Mayfield carries Browns to first win since 2016
CLEVELAND — Thursday night football turned into a Baker’s Special for the Cleveland Browns.
Rookie Baker Mayfield entered for his debut late in the second quarter and brought the Browns back from a 14-0 deficit to prevail 21-17, snapping a 19-game winless streak dating back to Dec. 24, 2016 — a span of 635 days.
The top pick in this year’s draft, Mayfield went 17 for 23 for 201 yards passing and remarkably caught the two-point conversion that tied the game at 14 with 42 seconds left in the third quarter.
Mayfield entered the game late in the first half after Tyrod Taylor left the game with a concussion and the Jets ahead by two touchdowns.
He guided the Browns to a field goal on his first drive, another field goal after fellow first-round pick Denzel Ward forced and recovered a fumble, then led the Browns on a seven-play, 69-yard touchdown drive to make the score 14-12.
A successful two-point conversion came after offsetting penalties gave the Browns a second try. Mayfield lined up in the slot left. Running back Duke Johnson took a direct snap, ran right and pitched to Jarvis Landry, who threw to an open Mayfield in the corner of the end zone to tie the game at 14.
The play was similar to Philly Special, a pass to quarterback Nick Foles that the Eagles used to win the Super Bowl.
The touchdown was set up by a 29-yard pass from Mayfield to Landry that was both an excellent throw and catch. Carlos Hyde followed with a 1-yard touchdown.
After the Jets retook the lead with a field goal in the fourth quarter, another 1-yard run from Hyde gave the Browns the lead for good.
Taylor had a rough first half, as the Jets frequently had free rushers coming at him. He went 4-for-14 passing for 19 yards and was sacked three times.
On his initial NFL drive, Mayfield completed his first pass, a 14-yarder to Landry over the middle. His second was another dart, to David Njoku for a gain of 17. On his third dropback, Mayfield was sacked and fumbled, but the Browns recovered, and his fourth play was a throw over the middle to Landry for a gain of 16.
He threw incomplete on his last pass, which set up a 45-yard field goal by Greg Joseph, who was signed Monday to replace Zane Gonzalez. The field goal cut the Jets’ lead to 14-3.
Mayfield became the first of the last six No. 1 quarterback picks to come off the bench and lead his team to a score, according to ESPN Stats & Information. JaMarcus Russell, Alex Smith, Eli Manning, Mike Vick and Tim Couch all failed to score.
Cleveland selected Mayfield with the No. 1 pick in April’s draft after he won the Heisman Trophy at Oklahoma. In his senior season, Mayfield threw for 4,627 yards with 43 touchdowns and six interceptions in 14 games as the Sooners went 12-2 and won the Big 12.
