I thought at times last year he looked like the Browns savior…
Now they gave him a running game, two all-pro Wr’s, a decent TE and he looks terrible, almost like a bust waiting to happen!
Can’t say I’m unhappy cuz he comes off like a total douche bag with a huge head! Not sure he’s the type of leader you’re lookin for in a QB…
It will be interesting to see how he responds to the losing and criticism that’s about to come his way!
People need to stop judging QBs based on short term success. What defines a full time starting QB in the NFL is the ability to keep improving and adapting over time to counter the adjustments the defenses are making to what they see on film (once film is available). In short you need to get better at QB, just to play the same.
But every year we get these QB ranking lists that come out. And every year they take some young hotshots and completely overrank them ahead of guys like Matt Ryan simply because of a little short term success.
I wasnt too huge on Mayfield to begin with, I felt like the success last year was mostly due to defense. I thought it was a mistake at the time, and still do, that the Browns named the wrong head coach. I think they should have kept Gregg Williams as HC, and left Kitchens to run the offense. Kitchens went from QB coach to HC in less than a year. Thats a massive leap, and Im not sure he was entirely ready for it. I think Cleveland was so concerned about keeping Mayfield happy, they dropped the ball on this one here.
As for Mayfield himself, I heard earlier in the year after the first game that it was apparent Mayfield was misidentifying coverages. He couldnt identify whether guys were in zone or man. Thats about as basic as it gets and something an NFL QB absolutely must be able to do at this level. I kinda chalked it up to overreaction Monday stuff, but if anything its beginning to show its more and more true. For the last game, lets ignore the pick where he hit his WR in the hands for a sure TD just to watch Calloway pop the ball into the air for an easy pick. Lets also acknowledge that his offensive line is a disaster, especially the left side. Greg Robinson may have gotten some props from PFF, but the Greg Robinson I saw looked a lot more like the Lions version. Their LG was even worse.
8/22 for 100yds, and a lost fumble because of complete carelessness and another fumble for patting the ball too long. These are not marks of an NFL QB. 36% completion percentage. Even Josh Allen would tell you, thats bad! I think its becoming clear, Mayfield is in big trouble right now. He has some time to save himself, but the comments that he cannot identify defenses are starting to ring a lot more true than false. Im all for a guy being confident in himself and his abilities, but you also have to be able to self evaluate and know that its time to shut up and get back to the drawing board. Lets see if Mayfield has that kind of fortitude
I believe it was Kurt Warner that did a breakdown of Mayfield at the beginning of the season where he went back to 2018 and analyzed the film. He showed where Kitchens came in and had Baker only reading half the field or just a couple of reads. That’s a good way to start a kid out. But eventually to be successful in the NFL over a long period of time, you HAVE to be able to read the entire field and get thru more than a couple reads before the play is dead (or turned into a scramble drill). The OC can only call the right plays for you so many times, before the defense catches up and realizes what’s going on.
That’s why Rex Ryan was on Baker’s case calling him overrated as hell and a one read then improvise guy. Everyone fell in love with the guy’s fun/cocky personality and wanted to anoint him the savior of Cleveland, well that’s why we play the games.
Mayfield can play in the league. He has the tools despite being short. The league is humbling him in a big way right now. He refused to shake hands at coin toss and Sherman called him out. Mayfield needs to knock off the act until he has proven something.
He is intelligent… we will see if he can commit to being a pro.
I was telling a friend last night… why do people think a new QB is good after thier 1st yr. you always imho wait until yr three minimum…
You end up with film on the rookie from the first yr and teams always adjust. Now part of this basic 101 rookie QB stuff is on the coaches as well. If you know this, the coaches for Baker should have been getting ready to teach him more, game plan differently with him etc…
It seems they are just having him do the same thing from last yr… that never works out…
We will see!
So you think people should wait to crown Patrick Mahomes? He was already crowned when he won league MVP. Or what about Tom Brady when he won SB MVP in his 2nd year lol…Sometimes you don’t need to wait. You can see greatness.
Because everyone is always in a hurry to proclaim “the next one”
As for the reading half the field, the Panthers did the same thing with Cam Newton. I think Cam is FAR more physically gifted than Mayfield. And he has the ability to affect games with his legs. Whats the one thing we’ve learned about Cam? He still isnt a good NFL QB. His running style has exposed him to injuries, so now he cant run, and now he is too banged up to even throw. Cam has the worst reverse pivot Ive ever seen in a QB, but his athletic talents always made up for his mechanical issues. However, now that his athletic talents have been battered, he is forced to be a QB and has had real problems in addition to now more injuries.
