Even though they held a 14-point lead in the second half and an eight-point lead in the final minutes, the Browns lost to the Raiders on Sunday for a multitude of reasons. The officials bungled two late calls that went against the Browns. Baker Mayfield threw an interception on a potential game-winning drive at the end of regulation. And the Browns' pass catchers dropped nine passes by Hue Jackson's count.
Nine dropped passes is too many for any receiving group, especially for one that touted itself as the best receiving group in football before the season. Their rookie quarterback, though, is here to bail them out.
According to Mayfled, those nine dropped passes were his fault.
"I have to put it in a better spot," Mayfield said, per Cleveland.com's Mary Kay Cabot. "I think that I can put it more in their chest, more on their eyes and make it easier for them to catch. We just have to be more detailed.
"I keep saying it, but when you are playing on turf like that, it is a little more slippery. You have to have your shoulders over your toes when you are cutting. You have to do the right things. We talked about it. We just all have to be more detailed when it comes to stuff like that."
Generally speaking, Mayfield's not entirely wrong Obviously, what he's doing is taking the blame and accepting responsibility for his teammates' mistakes, because it's what teammates, coaches, and fans expect of franchise quarterbacks. But he's not wrong about ball placement. There's more to accuracy than just getting the ball to a receiver. The difference between a five-yard gain and a 25-yard catch and run is often ball placement. A quarterback's job isn't to just get the ball to a receiver. It's to get the ball to his receiver in the best possible way.
But Mayfield's wrong about what happened on Sunday. Again, he's taking the blame the way all quarterbacks should. He was never going to go up there and scold his teammates for letting him down. But that's exactly what they did on Sunday. After re-watching the game, it's clear who deserves the blame.
This is on Jarvis Landry, not Mayfield:
This is on Rashard Higgins, not Mayfield:
This interception is on Antonio Callaway, not Mayfield:
This failed two-point conversion is on Callaway, not Mayfield:
This is on David Njoku, not Mayfield:
I could keep going, but for the sake of this article being able to load, I'll stop there. Let's just say that this final image of Duke Johnson giving Mayfield a thumbs up and shaking his head after he dropped a screen is the best way to sum up their performance.
What's impressive is that Mayfield still managed to throw for 295 yards and two touchdowns in his first-ever NFL start, which came on the road. He, like his teammates, made some mistakes along the way. But it's difficult to find much to complain about in terms of his performance. He put the Browns in a position to win a road game. That's quite the accomplishment considering the Browns have won two total football game since the beginning of the 2016 season.
All rookie quarterbacks make mistakes. They all endure growing pains. It's up to Mayfield's teammates and coaches to make his process of development as easy as possible. On Sunday, they failed to do that. If anything, they made it even more difficult than it already is.
