Editor's note: Tony Grossi covers the Cleveland Browns for ESPN 850 WKNR.
On the field, the Browns had fun.
They were never stressed by penalties or bad calls or pressure field-goal tries or an overtime period staring them in the face. This was a walk in the park like they haven’t enjoyed in four years.
They put together their most complete victory since the first year of the Mike Pettine administration, 28-16, over an Atlanta Falcons team that had won three in a row but never plays well in the cold.
They forced Matt Ryan to throw 52 passes and only seven found the hands of franchise receiver Julio Jones. It was a triumph for cornerback T.J. Carrie, who covered Jones most of the game and also forced and recovered a fumble by receiver Mohammed Sanu. They had one goal-line stand, stretched Ryan to fourth down on another, and produced two fumbles for 25 defensive takeaways through 10 games.
In the locker room, they joked and laughed and peeled away layers of frustration and angst from the dysfunction that has stifled them since first revealed in Hard Knocks.
And the ringleader was Baker Mayfield.
“Just cut it loose and play,” interim coach Gregg Williams had instructed the rookie quarterback during the week.
Mayfield did that on the field and off.
He nearly pitched a perfect game – 17 of 20 for 216 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions, no sacks, and passer rating of 151.2 out of a possible 158.3.
And in the aftermath, Mayfield tossed around one-liners with the same aplomb.
Asked to describe his view of Nick Chubb’s franchise-record 92-yard touchdown run, Mayfield said, “It was a great handoff. Other than that …”
Chubb’s TD run, on which he accelerated through a second and third gear, separating from flailing would-be tacklers like a 227-pound physical runner isn’t supposed to do, highlighted a career-day for him against his home-state team. Chubb finished with 176 yards on 20 attempts and added a 13-yard touchdown reception. His 92-yard run wiped Bobby Mitchell’s 90-yarder in 1959 off the record books.
On the surprise use of the wishbone formation for one series by coordinator Freddie Kitchens, Mayfield cracked with a snarky tone, “It was something, wasn’t it?”
On Thursday, Kitchens actually foretold the use of the three-back backfield when he answered a question about where he’d like to take the offense over time.
“I eventually want to get to the wishbone,” he said with characteristic deadpan.
“You’all thought he was joking. It was no joke,” said running back Duke Johnson.
The Browns went to a full-house backfield of Chubb, Johnson and Dontrell Hilliard on their third possession. The Browns churned up 42 yards on six plays, and then Kitchens got a little too cute.
Hilliard took a handoff and Mayfield slithered into a pass pattern around the unsuspecting edge of the Atlanta defense. Hilliard then tossed up a pass for Mayfield that was intercepted by a Falcons safety.
Continuing the fun in his post-game interview, Mayfield said, “I envisioned myself catching a one-handed pass over somebody. Something spectacular like that.”
Seriously, though, “It could have been a great play. It was taking a shot. You have to take your shot plays within a game.”
That wasn’t the only one. Kitchens called a direct snap to Chubb earlier on third-and-1 with Mayfield walking toward the Browns bench in feigned confusion.
“If it works, nobody really questions it and they are like, ‘Wow, that is a great scheme. Great timing for it,’” Mayfield said. “You just throw mixes in there so you break your tendencies a little bit and do certain things to try to find an advantage.”
In truth, Mayfield’s sharp, accurate, decisive throwing was more encouraging in the long run than Chubb’s breakaway running and Kitchens’ creativity.
He connected with nine different receivers over his first 12 passes. He was 13 of 13 before his first miss – a throwaway. He hit Rashard Higgins for a 28-yard touchdown while running from pressure from tackle Grady Jarrett, showed growth in checking down to Chubb on one occasion rather than forcing a deep ball that was called, and tossed a 13-yard TD to Chubb camping in zone after faking two handoffs and looking off a safety to the left corner of the end zone. Johnson also took an underneath throw into the end zone from 11 yards.
Over the last four games, Mayfield has nine touchdowns v. two interceptions and a rating of 104.6.
When Mayfield was asked whether he could tell in warmups that he would have a hot hand throwing the ball, he thought a second and quipped, “No. Warmups, not really. But when I woke up this morning I was feeling pretty dangerous.”
Care to expand on that?
“I just woke up feeling pretty dangerous.”
The win was the first for Williams as interim coach and improved the overall record to 3-6-1. At the end of the day, you couldn’t help but think of all the missed opportunities in the first month of the season when the Browns blew real chances to be 4-0.
Williams deferred credit for his first win to the players and assistant coaches who “hardly had any sleep this week.”
They won’t get as much time off as the players during the team’s bye week, but it will be easy to live with this win as players disperse for a few days.
“This right here is the confidence that we have a long way to go yet and we have [six] more games to play,” Williams said. “They need to get fresh. They need to get rested. They need to get clear minds and get ready for the long haul when they get back.”
Maybe there are a few more fun days like this one still to come.