Getty Jarvis Landry battles for a ball against the Seahawks.
The start of the year has not been kind to Baker Mayfield and the Cleveland Browns.
The second-year quarterback — who was considered a preseason MVP candidate by some — has had a rough go through the Browns’ first six games. Mayfield leads the NFL with 11 interceptions this season and has tossed 25 turnovers since he came into the league as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 draft.
Mayfield is coming off his second three-interception performance of the season against the Seahawks, adding fuel to the deluge of criticism he has received early on this season.
But despite his interception numbers going up and the wins not, the team has continued to have Mayfield’s back as he works through his sophomore slump.
“I think each and every interception has its own story,” Browns head coach Freddie Kitchens told reporters on Monday. “I want Baker to continue to work to make better decisions. Then we need to work around him to make sure we’re where we need to be. Quarterback play is dictated by people around him being on same page.”
Browns Wide Receiver Jarvis Landry Defends Baker Mayfield
GettyCleveland Browns Jarvis Landry and Baker Mayfield.
What hasn’t helped Mayfield’s cause is his wide receivers have a case of the drops, and sometimes — even worse — deflections. At least three of his recent interceptions have come when a wide receiver bobbled a ball and it popped right in the hands of a defender.
This interception shows up on Baker Mayfield’s stat line. But Antonio Callaway is the one to fault here. Gotta catch that.
Browns Pro Bowl wide receiver Jarvis Landry stepped up in his press conference on Monday saying that he and Odell Beckham Jr. have to catch everything that comes their way, regardless if Mayfield’s is putting it in the perfect spot or not.
“Any ball thrown our way, it’s a good ball,” said Landry. “We’ve got big hands, so it doesn’t matter how hard the ball is coming. We’ve just to make the play. We’ve got to find ways to make the tough plays, obviously the easy plays that everybody knows we can make, but also making the tough plays. They’re not always going to be pretty, and we’ve got find ways to help our man out.”
Jarvis Landry Knows Doesn’t Expect People to Bet on the Browns
GettyJarvis Landry and Rashard Higgins.
Landry didn’t make any qualms about the Browns bandwagon getting a little emptier after their 2-4 start. After all, the Browns went from an early Super Bowl contending darling to facing an uphill battle to even make the playoffs. Their Super Bowl odds are +5000 — worse than both the Steelers and Ravens.
And with the undefeated Patriots up next after the bye, Landry isn’t expecting anyone outside their locker room to have the belief that that they can get the win against the defending Super Bowl champs.
“I think at this point nobody is going to pick us to beat anybody,” Landry said.
Landry continued, “For as long as I remember, there was always the phrase that talent wins games, teams win championships. No matter who’s on paper, it really doesn’t mean anything when you step out there. I’ve played on talented teams and we’ve won nothing, and I’ve played on teams that we were disciplined, accountable, we had a team full of leaders — my only playoff team.’’