QB Baker Mayfield (10.18.20)
QB Baker Mayfield:
On his performance and if his ribs injury played a factor:
“Obviously, not good enough. I have to see (Steelers S) Minkah (Fitzpatrick) coming down in the robber coverage and helping out. I have to take care of the ball. Just did not get enough on the second interception. (WR Rashard) Higgins was open on the sidelines. I just did not get enough of it. It has to be one of those where it is him or nobody. Not good enough.”
On where the Browns stand compared to the Ravens and Steelers, given the two losses by large margins:
“We just got outplayed today. That is what happens when you do not execute. Great teams, like I said after the Ravens game, great teams capitalize on your mistakes, and they did. That is why the difference is that drastic.”
On how the injury affected him during the game:
“It did not.”
On if there was a discussion about not playing in the second half after taking a big hit to end the first half:
“I got off the ground and was ready to go. I will be alright. There was no discussion. I was ready to go.”
On not having as much protection as recent games:
“I think I have to do a better job of getting the ball out and protecting those guys. When you play a team like that, we knew that their strength was in their pass rush. We knew that. It was very apparent in watching the film. I have to do a better job of getting the ball out quicker, and we just have to execute better.”
On his performance this week after saying last week’s performance was the worst of his season:
“I do not know about the rankings and whatnot, but it obviously wasn’t good enough to win. I have to take care of the ball. Like I said, the first one, the pick-six, just have to see that coverage. I have to see Minkah. He is trying to be around the ball. They want to get him around the ball and involved, especially on third downs. Have to take care of the ball. The other one, just have to put it to where only Higgy can get it, and if not him, then it is out of bounds. A couple of basic things that I will be looking back on and need to fix it.”
On what the team did to come back after the Week 1 loss to the Ravens and how that can apply now to come back after today’s loss:
“You do not want to let it landslide. You do not want to let one [loss] turn into two. We have to learn from these mistakes, learn from this and move forward. We have another division opponent on the road next week so we need to watch this film, learn and grown from it and move forward.”
On if he wanted to stay in the game when Head Coach Kevin Stefanski took him out:
“Of course, I did. That is the nature of being a competitor. That is just who I am so yeah, but I do not make that call.”
On if he understood Stefanski’s reasoning for taking him out:
“Yeah. I am focused on the here and now, and I am thinking in the moment that I want to get out there and have some success. In his words, he has a big picture mindset so just have to roll with the punches.”
On if the Steelers losing LB Devin Bush to injury was a noticeable loss for their defense or if Steelers LB Robert Spillane did a good job filling the role:
“I am not sure the severity of the injury, but Devin is a great player. He made a lot of plays for them. That is a tough loss, but they did a good job with their other players stepping up and filling that role.”
On how he will manage getting the practice time needed while healing from his injury:
“Do the same thing I did last week – bust my ass through rehab and get physically ready to play.”
On WR Odell Beckham Jr. showing frustration on the sideline:
“We are all very frustrated. We want to win. We do not come out here just to get stats and do all that. We come out here to win. It is a frustrating loss for us knowing that we just did not play well and let a great team capitalize on all those mistakes that we made. We are all frustrated.”
On what makes the Steelers run defense so tough:
“They just fly to the ball. They play good team defense…”
On how discouraging it is that both losses came to division rivals and that they were not close games:
“Not discouraging. No matter the score, it only counts for one. The good thing is we play both those teams again and we can learn and get better. It is onto the Bengals now and we have to continue to get better.”
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