The NFL season has already been pretty unpredictable throughout the two weeks to the start of the third week with teams like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers shining under Ryan Fitzpatrick, the New Orleans Saints struggling, the drama surrounding the Pittsburgh Steelers franchise from all sides, and the resurgence of the Cincinnati Bengals who have been in turmoil for years.
There has also been a significant move made by Nike to make Colin Kaepernick the face of their 30th anniversary Just Do It campaign.
But the Cleveland Browns have been one of the most dysfunctional franchises in years accumulating many misses with their first-round draft picks and let's just face it, losing a lot.
So what could have been on the line for the team? A win for the Cleveland Browns in tonight's game (September 20) versus the New York Jets was on the line as the team hasn't won a game since 2016.
Inserted with an injury to starting QB
Baker Mayfield got the chance to play after Tyrod Taylor went down with an injury close to the end of the first half of the game. Taylor had a bad night as he was missing throws down the field with receivers open and taking sacks in the pocket. The offense was stagnant under his leadership as they went 3 and out plenty of times. The Cleveland Browns looked pitiful with the QB in the lineup and it would soon turn around with Baker Mayfield being inserted into the starting lineup.
Tyrod Taylor finished the night going 4 of 14 for 19 yards according to the article by NFL.com.
Baker Mayfield leads epic comeback
According to an article by NFL.com, Baker Mayfield was able to lead the Browns back to win the game 21-17 over the Jets and snap the team's "19-game winless streak." He also "led four scoring drives and finished the game connecting on 17 of 23 passes for 201 yards."
The fact is that Baker Mayfield brought his own game to the field along with his confidence and invigorating the whole team to get the win.
The Browns team looked much different with him in the lineup than Tyrod Taylor. The fact is despite Mayfield's stats being impressive for his first regular season game, they could have been even better as a couple incompletions were due to drops from different wide-receivers.
Baker Mayfield looked utterly spectacular in the game as he was throwing accurate darts all over the field to different receivers and not throwing any interceptions.
What's most impressive is how he went into the situation without even playing the whole game and still was able to win the game behind his team. But more than all of this, he really does just have the it factor to motivate and lead a team and it showed tonight.
This is not to say that Mayfield has nothing to work on though as he is still a rookie and needs to work on not fumbling the ball over getting hit in the pocket, that can be fixed over time in the league.
According to an article by ESPN: "Mayfield became the first of the past six first-overall picks to come off the bench and lead his team to a score on his first possession." His reputation follows him being the number 1 overall pick and winning the Heisman Trophy at Oklahoma.
The #1 overall pick just led the @Browns to their first points of the night.@BakerMayfield's first career drive! #NYJvsCLE #Browns
— NFL (@NFL) September 21, 2018
📺: @nflnetwork pic.twitter.com/IkadTnUsSr
The Cleveland Browns still have a long road ahead to be a legitimate contender, but the future is surely bright with their new QB, among winning their very first game since 2016 as they went winless all of last season. The city surely deserves a winning culture after countless misses with draft picks and plenty of losing that is well documented. The Browns sit at a record of 1-1-1 and are looking to make some noise throughout the league. The Browns defense looked much improved from prior years with their pick of Denzel Ward and others shining.
It is more clear that after Baker Mayfield's performance that he will be named the starter for the rest of the season and show the league why he was the number 1 overall pick. He's the real deal.