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Baker Mayfield and the Cleveland Browns picked up their first win of the season after besting the Cincinnati Bengals 35-30 on Thursday night. However, the performance wasn’t enough to sway the opinion of one of the biggest Baker-haters out there — Fox Sports Radio host Colin Cowherd.
Mayfield completed 16-of-23 passes for 219 yards and two touchdowns. The former top overall pick looked sharp in the bounce-back effort, outside of an interception on a deep pass.
“I thought he did a nice job,” Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski said of Mayfield. “We moved the ball, he had some explosive plays. He made some heady plays on third down.”
Cowherd wasn’t as complimentary of the Browns skipper. After Mayfield and Co. pulled off the victory, Cowherd took his shot.
“Baker Mayfield, who played well, is the fourth-best QB in his division,” Cowherd wrote, ranking Mayfield behind Ravens QB Lamar Jackson, Steelers veteran Ben Roethlisberger and Joe Burrow — his rookie opponent on Thursday.
Colin Cowherd: Baker Mayfield Doesn’t Have It
Cowherd actually predicted that Mayfield would play well and the Browns would win and said he had “big money” on Cleveland. However, he managed to do so while still hammering Mayfield with criticism.
“All you Baker Mayfield fanboys — did we have a power outage in Ohio last week? Nobody tweeted me,” Cowherd said on Thursday’s show. “He’s not a No. 1 pick. He’s shorter than you want; he’s cockier than you want; he’s less accurate than you want; he’s less athletic than you want. You look around the league at the quarterbacks, he’s not a No. 1.”
Cowherd and Mayfield have had a rivalry that goes back years, with Cowherd firmly planted on the take that the former Oklahoma Hesiman winner would be a bust, or at best a reach with the top pick. Cowherd is convinced he’s won the battle.
“I’ve lost a lot of arguments, but not this one,” Cowherd said. “I’ve won. … If you are a first-round pick, you have to have something special. There’s none of that with Baker. … It doesn’t take this long.”
Joe Burrow Draws Praise From Browns After Matchup
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GettyJoe Burrow of the Cincinnati Bengals meets up with Odell Beckham Jr. of the Cleveland Browns.
Cowherd’s shot at Mayfield was as much a compliment to Burrow, who threw a whopping 61 times in the loss. He completed 37 of those passes for 316 yards and two scores.
“The hype is real with Joe,” Mayfield told reporters after the game. “Obviously, that team loves him. They follow him and he leads them.”
Browns defensive end Myles Garrett — who had a clutch strip-sack of Burrow in the third quarter — also had high praise for this year’s top pick.
“The guy is tough,” Garrett told reporters. “He took some shots and got back up. He kept his eyes downfield and he wasn’t worried about the rush. That’s better than some veteran quarterbacks. … I’m impressed with the young [fellow].”
While the praise is nice, Burrow is still in search of his first NFL win.
“Losing isn’t very fun,” said Burrow, who led LSU to a national title last season. “This might be the only time I’ve lost two games in a row. It doesn’t feel very good. … Losing is unacceptable to me.”
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