but the fact of the matter is that Mayfield did beat the Ravens the first time he saw them. In fact, he passed them silly, going for 342 yards. In fact, it was the only game he won for Hue Jackson as a starting quarterback (he also beat the Jets in relief of Tyrod Taylor).

So it wasn’t that he could beat other teams but not the Ravens. The opposite was true. He only beat the Ravens for Hue, in the 12-9 overtime affair, on the 52-yard field goal by Greg Joseph, which was partially tipped and yet somehow fluttered like a Phil Niekro knuckleball over the goalpost.

Baltimore “shut down” Mayfield in their second meeting in 2018, as he torched the Ravens for 376 yards passing but did turn the ball over three times on interceptions. Still, throwing for 376 yards against a playoff team is not half bad for a rookie. There’s nothing there that would make you throw up your hands in disgust. Unless of course, you work for ESPN or FOX Sports.

The Sub-Myth is that Mayfield only had easy victories as a starter for Hue Jackson and never beat Baltimore or Pittsburgh. The fact is that Baltimore is the only team that Mayfield beat as Hue Jackson’s starter, and the lowest yardage total he posted in 2018 against them was 342 yards.

2019 was the Ravens’ greatest year, at least for the regular season. They went 14-2, scoring a million points (well, 531) and gave up only 232, with Lamar Jackson taking home the MVP trophy after chucking 36 TD passes and rushing for seven more, adding a record 1,206 rushing yards in the process. But they did lose two games.

Mahomes and the Chiefs beat them once. The other loss was against — who? That’s right, the Cleveland Browns. Again, Mayfield went over 300 yards passing — 342 to be exact (by coincidence, the same total as the previous year’s low) as the Browns ambushed Baltimore, ringing up 40 points against them. The Browns won the game. They scored 40 points. Mayfield threw for 342 yards. How is that Mayfield choking against Baltimore?

By the 2019 rematch, John Harbaugh and the Ravens had the answer to the Todd Monken and Freddie Kitchens offense, and the Ravens soundly beat the Browns, 31-15, and Mayfield threw for only 192 yards with one TD and an INT.

In 2020, with no exhibition games due to Covid-19, and a curtailed summer camp, the Browns had to install a new offense under Kevin Stefanski and Alex Van Pelt. Baker will never use lack of practice as an excuse. However, that is the job of the media, and I am here to tell you that it was impossible to be in mid-season form in the opening game.

That should be obvious to everyone between Los Angeles and Bristol, Connecticut. Baltimore totally dominated the Browns, 38-6, and Mayfield had a terrible game. He had 189 yards and an interception. Do you want to use that as the basis for forming your opinion of the Stefanski/Van Pelt offense and Baker’s quarterbacking? One game, with zero exhibitions during the pandemic?

What about the second game, in which the Browns scored 42 points, and Mayfield threw for 343 yards? He did throw an interception, the only interception in the Browns last eight games of the regular season. Let’s just get this straight.

The Browns scored 42 points, the quarterback threw for 343 yards with just one INT, and you think Baltimore shut down the quarterback? Do you want to blame the quarterback for the loss after scoring 42 points? We need a new quarterback because Mayfield rang up only 42 points versus the Ravens, and threw his only INT the last eight games of the season?

That’s too many interceptions for you? You don’t see any improvement over 2019? Just what in the world do you expect the Browns quarterback to do?

Even when the Browns were bad, this series has been competitive. The worst criticism I can offer Mayfield is that Mahomes is never thrown for less than 374 yards against Baltimore, so his performances rank ahead of Baker’s for now (and by the way, every time Mahomes torches the Ravens, it is Lamar Jackson’s fault, in the eyes of the media. Jackson and Mayfield are the two most unfairly criticized quarterbacks in the NFL, for whatever reason).

But Mahomes is the only quarterback who has put up better numbers than Mayfield has against the Ravens.

