The Kansas City Chiefs did what they always seem to do under the best young quarterback in the game-run up and down the field, scoring points like the Denver Nuggets under Doug Moe, but the Cleveland Browns hung in there for the most part in a 37-21 loss.
With the exception of one bad pass, Baker Mayfield looked as good as he has since the Browns left Oakland as the former Sooner threw two touchdown passes and just missed a 300-yard day (297) and Duke Johnson caught both of the Mayfield touchdown throws among his team-leading nine catches to lead the Cleveland offense.
The now 2-6-1 Browns will host the Atlanta Falcons next week in what should be another test for the defense before the Browns will serve their off week.
Brownie Bits
1) Baker Mayfield played pretty well, except for his one interception where he was baited into throwing and Stephen Nelson of the Chiefs was waiting.
The Browns did what any offense that uses Baker Mayfield as its operator will have to do- subtle moving of the pocket.
I've written in the past that Mayfield isn't especially fast, but he is elusive and a moving pocket certainly helps his effectiveness.
2) Another part of using Mayfield's movement more? Better pass protection as Mayfield might have had to wriggle out of a few potential sacks (showing his ability to avoid the rush), but on the day the Chiefs would finish with just two sacks, which is far fewer than I expected considering the offensive line play over the last month.
3) I thought Greg Robinson played pretty well in replacing rookie Desmond Harrison at left tackle.
Harrison was hit Friday with an undisclosed illness and Robinson stepped in to play well.
I never understood why so many seemed to be down on Robinson, who was signed for a reserve role and wasn't being counted on to start when the Browns signed him as a free agent.
Robinson was graded as a bust after the Rams picked him second overall in 2014 and spent time with the Lions as well, but he still is just 26 and sometimes it takes a while for linemen to get it right.
I'm not saying to count on Robinson yet, but Baker Mayfield complimented Robinson's play twice at his post-game presser and it might not only help the Browns to play Robinson more, but it might help the development of Desmond Harrison too.
4) I also thought that Cleveland did a good job in making everything flow through Duke Johnson in the offense and considering the teams offensive personnel, that's the way it should be.
Johnson is the only player (yes, I remembered Jarvis Landry) that has big-play potential with each touch of the football and the Browns under Todd Haley had not used Johnson enough, so this is a strong step forward.
5) I normally don't link to the works of others in game recaps, mainly because I can do that later in the week, but I thought this was an interesting and maybe harsh take by Doug Lesmerises in the Cleveland Plain Dealer on the lack of hustle by linebacker Jamie Collins.
I'm not saying Lesmerises is wrong, because I've wondered the same about the highly paid, yet erratic linebacker, but I did find it even more interesting that this was offered by the reporter that has been the biggest supporter of deposed GM Sashi Brown, yet Collins was the owner of the largest contract that Brown dished out.
6) Denzel Ward and E.J. Gaines left the game with injuries and that made a battered Browns defense worse than it started, which wasn't that great with Damarious Randall being inactive with an injury.
However, even with those three players, the Browns were going to have trouble stopping the Kansas City passing game-Without Ward and Randall, it was darn near impossible,
7) How helpless were the Browns against the Kansas City offense?
Three of Kansas City's touchdown drives were 90 yards or longer including a 99-yard drive.
When you allow a team- any team let alone the Chiefs to move 90 yards three times for touchdowns against you, generally there is a case to be made that you barely know the questions, let alone having any answers to the offense.
8) I did like Gregg Williams going for conversions four times (Succeeding three of those).
I mean really, Williams is unlikely to receive the job for 2019, the Browns are unlikely to win more than two games tops (If I had to pick two and both are stretches- at Denver and Cincinnati at home) over the rest of the season and if they are going to win games, they need to take as many chances as they can.
I really liked that.
9) As much as I liked Gregg Williams and his gambling on fourth down, I hated going for two-point conversions after all three Cleveland touchdowns.
When you are the underdog, you need to put every point on the board that you can and even though this wouldn't have mattered a bit, had the Browns kicked the extra point in all three of those instances, two touchdowns in the fourth quarter ( I know, I know) would have won the game.
In this hypothetical, it would have taken two touchdowns and two two-pointers merely to tie.
10) This game showed the difference between second-year man Patrick Mahomes and rookie Baker Mayfield's supporting cast in both the skill positions and the offensive line, Mahomes has far more help in both than Mayfield does, so it's not hard to see that Mahomes has it easier each Sunday than Mayfield does.
However, you have to be the most extreme Mayfield fan/believer to think even with the Browns hoped for improvement that Mayfield will be the equal of Mahomes.
Mahomes, who threw for 375 yards with three scores and a late hail mary interception to end the first half, simply is a more talented quarterback than Mayfield and I'm amazed that more people didn't see it (I DID COUGH COUGH ) before the 2017 draft.
Baker Mayfield very well may be an excellent quarterback, but I don't see him ever reaching the level of Patrick Mahomes.
Back later with the weekend in boxing!
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