Getty Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield.
Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield hit a boiling point this week when talking to the media in advance of his team’s matchup against the Denver Broncos.
Mayfield was taking questions from reporters when a line of questioning about a drive stalling out before the half in a 27-13 loss to the Patriots set him off.
“Stop saying but,” Mayfield told the reporter Tony Grossi of ESPN Cleveland. “I just told you the clock was running and we had a penalty. You want to give them the ball back? No. You don’t play, you don’t know. That’s just plain and simple.”
Grossi followed up with, “Were you happy with that drive?”
“Was I happy with the drive? No, we didn’t score points,” Mayfield said. “That’s the dumbest question you could ask.”
Baker Mayfield got into a heated moment with a reporter and walked out of his weekly press conference. #Browns
Grossi and Mayfield have a history. The two often spar in press conferences and Mayfield and their beef goes back to before the Browns selected the former Heisman winner with the top overall pick in the 2018 draft.
“He’s usually directed some snarky responses to me, and I just decided to challenge him on this particular point because I was trying to get to the bad execution in the two-minute drive at the end of the half that could have gotten them right back in the game,” Grossi told PFT Live. “And those are the periods of games where the Browns are really failing at, pressure situations that could change the game. And so when I challenged him, he didn’t like it. And I either had to say, ‘All right, step back or try to find this answer.’ And he didn’t like it.”
But with the Browns struggling, Mayfield had simply had enough of talking about the team’s failures, his in particular. The Browns QB is tied for the league lead in interceptions (12), and holds the lowest completion percentage and QB rating in the league.
Tony Dungy: Baker Mayfield Needs to ‘Keep Anger Inside’
Tony Dungy
If Mayfield was waiting for the situation to be the underdog — which he has embraced his entire football career — now is the time to turn it around and show the stuff that help him set the rookie record for touchdown passes a year ago.
To do that, two-time Super Bowl winning head coach Tony Dungy thinks he needs to get a handle on his “anger.”
“He’s been the underdog,” Dungy told PFT Live. “He’s used that kind of chip on his shoulder his whole career. That seems to motivate him. There comes a time where you’re not going to be able to play that underdog role all the time and you’re just going to need to move forward. That’s what I would talk to him about. ‘Hey, keep that anger inside, use that as motivation, but don’t necessarily let the world see it all the time.’”
Odell Beckham has Baker Mayfield’s Back
GettyBrowns stars Odell Beckham and Baker Mayfield.
Odell Beckham is no stranger to being in beefs with the media following his time in New York. But during his first season in Cleveland, Beckham has turned over a new leaf, giving thoughtful responses and being really the ultimate team player despite a slow start.
Beckham has 34 catches this season for 488 yards and has only found the end zone once as the Browns have stumbled to a 2-5 start. He’s expressed frustration about the losing, but has never thrown his QB under the bus. In fact, he’s exclusively had his back, which happened again this week after Mayfield’s blowup with the media.
“I’m going to jump in the fire with him. I’ll be the first one,” Beckham said. “Some of these losses are on me. I need to be in the right place, the right time. I need to be better and that’s what I plan to do for the rest of the season.”
If the Browns want to turn things around, it starts on Sunday against the Broncos. Cleveland is a 4.5-point favorite against Denver, who will be running out first-time starter Brandon Allen at quarterback.
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