Finally, before putting this one to bed, the same rumor used to be applied to the Steelers, but the Browns beat the Steelers’ brains out twice in a row last season, and even Freddie beat them last year despite the terrible brawl. Mayfield owns three wins against the Steelers in three seasons, so I am assuming no believes that Mayfield cannot beat the Steelers. I think.

Good grief. The next myth deals with the next most hated player on the Browns, Odell Beckham, Jr.

Cleveland Browns Myth No. 4: Odell Beckham, Jr. is a locker room cancer.

Odell Beckham, Jr. is a team leader, well-liked by his teammates. Jarvis Landry, his teammate from college is one of his best friends. Baker Mayfield loves him. He is respected by the coaching staff. He has a burning desire to win.

He is also flamboyant, charismatic, opinionated, speaks his mind and has a pretty good idea of who he is. He complains when the team loses, and he when he thinks it is headed in the wrong direction. He was not happy with 6-10 in 2019 (were you?). He did not think that Freddie Kitchens was a good coach and nor did he believe in the Todd Monken offense (did you?). He offered constructive criticism and always supported Baker Mayfield.

Amazingly enough, the rumor that OBJ hates Cleveland and wants out has also been promoted by Colin Cowherd and his secret sources. Does anyone detect a pattern here?

This report about the Vikings, however, totally lacks credibility because in 2020, the Vikings were way overspent on their salary cap and had to jettison veterans like Everson Griffen, Trae Waynes, Linval Joseph and others. Moreoer, they did not sign a free agent wide receiver that offseason.

Good try, Mr. Cowherd, but my non-secret sources say that whoever your secret sources is, he or she is completely, utterly ignorant of the reality of salary cap math. Period. The Vikings were simply incapable of putting together a deal of OBJ.

Now, as for us Browns fans, the awful decision we must come to terms with is whether we are prepared to deal with star wide receivers or not. We were spoiled by players like Dante Lavelli, Paul Warfield and Dave Logan, who were solid citizens as well as sensational football players. But these fellows are not the norm.

If you want to read about the psychological profile of star wide receivers, for some light reading check out the PhD Dissertation of Sheryl Faith Packman, Relationship between psychological characteristics and performance in professional football. Fordham University, 2008. If that is too deep, try Cris Carter and Jeffri Chadiha, Going Deep: How Wide Receivers Became the Most Compelling Figures in Pro Sports, Hachette Books, July 30, 2013.

But my favorite story that typifies the eccentricity of a star wide receiver is Michael Irvin’s story on himself, sneaking out of a team meeting at halftime of the Super Bowl, because he wanted to watch Michael Jackson perform. Did you really do that, Michael? “Oh, ab-so-LUTE-ly!”

Now coach Jimmy Johnson was about as stern a disciplinarian as there ever was, and quarterback Troy Aikman was about the most serious and businesslike of quarterbacks you will ever want to see. But in the most important game of his life, Michael Irvin is sneaking out of the team meeting to go watch the halftime show. Unbelieveable! But wide receivers tend to do stuff like that.

Irvin, like many star receivers, had a few screws loose, and if you told him that he would probably agree and laugh about it today. But all three of those Cowboys made the Hall of Fame, and they won that Super Bowl, didn’t they? I cannot explain why wide receivers have this unique tendency to act like looney toons at times, but they do, and yet you can win with them.

It’s very easy to imagine that OBJ might get involved in that sort of mischief and some of the fan base might go crazy on him. For example, one of the nuttiest things OBJ has done was to hand out hundred dollar bills mixed with play money in the end zone when his alma mater, Louisiana State University, won the National Championship, causing complete chaos.

If an offensive lineman did that, he should be fired on the spot. With a wide receiver, temporary insanity is an acceptable plea.

We are familiar and perhaps all too comfortable with less colorful personalities like Corey Coleman and Kenny Britt — players who just made us close our eyes but who did not really attract much attention. That’s not what I want. I’ll detail with insane wide receivers if they can catch enough footballs.

