QB Baker Mayfield (9.27.20)
QB Baker Mayfield:
On what the 2-1 start means to Cleveland and having a winning record for the first time since 2014:
“First and foremost, this is a football town. They deserve to have a great franchise and a great team, but we are worried about right now. Like I said before the season started, it is about building that culture, bringing the right guys in and pushing this thing in the right direction, which is what we have been doing and we are trying to do. We have to build on this momentum and keep going one game at a time.”
On the Browns’ strong defensive performance:
“Unbelievable job by the defense today taking the ball away. I thought we could have been offensively better in the first half just doing our job. When the defense plays like that and they were able to make a play to get us field position, we were able to take advantage in the second half and we played complementary football. Up front, we did great all game long, and I could have done a better job in the first half to keep the chains moving and put us in a better position to kind of run away with that game.”
On the Browns offense capitalizing on turnovers and it being the epitome of complementary football:
“Absolutely. Anytime your defense can take it away that many times, you want to help those guys out. You want to feed off the energy, and that is what we did in the second half. Kudos to our defensive guys for taking the ball away that many times.”
On winning the turnover margin 5-0 and ending his interception streak:
“Always, taking care of the ball the most important thing. I could have played way better. I could have gotten the ball out and saved a couple of those sacks. The protection was great. I could have re-IDed the play where the intentional grounding happened and the first play coming out where I got sacked. Some things that I can be a lot better on. It was a great job by (WR) Odell (Beckham Jr.) knocking the ball down. I should have put that ball more outside and let him run under it, but we are going to take our chances on those 50-50 balls with our guys. He did an unbelievable job knocking that ball down.”
On regaining momentum on the long third down to Beckham:
“It was huge. Two of our biggest conversions came from (RB) Kareem (Hunt) doing an unbelievable job. He picked up (Washington S) Landon Collins on a safety pressure on that play and gave us a chance to get the ball in Odell’s hands. We converted that one and went on later on to score on that drive. We really need the spark, and after that, we were playing complementary football.”
On RB Nick Chubb’s performance today and his reaction to Chubb breaking long runs after several dirty runs in the game:
“He is special to watch. Both of our guys (Chubb and Hunt) are. You never want to take any of that for granted. We have special guys and we have a great offensive line. It is always fun to sit back and watch, but I have to continue to carry out my fake and expand those holes.”
On what Washington was doing in the third quarter stretch where they took the lead:
“I held onto the ball. I could not see (TE) Harrison (Bryant) on a stick route. I should have gotten the ball out and took a sack. That is completely on me, not protection. The intentional grounding one, I should have re-IDed and put us in a better position to win on that play. That is completely on me. I will take that blame, and I will get better and move on.”
On if it was difficult for the Browns to stick to the run game when trailing in the third quarter:
“No, I think when you are only trailing by a few points, you can stick to that stuff and continue to hammer the ball and trust in it that it is going to open up eventually. It is a different story when you are down a little bit more, but when it is that close of a game, it does not matter.”
On DE Myles Garrett coming up with a strip-sack in a big moment in back-to-back games:
“Big-time players, make big-time plays. We have seen that obviously, like you said, with Myles, but the whole defense, the line got after him a little bit and forced him to throw the ball earlier in some zones where he did not have time to go through his reads. Just the defense played great. Like we said, the second half, they played unbelievably and allowed us to win the game.”
On continuing to find a balance between wanting to make plays and wanting to protect the ball:
“Doing whatever it takes to win the game. Obviously, taking care of the ball, percentages show a way better chance to win the game but especially when our defense is playing like that. We have a great punter. Protecting that ball, taking check downs, playing the field position game and playing that battle and just trusting this team and this offense that we are going to chip away eventually, and trusting our defense and special teams that we are going to give them great field position to play against and play complementary football.”
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