Baker Mayfield re-injures his left shoulder against the Cardinals
Browns head into short work week with both running backs out and their quarterback’s left arm in a sling
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland.
After getting shellacked by the Arizona Cardinals, 37-14, the Browns approach a fork in the road in a once-promising season spinning out of control.
They’ve lost two in a row for the first time under coach Kevin Stefanski to fall to 3-3 and into third place in the AFC North division they were favored to win for the first time.
Baker Mayfield addressed the media with his left arm in a sling.
Kareem Hunt was getting treatment on a calf injury that caused him to not finish a game for the first time in his career.
And the statuses of Nick Chubb, Jack Conklin and Jedrick Wills – all of whom missed this disaster with their own injuries – are unknown.
The defense was decked with four touchdown passes for the second game in a row.
And now there’s a short turnaround to the next game Thursday night against the Denver Broncos.
“We are going to have to come out with a sense of urgency,” Mayfield said. “We are not panicking by any means. We are 3-3. Nobody makes the playoffs right now. You have to peak at the right time. We will handle this correctly. We will get better. That is just a fact.”
Mayfield vowed to play against the Broncos despite re-injuring the torn labrum in his left shoulder originally hurt in Week 2 against Houston.
Mayfield said the dislocation in his shoulder slipped out again on a non-contact play, and then it was exacerbated on a sack in the third quarter by J.J. Watt. Mayfield’s left arm was outstretched when he hit the ground hard on his left side. When the loose ball was recovered by the Cardinals, Mayfield lay on the ground for several minutes as players from both teams took a knee out of concern.
Mayfield returned to the game for the next offensive series without missing a play. But after one interception, two lost fumbles and five sacks, the cause was long lost.
It ended in the fourth quarter when his hot throw for Odell Beckham Jr. on fourth-and-4 from the Cardinals’ 7 banged off the receiver’s hands.
It was the second failed fourth-down attempt by the Browns, the first setting a tone on a Mayfield sack in the first quarter.
It was on the second one, with 12:06 to go, that Hunt suffered his calf injury away from the ball.
“It sucks,” Mayfield said. “I hurt for him. We are going to see what we are made of. Our backs are against the wall right now, and I like our chances.”
Mayfield’s bravado aside, there is nothing on the field to suggest the Browns are a playoff contender right now.
“We are a 3-3 football team, and we played like it,” said Stefanski. “We were just very, very average, and that is my responsibility to get it fixed.”
The offense was never in synch without Wills and Conklin and Chubb. And the defense, which was torched for four touchdowns by the Chargers’ Justin Herbert last week, built a deficit of 20-0 before the Browns could find the end zone.
Donovan Peoples-Jones scored both Browns touchdowns on passes from Mayfield. The second one was a Hail Mary from 57 yards on the last play of the first half on which Peoples-Jones posted up cornerback Marco Wilson just inside the goal line.
The momentum expected from that answered prayer never materialized.
Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury enjoyed this one from his great room in Arizona after testing positive for COVID-19. The architect of the Cardinals air raid offense watched MVP candidate Kyler Murray (20 of 30 for 229 yards) toss four touchdown passes – two to DeAndre Hopkins and one apiece to Christian Kirk and A.J. Green – in leading the NFL’s only undefeated team to 6-0.
The Browns helped Murray with four defensive penalties on one drive – most of them of a questionable nature. Two of them were interference calls on Denzel Ward. Tackle Malik McDowell was flagged for a face mask and an unnecessary roughness call when he knocked Murray to the ground out of bounds.
“At the end of the day, we have to find a way to overcome it and find a way to win,” Ward said. “I feel like I did my job. I was shutting my man down, but it was put in the refs’ hands. They made some calls that went the offense’s way, but you just have to play the next play.”
Myles Garrett said, “We’re not rushing like we’re supposed to, not covering like we’re supposed to. We’re not living up to who we are and the potential that we have.”
Nevertheless, Garrett projected an air of calmness and professed it a good thing the Browns have to get back on the field in four days.
“We have to wipe this one away and get back to it,” he said. “Better to get back on the right side of the column than just let it sit for another week.
“Eleven games left. We have time to be 14-3. I’m not too worried. We can go back to the drawing board, get better on defense and find our groove. We were there for two games, in a zone, and we had the wind knocked out of our sails. Same thing this week. It doesn’t define us. It’s like a boxing match. Lose a couple rounds. We’ll come back with some flurries and get the momentum on your side.”