That’s not to say that OBJ’s as good as Michael Irvin and Cris Carter. He’s not. In fact, it’s been pointed out that many of Mayfield’s INTs are intended for OBJ. There are two reasons for this. One is that OBJ needs to run better patterns and get open sooner. Many observers point out that Mayfield locks on to OBJ and holds the ball too long.

Maybe it’s because he is not sure where OBJ is going. They need to clean up those routes and get on the same page. The second issue is that OBJ is great at going up and making one handed catches, and in fact he is the best of all time at that particular skill. But maybe that is not where Mayfield needs to be throwing the ball.

Alex Van Pelt and Kevin Stefanski are asking Mayfield to throw a lot of balls about an inch above the turf where only a Browns receiver can catch the ball. The high passes are very exciting, but they are not high percentage passes, and something can go wrong.

A healthy OBJ who improves his patterns might accumulate 90 catches for 1,400 yards and return to the Pro Bowl.

Cleveland Browns Myth No. 3: David Njoku cannot block

David Njoku was called out by John Dorsey for his poor blocking, worked hard on it and became the most improved blocking tight end in the NFL, but still wound up in Freddie Kitchens doghouse and for whatever reason many fans continue to support Dorsey and Freddie instead of Njoku in this dispute.

Fans, Dorsey’s and Kitchens’ best thinking got the Browns 6-10. It’s time to give it up. The player deserves the benefit of the doubt.

Fact is, however, that Njoku’s blocking flat-out sucked his rookie season in 2017. He made some nice catches, but that year DeShone Kizer was taking a beating because nobody was blocking for him and Njoku did not do him any favors, either.

But if you believe Pro Football Focus, or if you actually watch the games on TV, Njoku went from terrible to a below average blocker in 2018, then became above average in 2019, despite a limited data sample due to injuries, and subsequently being demoted to fifth string by coach Kitchens. In 2020, Njoku again missed time due to injuries, so if you are the type to criticize a man for being injured, go for it.

However in terms of blocking grades, he was top 10 in the NFL in pass blocking, and he led all Browns tight ends in both pass blocking and run blocking. Overall PFF had Austin Hooper as a better receiver. The eyeball test tells me that Hooper has more sure hands, but Njoku has a greater catch radius.

It did not help Njoku’ case that one one point he aske to be traded, but he did it the right way. He just asked politely. He never threatened to quit, and was never less than professional. He always supported his teammates and has always given 100% for his teammates.

Fans who want to carry a grudge on behalf of coach Kitchens are in the wrong. If you want 6-10, fine. Otherwise, it’s time for to give it up. Njoku can play, and in partiular, he is the best blocking tight end on the team.

Cleveland Browns Myth No. 2: Baker Mayfield is not good enough and should not be extended

The vast majority of fans love Baker Mayfield, rightly so. There is a vocal minority, however, that is brain dead and cannot tell the difference between Mayfield and Cody Kessler. No offense to Kessler, who played his heart out for our team, but Mayfield is way better. Some fans think that the Browns should wait for a mythical “Franchise Quarterback,” whatever that is, to come along.

“Baker is not as good as Lamar, Baker is not as good as Allen, not as good as Mahomes,” blah, blah, blah. You know what? That might be true. But Baker Mayfield by far the best quarterback for the Cleveland Browns, not some hypothetical team.

It has taken three seasons of hard knocks to get to the position he is in now. Some other quarterback is not going to come in and be the same. Conversely, if Mayfield moves to some last place team and signs a bazillion dollar contract he would not be the same player. It is just a bad idea for both sides.

Wise critics are quick to point out that John Dorsey messed up when he drafted Baker Mayfield and should have drafted either Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson. That’s debatable, but suppose the critics are right.

So what? Did the Browns get a guarantee that allows them to exchange Mayfield for Allen or Jackson? It doesn’t look like the Bills or Ravens are going to let Cleveland have a do-over, so you might as well get over second guessing Dorsey’s choice. Baker Mayfield is Cleveland’s quarterback.

If Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson get higher paychecks than Mayfield, good for them. They earned them by making the Pro Bowl. Jackson was also league MVP and is the winningest quarterback for his age in NFL history. Their great success has nothing to do with firing the quarterback of the Cleveland Browns.

The only options that the Browns have in front of them are Mayfield, Case Keenum and Kyle Lauletta.

Mayfield can lead the team to the Super Bowl, but you are going to have to get him some help. You need guys who have been to Pro Bowls, or close to it. But the Browns have that:

Kareem Hunt (1x), Nick Chubb (1x), Joel Bitonio (2x), Jack Conklin (2x All Pro), Jarvis Landry (5x), Odell Beckham, Jr. (3x), and Austin Hooper (2x). Guard Wyatt Teller is ranked number one at his position, according to Pro Football Focus, which is an equivalent honor.

Center J.C. Tretter was ranked number two, by the way. There may be an unwritten rule that the NFLPA President is not supposed to be selected for the Pro Bowl; otherwise, it’s hard to imagine what prevents J.C. from going to Hawaii. As for Jedrick Wills, he was the first tackle drafted in the 2020 draft class and is still growing in his craft.

He was by far the weakest player on the Cleveland line last season, and he might be the best player on some NFL lines. For example, is there anyone on the Bengals line that you would trade Wills for, even up? Think about that.

Let’s add that up. That’s nine players who have either been to the Pro Bowl or who are very close to that level of play. The quarterback had an 11:1 TD:INT ratio the second half of the season. The team should have beat the World Champions were it not for a criminally absurd missed call at the goal line.

And some fans want to fire the leader of the offense.

There has never been talent like this on the roster before. Dare it be said, Cody Kessler would legitimately have a chance to win with this level of talent. The game plan would be run, run, run, run, play-action, run, run, run and that would score points.

Sometimes you may see Mayfield run that same sequence, and there really is no need to apologize for it. The critics are going to point accusing fingers and cry “game manager!” like it is an insult, and gag in their beer. They want the coaching staff to install the New Orleans artificial turf dome offense. Well, they are just never going to be happy.

Chris Simms is about as good a quarterback evaluator out there, and he says that, for a neutral team, Baker Mayfield would be the 13th best quarterback in the NFL. It is understandable if you don’t want to vote Mayfield into the Hall of Fame just yet, but why isn’t that good enough to start?

The Browns will make Mayfield a fair offer on a multi-year deal. It will not be a blank check for his agent to fill out any way he wants, however. It will be for less money than Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson, both of whom have more hardware in their trophy cases than Mayfield.

The Browns need to be able to afford all those star linemen and running backs. Thus, I will be very disappointed if Andrew Berry and the Haslams cave and give him the same insane money that Patrick Mahomes and Dak Prescott are getting. In fact, in the case of Prescott, Team Jones badly miscalculated by allowing him to get into the Franchise Tag system. The perception is that the Franchise Tag favors management, but the reality is that it gives huge leverage to the player.

Cleveland Browns Myth No. 1: Dee Haslam is not running the Cleveland Browns

The second smartest decision Jimmy Haslam III made in his life was to acquiesce to allow Dee Bagwell Haslam to have the ultimate authority of Haslam Sports Group, which includes ownership of the Cleveland Browns. Dee is much more introverted than her ultra-friendly, outgoing husband, but she is a brilliant organizer. The smartest decision JH3 ever made, of course, is to marry Dee.  Every successful married man will readily agree on what the best decision of their life was.

Although everyone knows that JH3 is the CEO of Pilot Oil, Dee was the Founder and Executive Producer of the RIVR Media companies, which made television shows for 21 different networks and was nominated for Emmy Awards eight separate times. Do not think Dee’s role is simply to be Mrs. Haslam. That’s so embarrassingly misinformed, especially when the national media makes this mistake. Correspondence from the team is always signed “Dee and Jimmy Haslam” NOT “Jimmy and Dee Haslam.” There is a reason for this.

