Browns have no plans to reserve Baker Mayfield as ailing quarterbacks remain frustrated with inconsistency

BALTIMORE – Baker Mayfield Sleeveless with his emotions, carrying the ups and downs with him during a match. On the night of Sunday, October 16, the first defeat Baltimore Raven, all Mayfield could do was shake his head.

NS Cleveland Browns national defense forced four interceptions out of Lamar Jackson, but being able to only collect 10 points against a Ravens defense was just as stifling. Cleveland’s wound was self-inflicted, the ball overturned as Jackson made three consecutive interceptions.

Having the ball on Baltimore’s 28m line with less than a minute of play in the first half, Mayfield made a mental error to equalize 6-3. Facing pressure from Odafe Oweh, the Browns midfielder tried to get away from the ball and let it slip out of his hand. Raven recovers the ball and the Browns have no points to score it.

Mayfield, clearly frustrated by the events, could do nothing but stare. Another missed opportunity on foul to capitalize on a solid defensive play – the story of Cleveland’s .500 season.

“When you play such an attacking style of play – as talented as they are – we need to play better,” Mayfield said after Sunday’s loss. “We need to play more. It’s as simple as that. We have to play complementary football to be a playoff team.

“Everybody has to do their job. Nothing more. There’s a lot of things where we’re beating ourselves up right now.”

Mayfield isn’t great by any stretch. He finished 18 of 37 for 247 yards and a touchdown with no interception, as Raven continued to send zero-pressure packets in the former No. 1 pick after keeping Cleveland’s offensive error to just 40 meter javelin – the lowest in a match under Kevin Stefanski .

Pressure was on Mayfield to commit the offence, and he couldn’t do it. Facing shoulder and knee injuries throughout the year, Mayfield insists he feels a lot better physically but the Browns still have to answer the question of whether he should play. Stefanski even questioned a reporter when asked if Mayfield should be on the bench during the bye week.

“I have to say Baker isn’t fighting – I think you all know that – but he’s ready to play and ready to help the team win,” Stefanski said. “I think we’re all very disappointed. It stings… We’re just not doing a good enough job, and that starts with me. The bottom line is, we’re in, we’re in. We’re going to look at it, we’re going to learn from it, and then we’ve got to be ready for a long run.”

The inconsistency would leave the Browns with widespread injuries and skating performances on both sides of the ball. Cleveland has yet to play a full game, but still has a spot in the AFC playoff race.

Sunday is a wasted opportunity to be one of seven teams with five games to play. The mountain will be more difficult to climb forward.

“We didn’t put the weeks together in a row,” Mayfield said. “I think it’s just the realization of ‘hey you know, it doesn’t have to be a totally feel-good session here.’ We need to correct those mistakes and we know they are there.

“If we go into (a game) with that confidence – and we showed a little bit of that tonight. We just have to capitalize.”