Mayfield finished the afternoon with 297 yards passing with those five touchdowns to four different receivers.
Rookie tight end Harrison Bryant caught two of those scoring passes and Rashard Higgins grabbed all six of the passes thrown to him for 110 yards.
Kareem Hunt led the Browns in rushing with 76 yards in the victory that boosted the Browns to 5-2 on the season and in playoff contention.
Cleveland will host the 3-3 Las Vegas Raiders next Sunday before their bye week
Brownie Bits
1) Before I start on the win, the Browns announced on Monday that Odell Beckham tore his ACL while attempting a tackle on Baker Mayfield's first-quarter interception and will miss the rest of the season.
I know how it seems like Baker Mayfield has been chemistry with other receivers and it may be so to an extent, but I also know this- this team doesn't have a deep threat on the roster without Odell Beckham other than the still-raw Donovan Peoples-Jones and as opponents realize this, the underneath throws to Jarvis Landry and Rashard Higgins will be contested more and more.
2) On to Baker Mayfield, who missed on his first five passes, his first was intercepted on the play that ended the season of his star receiver, and generally looked terrible in the first quarter.
As people such as myself were going crazy with his poor play (although I did criticize him on Twitter, I didn't call for Case Keenum as many did), the Browns started their first possession in the second quarter and...
3) That Baker Mayfield left the building, replaced by this other guy that resembled the player that finished the 2018 season.
The quarterback that arrived would complete every pass that he threw for the remainder of the game with the exception of one clock spike and would throw the game-winner with seconds to play.
That Mayfield played with confidence, put the ball on a line, didn't hang his receivers out to dry, and generally looked like a quality NFL quarterback.
Kevin Stefanski didn't ask him to make long downfield throws and maybe that could be the key to success for Mayfield, but I don't think you could ask for more than what the Browns got from their quarterback in the final three quarters.
4) All of that said, it's not unfair to say we still need to see a body of work.
Baker Mayfield's career passing rating against the Cincinnati Bengals is 111 and in all other games, his rating is 83.
That doesn't' mean that it will remain that way, it just states what has been to this point.
The schedule plays to his advantage with an erratic (much like the Browns) Raiders team next before games against weak sisters Houston and Philadelphia with all three games in Cleveland followed by a visit to one win Jacksonville.
It's not out of the question the Browns could be 9-2 or at least 8-3 going into Tennessee without a true test other than maybe the Raiders and we won't know that much more about Baker Mayfield's future than we do today.
5) Rashard Higgins, the most popular player in Cleveland, steps in and finishes with over 100 yards with two of the biggest catches of the game.
Higgins digging a low pass from the grass only gained eight yards, but Higgins managing to get out of bounds was a huge play in saving time and his following catch for thirty more yards put the Browns in a spot to throw more than a Hail Mary to score.
I recently wrote that everyone loves Higgins except several coaching staffs who try to avoid using him at every turn.
Perhaps now, Higgins can have some of the respect he deserves.
6) Donovan Peoples-Jones did make an excellent catch on the game-winning touchdown, but there was a little bit of luck involved as the ball literally passed between the arms of Bengals defensive back Darius Phillips.
I'll take the luck this time, but Peoples-Jones, for now at least, is the major deep threat on the roster and he'll need to continue his development.
7) Austin Hooper missed the game after an emergency appendectomy on Friday, but the Browns did not miss him as much as they could have with Harrison Bryant catching two touchdowns and David Njoku catching another.
I really like Bryant and the Browns might have found themselves an excellent tight end.
8) Myles Garrett continued his display of dominance with two sacks, a forced fumble on Joe Burrow, and has sacked a quarterback in six straight games, which established a team record.
9) Denzel Ward had an excellent game covering A.J. Green, but the safety position is going to kill this team (like it has done several times) if Andrew Berry doesn't step up and get someone that can play safety.
Eric Reid is a Pro Bowl level safety that is available for nothing but money and the Browns would be well served to give him a call.
10) The Browns still almost lost this game after all that- Watch the Hail Mary and after the tip drill started, the ball was going straight to A.J. Green but bounced off the chest of Sheldrick Redwine.
For all of the excitement of this game, it almost added even more.
11) The injuries are piling up on offense.
Their top running back is gone as is the only deep threat in the passing game and although the schedule will help with the next four games against one team at .500, can you rely on Baker Mayfield to outscore all of these teams without his two biggest weapons?
We shall see.
12) And can you outscore EVERYONE, even the bad teams?
Let alone the good ones?
It makes me think that although this team has improved, can they take the step forward by beating all the teams they should and do it with all offense?
13) Winding up with this- I always remember Dick Vermeil, back when he coached the Eagles, discussing the Miracle in the Meadowlands and what he was thinking before the famous Herman Edwards recovery and touchdown.
Vermeil was thinking about the game, but what he said was his thoughts were about his program.
In 1978, the Eagles were in their third year under Vermeil and his thoughts were about the foundation of the Eagles being the domination of the New York Giants and how that was slipping away before that fumble.
The Steelers and Ravens have that feeling with the Browns- they will bully them, beat them, and even when they play them close that they will find a way to win and the Browns know it.
Perhaps Kevin Stefanski has begun the foundation of his program with the domination of the Cincinnati Bengals?
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