Cleveland Browns blueprint to beating the Bengals in Week 9

Cleveland Browns blueprint to victory: Keep Baker Mayfield upright

Baker Mayfield has been sacked 22 times through the first eight games of 2021. That’s really bad and the Browns offensive line needs to do a much better job of protecting their quarterback the rest of the way this year.

Mayfield was taken down for a sack a total of 26 times last season. Even when Mayfield had his worst season in 2019 he was sacked a total of 40 times but this year, he’s on pace for 55, and that can’t happen if they have any hope of a postseason appearance.

Would rolling Mayfield out of the pocket help some? Or maybe his lingering injury to his shoulder has him second-guessing dancing around to either sideline?

Part of the dilemma, as I see it right now, is that the Browns offensive line has continued to be a revolving door of players because of injuries. But also, Mayfield’s decision making has been a split second too late, and thought has caused him several of those takedowns

With Odell Beckham Jr. out of the picture now, I’m hoping we see the old and more reliable quarterback we loved watching the second half of last year. That player was quicker with his decisions, pinpoint accurate, and kept defenses guessing.