Cleveland Browns Preseason finale reactions: Baker Mayfield ready for big season
By John Suchan
The Cleveland Browns beat the Atlanta Falcons in Week 3 of the preseason. Here are the instant reactions to their final preseason game.
The Cleveland Browns and Atlanta Falcons battled it out on the field on the Sunday Night Football matchup on NBC and the Browns prevailed 19-10. In the final dress rehearsal before the regular season starts in two weeks, the Browns started quarterback Baker Mayfield in an attempt to shed some rust.
They also started several other players including running back Kareem Hunt and defensive players that included linebacker Anthony Walker and safety John Johnson III.
In a game where many players were fighting for a roster spot on the upcoming 53 player rosters, there were plenty of battles to see play out.
Here were are some things that jump off the field of play that we’ll all be discussing this week.
Baker Mayfield is in charge
In a game, where Mayfield was able to get some series in early, in preparation for the regular season, he and the offense looked good for the most part. Mayfield led the team down the field to start the game, hitting Browns tight end Austin Hooper on a fade out to the sideline that Hooper took for 35 yards. In that first eight-play series, Mayfield did have two passes knocked down at the line of scrimmage. On the final play of the series on a 4th down in the red zone Mayfield couldn’t connect with Hooper again and the Browns turned the ball over on downs.
The next series for Mayfield and the Browns went a bit smoother and culminated in a score. Browns running back D’Ernest Johnson got it started with a nice 23-yard swing pass pick up. Then it became the Khadarel Hodge show as caught a bullet from Mayfield for 20 yards and finished it off with a beautiful catch on a pinpoint throw from Mayfield for 22 yards and the touchdown.
Mayfield finished his brief stint going 6-of-10 for 113 yards. Not bad for two series of play. The team did have a holding call and an illegal motion call made on them, but all in all the team looked very smooth and Mayfield seemed very comfortable in his time on the field. That new, more relaxed approach will have a lot to do with how far these Browns go this season.