CLEVELAND, OHIO – NOVEMBER 01: Quarterback Baker Mayfield #6 of the Cleveland Browns (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)
Baker Mayfield needs to step his game up.
Just when it looked like Baker Mayfield and the Cleveland Browns had turned a corner and established themselves as legit playoff contenders, and Odell Beckham Jr. injury followed by a matchup in sloppy, traditional November in Ohio weather against the Las Vegas Raiders made them look completely inept on that side of the ball.
The Browns mustered just six points in a home loss to the Raiders, as Mayfield and the passing game were unable to get chunk plays down the field. Simply put, he can’t play like that routinely and expect to break the Browns’ streak of consecutive seasons without postseason football.
Baker Mayfield was great last week, but he struggled without Odell Beckham Jr.
While much was made of how Mayfield had better passing stats when Beckham was sidelined as compared to when he was on the field, the Browns offense looked totally out of sync all afternoon. Against the league’s 31st ranked defense by DVOA, putting up just six points at home is an atrocity. Baltimore, Kansas City, and Pittsburgh will not be as forgiving as these Raiders were.
Mayfield was coming off of a game in which he threw five touchdowns to beat the Cincinnati Bengals, but he looked completely out of sorts against Paul Guenther. The Browns will certainly face tougher challenges than the Raiders can provide, and they can’t rely on Kareem Hunt and an inconsistent defense to lead them to victories.
Mayfield has been good this year, and his win against the Bengals was legitimately excellent. However, Cleveland is now 5-3 in the most competitive division in the AFC. If Cleveland wants to end the postseason drought, Mayfield needs to be more than a game manager and put the offense on his back.