QB Baker Mayfield (9.13.20)
QB Baker Mayfield:
On the loss:
“It’s a tough one for us. To come out the first drive and have a little bit of momentum going, (Ravens DE) Calais (Campbell) made a couple of good plays, knocked a couple of balls and they get an interception. Have to take care of the ball, I know that. We were still in that game. I thought we shot ourselves in the foot, but a great team like the Ravens is going to capitalize on all of your mistakes. We saw that in person today.”
On struggling to get on the same page with WR Odell Beckham Jr.:
“A few of those times where I did target him, there were some defensive penalties so that had something to do with it, but I have to be better and give him a chance on some of those things. Like the free-play late in the game, just give him a chance. He is a great player so I just need to give him a chance.”
On confidence the Browns can rebound from this loss:
“I just think the makeup of this team, there is a different attitude about it. We are going to watch the film and get it out of our system. That is the good thing about having a short week. We don’t have to dwell on it. We will watch it, realize where we went wrong, correct those mistakes and move onto Cincinnati. We don’t have a lot of time to dwell on the negative things.”
On all three phases not producing today:
“I would say just the momentum, the good teams, they don’t let one mistake turn into a bunch. They don’t let it kind of go throughout the whole team. They can nip it in the bud, move forward and fix their mistakes. We can do that. We know that. We practice on doing those things. We just have to be better next time. There is no way around it and no excuses. We just have to be better.”
On if the lack of preseason games impacted the team today:
“Even those preseason games, you are not getting the full looks and all that. I wouldn’t say that is the complete factor in this one. We just came out and didn’t play very well. The Ravens were the better team today and capitalized on all of our mistakes.”
On how the Ravens’ continuity played a factor in today’s result, given the Browns’ new offensive and defensive systems, as well as new personnel:
“You can tell they have been together for a while, but I still wouldn’t say that our new system is an excuse. We know what we have to do. We had the gameplan and everybody knew their job. We just have to go out there and execute it.”
On how he felt the Browns offense was working together with Head Coach Kevin Stefanski calling the plays and if the team was able to establish a rhythm at times:
“I thought we got into some rhythms in little spurts during drives, but then a negative play would happen and we could not overcome those. The great teams do overcome those negative plays or they save the downs and move forward.”
On the Ravens scoring on their last drive of the half to go up 24-6 following the Browns missing a FG:
“That is something all teams talk about is that they call it double-dipping – you score right before the half, and if you defer, then you get the ball after the half and you score again. The percentages on if you score both times and you actually double-dip of winning or extremely high. That actually happened to us last year at home when we played them for the second time. They are a great team. They capitalized on our mistakes and played really well today.”
On what gives him the confidence that the Browns can still be the team he believes they can be after today’s result:
“Sometimes a wakeup call is pretty good for everybody – a nice punch in the mouth, and that is how we should take it. We should not dwell on it, realize that we just got beat today, they played better than us, look at it, get better, move on and go play the Bengals. That is all we can do.”
On how tough it was seeing T Jedrick Wills Jr. leave due to an injury in his first game:
“I thought protection for the most part was great all day long. I thought Jedrick played well. I do not know much about it so I will wait to hear and find out, but proud of Jedrick and how he played.”
On the importance of being able to bounce back after opening the season with a loss:
“It is extremely important, especially a short week with another division opponent. These ones are always extremely important so we have to treat it as such. We will be ready for Thursday night.”
On yesterday’s statement and his decision to not kneel during the national anthem and if he was proud of how the team handled pregame:
“Like I said, I respect all of my teammates’ decisions. We talked about it, we had discussions and we are all on the same page. We are in this together in showing solidarity to try and unite instead of divide. It does not matter what decision any of our teammates make, that is just what I personally said and that is the way I wanted to say it. While we are on that topic, the name of had in the back of my helmet today was Julius Jones. A very sad story. A guy who is wrongfully incarcerated in the state of Oklahoma. I tried to represent him today for justice for Julius. I hope I spread that message and I continue to do so.”
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