After Sunday’s loss to the New York Jets, which prevented the Cleveland Browns from securing a playoff spot, quarterback Baker Mayfield said he “failed the team” after stumbling three times.
“Pure and simple, I have to hold the damn ball,” said Mayfield, who fumbled in Cleveland’s last two plays, allowing the Jets to secure the 23-16 victory at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. “We had exactly what we needed to win this game. And I was not good enough. That’s it.”
Because of the contact of a player who tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday, the Browns had to play without their first four wide receivers. In its place, Cleveland had to rely on calls for training squad Ja’Marcus Bradley and Derrick Willies, along with Marvin Hall, who was withdrawn from exemptions earlier this month.
Without their regular recipients, including Jarvis Landry, and strikers Jedrick Wills Jr. (illness) and Wyatt Teller (ankle), the Browns fought offensively throughout the day.
Facing a stacked box as a result, running backs Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt averaged just 0.3 yards prior to contact, according to ESPN’s survey of statistics and information, and combined to end with just 39 running yards. Unable to establish the race or facilitate the action of the game, the Browns, instead, had to air with Mayfield, who ended with a record 53 passing attempts. Thirty-six of those passes went to tight finals or running backs, tied mostly by a quarterback in the past 20 seasons, according to the ESPN Stats & Info survey.
Still, Mayfield refused to use these important absences, especially on the recipient, as an excuse and carried the blame for the loss.
“Put it on me,” said Mayfield, “for not doing my job, for not playing at a high level as I should, for not putting these guys into action and finishing this game.”
Mayfield answered just one question in his post-game video, but he also spoke for almost two minutes. Before he left, he acknowledged that the Browns could still advance into the playoffs for the first time since 2002 and finally end the NFL’s longest post-season drought by defeating Pittsburgh next weekend.
“This is going to hurt for a day or two, but we have the Steelers to win and get in,” he said. “So I’m going to roll with these punches. Turn your back on the wall and we have to win to get in. You know what, this group fought today, but I didn’t do enough. I didn’t play well enough for us to win. And that’s it.”