At some point, NFL defenses will figure you out and break you down. They will take away your first option and sometimes first two options. Its a tough league, but Ive gotta say that Mayfield is going to find himself as the definition of Not For Long if he can’t get his game up to NFL speed.
I think that given how dominant Lincoln Riley’s offenses are in college that it may be a real adjustment for his QBs at the college level. Every time I watch Oklahoma the WRs are getting several yards of separation. I don’t know much about their scheme in terms of QB reads but I think it’s evident from the production of a guy like Hurts that Riley makes it easy on the QB.
I think both Baker and Murray will be fine long term. Personally I prefer Kyler but I think both will be decent pros. I think Kyler has the greater upside though.
Right now though Baker’s confidence is shot. I do agree to some extent with the Baker apologists (PFF) that his OL is a huge problem.
Which btw, how come John Dorsey was getting all of this media love for his roster moves bc of all the star power but now that the billets are flying and it’s evident that he woefully mismanaged the offensive line none of those same media members are willing to criticize that aspect. Dorsey really messed up that aspect and it may doom the browns in a year that they easily could’ve won the North IMO. They may still but that OL is going to be problematic. I’m not sure that having Zeitler would have been enough but that trade certainly didn’t help.
When you look back at what the Browns have had on their offensive line in recent years, its incredible how much talent was there and they simply let all of them walk (or traded them). That being said, I part of Baker’s problems with pass protection…is Baker.
Steve Young was making fun of Baker before the game, and showed similar plays from Oklahoma and Cleveland. In the Oklahoma play, Steve says “look everybody is open” and then shows Baker scrambling around anyways. Then after scrambling, in what Steve Young called a completely unnecessary scramble because the ball should have been out for a short/medium completion to several open targets…Baker launches a great pass deep for a score. I think Steve’s joke was “hey look, instead of throwing to the open guys I’m gonna throw it to the one covered guy so I can make a superman play!” Then Steve brought up a similar looking play, where Baker tries to bail and run the exact same way he did in the college play. Only this time, he gets ran down quickly and smashed by several defenders. No chance to make a superman play. NFL defensive players were too damn fast, he didn’t stand a chance.
I have no idea whether Baker is missing open receivers or not. But what I have noticed watching him is he thinks he’s more athletic than he really is. He is not good enough to rely on outrunning NFL defenders, but in his mind he can. So instead of focusing on the concept that he NEEDS to get the ball out of his hands as quickly as possible, he’s in the mindset that he can hold the ball, then simply run around until he can force something to happen. And while I don’t doubt his ability to throw on the run, he’s getting hunted down alot quicker than I think he expects on alot of these scrambles and is forced into a bad position where he can’t really make an accurate throw. Which is another limitation he needs to understand. He can’t make strong, accurate throws regardless of body positioning and platform. He’s not Mahomes or Rodgers, but in his mind he can do it.
Over Rated
Typical Sophomore slump.
Baker does however have to get his head on straight and start showing the game some respect. Stop walking around with that chip on your shoulder, put twitter down and get to work. I personally think he thought he had already arrived. He’s eating humble pie right now. How he responds will determine his fate.
That’s a good breakdown of what is likely happening. I only watched the game in short spurts, but I couldn’t believe Mayfield couldn’t find OBJ or Landry breaking open quickly. Every time he dropped back it turned into a scramble drill. I find it hard to believe those two guys couldn’t break open for a split second and if Mayfield anticipated the route he could get it into a tight window.
Yeah, Wes makes some excellent points. For all of the Brees comparisons the difference in climbing the pocket is night and day.
Bosa was right. Baker played scared. He would bail the first sign of trouble.
Funny shit right here…
Sherman lied.
He first tried selling it that he didn’t shake hands before the game, and them video came out and showed that they clearly did. Then and only then did he mention it was the coin toss.
Cam is definitely a good NFL QB. He’s had too many good NFL seasons not to be considered as such. He’s hurt now and tried to play through an injury. But he’s definitely a good NFL QB.
Good? I say he’s average at best, without his size he doesn’t start in this league