Nevertheless, the national media continually identifies JH3 as the sole principal owner of the Browns. Even nationally prominent Forbes.com made this ghastly error in an article from one of its contributors when Kevin Stefanski was hired.

Hey Forbes:  This two-bit sportswriter from Dawg Pound Daily is calling you out! Dee Bagwell Haslam is the CEO of Haslam Sports Group, not her husband.

Dee also has a Major League Soccer Championship as part-owner of the Columbus Crew, which Haslam Sports Group saved from moving out of state.

She wears a lot of different hats for innumerable charities and the University of Tennessee, but the one that impressed this fan the most is a simple hat with the number “95” on it that she wore after the unfortunate incident with Mason Rudolph of the Steelers which resulted in Myles Garrett being suspended.

While Myles was hurting at the lowest point of his career, Dee sent a simple message without saying a word, letting him know that she was still behind him, and that she and Jimmy still believed in him. That simple symbolic act spoke much more loudly than any kind of statement she might have said to the press. And when the time came to negotiate an extension for Garrett, there were no fireworks or table pounding. They just quietly got a deal done.

The front office was reorganized by Dee. Dee wanted to stabilize who the Browns are as an organization, and clarify the roles within the organization and ensure that they do not overlap. The Browns had to stop having ownership pressure the general manager to draft a quarterback (Johnny Manziel) or determine when he should play.

The general manager cannot be texting the offensive coordinator to make lineup changes (Ray Farmer and Kyle Shanahan). There cannot be a head coach who does not have the power to overrule the offense coordinator (Hue Jackson and Todd Haley). Nor can you have a general manager yanking away quarterbacks that the coach wants (Sashi Brown cutting Josh McCown), never mind gift-wrapping players for the Steelers in order to position the team for the draft (Brown again, over the strenuous wishes of both Hue Jackson and Gregg Williams).

All these personalities are great individuals, but nobody could do their job, and it was because of unstructured ownership. In short, the behind-the-scenes maneuvering and unclear directions had to stop. That is where Dee Haslam came in, and why it was so important to clarify whose role was what.

Early on, rumor had it that she was a fan of charismatic Josh McDaniels of the Patriots. However, she let the smartest person in the organization, namely analytics expert Paul DePodesta make the call. Well, what are we paying DePodesta for if we don’t use him?

She trusted DePodesta to make the unlikely hire of Kevin Stefanski. This was a good move, because McDaniels was insisting on total control of football operations. This rarely works because when things go bad, the coach/GM starts trading away draft picks and makes a bad situation worse. This is what happened to Bill O’Brien and the Houston Texans.

The Browns then bet on another Ivy League graduate, a computer guru and former All-Ivy cornerback named Andrew Berry from Harvard, who had been with the Browns before, as well as the Colts and Eagles organizations.

Together they have built a diverse front office, with football experience as well as academic smarts.

Dee Haslam seems content to let her husband deal with the public and the press. Jimmy is naturally extroverted, loves to deal with the public, and thrives with publicity. Dee doesn’t say nearly as much but it is one thousand percent clear to anyone who watches the organization that she has turned the organization upside down, and it is now clicking with one of the smartest management teams in the NFL.

The Haslams might be compared and contrasted to military personalities. JH3 is kind of like Teddy Roosevelt. He is going to charge San Juan Hill with single-minded purposefulness, and he will take the hill from the enemy no matter what. Dee is more like Dwight Eisenhower. She is the one who is going to coordinate a complex operation over a long period of time and pull it off.

The Browns are no longer blowing money on stupid contracts. The cap is being managed properly. There is money to sign the right players. Agents are comfortable talking to the Browns now. People know their job and they are doing it.

The media is making a huge mistake to ignore Dee Bagwell Haslam’s immense contribution as CEO of Haslam Sports Group. So stop making this mistake, please.