Baker Mayfield coasted with two touchdown passes on 297 yards passing in Browns' 20-6 victory over the Giants, leading to their first double-digit win season since 2007. (Brad Penner/USA Today Sports)
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland.
All day long, every team hunting the Browns in the AFC wild-card chase won.
The Titans and the Colts reached their 10th wins first. The Dolphins knocked the Patriots out of the playoffs with their ninth win. Then the Ravens rolled to their ninth win.
The screws were tightening.
Before the Browns took the field in their flexed Sunday Night Football appearance in MetLife Stadium, NBC political analyst-turned-NFL playoff analyst Steve Kornacki cut to the chase.
“If you live in Cuyahoga County, you won’t like hearing this,” Kornacki said, circling the Browns’ odds on his virtual playoff board. “If the Browns lose tonight, they fall out of the playoffs.”
Well, they didn’t.
The Browns went out and took care of business and beat the New York Giants, 20-6, with an efficient, error-free game that was over in the first half. Officially, three long Browns touchdown drives and some stout red-zone defense buried the Freddie Kitchens-Colt McCoy Giants in a snappy 2 hours, 47 minutes.
The Browns’ 10th win matched their expansion-era high in 2007. That 10-6 season fell short of the playoffs on tie-breakers. With a return trip to MetLife Sunday to play the Jets, who snapped their winless streak on Sunday, this Browns team (10-4) will be able to end the NFL-long playoff drought of 18 years with one more win.
“It is something to be proud of, but the best part is everybody in there is like ‘Yeah, 10 wins, but we are on to the next one,’” said quarterback Baker Mayfield, who continued his torrid play with 297 yards passing, two touchdowns and no interceptions.
“A notch on the belt and then move on because we are not done yet. That is the best part about this team and I keep stating it about them is they are on to the next one.”
Mayfield controlled the game with completion after completion – 27 in 32 attempts. His 84.38 percent completion mark was the third-best in Browns history. And it pushed his season 99.4 passer rating into equally rarefied air – third to only Milt Plum’s 110.4 (in 1960) and Otto Graham’s 99.7 (1953).
Mayfield missed his third consecutive 300-yard passing game when one of his last passes was completed for minus-5 yards. Facing little pressure, despite having rookie backup center Nick Harris fill in at right guard after Chris Hubbard injured his right knee on the second offensive play, Mayfield’s pinpoint accuracy and timely running accounted for touchdown drives of 75, 95 and 95 yards.
The last long drive consumed 8 minutes, 4 seconds and broke the backs of the Giants. It was good to see coach Kevin Stefanski let off the throttle and burn the clock – a strategy that he has loathed but may be needed in the playoffs.
The summary of this game can be told in the visits to the red zone (inside the 20-yard line). The Browns were 3-for-3 on scoring touchdowns and the Giants were 0-for-3. In fact, the Giants came away with only three points after losing two fourth-down gambles in the first half.
Giants coach Joe Judge called this game with his team in desperate straits, and every bold move he tried early backfired.
A game behind Washington (6-8) in the NFC East playoff race, Judge went out of character and tried to steal a touchdown on his first possession. From the 7-yard line, the Giants shifted out of field-goal formation and attempted a pass from holder and punter Riley Dixon to – say what? – center Nick Gates, who was an eligible receiver. The pass was incomplete.
After a field goal gave the Giants a 3-0 lead, the Browns pulled ahead, 7-3, on a Mayfield touchdown pass of two yards to Austin Hooper. Judge responded by eschewing another short field goal. On fourth-and-2 from the 6, Wayne Gallman was stopped by Sheldon Richardson and Sheldrick Redwine.
Mayfield’s ensuing 95-yard drive, culminated by a laser throw to Jarvis Landry from three yards, put the game out of reach. Even Cody Parkey’s missed PAT off the right upright – necessitated from 48 yards because of Landry taunting penalty – did not deflate the Browns’ call to duty on this night.
They had to sit and watch their closest pursuers win all day in their hotel rooms, but they never flinched at the prospect of losing their lead in the wild-card race.
“Never came up with anybody that I was around,” Stefanski said. “We are not really thinking about that. We are really just thinking about the team we are playing and the game we are playing. That is our focus. You are right, I was watching a lot of football, but that was not on my mind.”
Cornerback Denzel Ward, who returned with a strong performance after missing two games with a calf injury, said, “We just focus on us. Take care of our job and assignment. Not really too worried about everybody else.”
Myles Garrett, who salvaged a half-sack of Colt McCoy while laboring with continued breathing problems since his bout with Covid-19, laughed at the thought of watching the AFC teams win all afternoon.
“I didn’t see any of that, honestly,” Garrett said. “I was taking a nap, and then talking to my family on the phone. I wasn’t worried about what anybody else was doing.”
As for the pre-game hype about the ex-Browns having a Revenge Game against the Browns. A colossal dud.
McCoy (19 of 31 for 221 yards) never mounted a serious challenge after those fourth-down foibles. Safety Jabrill Peppers was a non-factor. And Giants play-caller Freddie Kitchens behaved himself and had no authority to stray from Judge’s orders.
“I talked to him post-game,” Mayfield said. “[It was] not weird. I appreciate Freddie. I continue to talk to him every once in a while. He has lost some weight. He looks good. Proud of him.”
From the opposite sideline, Kitchens probably couldn’t have helped thinking, “That’s the way it was supposed to look like last year.”