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Monday leftovers cont’d

There is no question whatsoever the 2019 National Football League season has been an eye-opening experience for Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield and not in the way he most likely had envisioned.

The wunderkind of the 2018 season, the underdog kid from Texas who successfully transitioned to the NFL in record-breaking fashion, convinced a lot of people he was the quarterback for whom this moribund franchise had longingly yearned.

Mayfield strutted into the 2019 season as The Man, the Face of the Franchise, the face that would be proudly connected to the Cleveland Browns for who knows how many seasons. The future gleamed.

He was everywhere during the offseason. He made the “Riders Up” call to jockeys at the Kentucky Derby on the first Saturday in May. He could be seen prominently in a number of television commercials.

He made the Browns relevant for the first time since the original team was pirated out of town to Baltimore a generation ago. He put a bounce in the step of a vast majority of the fans who stuck with them. They believed the best was yet to come.

And then the Browns played the first seven games of the 2019 season, overwhelming two opponents and underwhelming the other five, two of them embarrassingly. They are winless in three home games.

The flame that burned so brightly throughout training camp is now flickering with only the hopes of a comparatively softer second-half schedule the lone mollifying factor.

Mayfield was starting quarterback No. 28 since the resurrection in 1999 and played well enough last season to believe No. 29 wouldn’t be coming along anytime soon.

As it turns out, at least based on those first seven games, he is no longer exceptional. He has become an ordinary quarterback. Barring an incredible turnaround in the final nine games, what we saw last season can now be classified an aberration.

Mayfield’s massive ego, as well as his brand, has taken some hits. He has struggled a major portion of the season in part because injuries removed tight end David Njoku and wide receiver Rashard Higgins from his gun belt.

Last season, he made throws the likes of which Browns fans hadn’t seen since the days of Bernie Kosar. When a play was needed, he made it. Tight windows did not bother him. Good things happened with delightful consistency. With few exceptions, his contributions this season have been pedestrian.

Fans, used to seeing the Browns manage to screw up things at crucial junctures of a game, kept waiting for Mayfield to look like Tim Couch, Charlie Frye, Colt McCoy, Brady Quinn, Brandon Weeden and Cody Kessler. They kept waiting for Mayfield to join the long list of failures. He didn’t and that’s what buoyed hopes for 2019.

Maybe it’s the dreaded sophomore jinx. Or perhaps it’s the Sports Illustrated cover jinx. Remember “The BROWNS Are Back” NFL Preview issue featuring Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry?

Maybe it’s because the NFL has finally caught up with him and opposing defensive coordinators figured out how to neutralize him. Then again, maybe he’s a victim of some pretty bad coaching. Perhaps a combination of both.

His brashness and hubris showed up only once this season. After the totally unexpected 40-25 thrashing of the Ravens in Baltimore in week four came this little gem from the department of wish I hadn’t said that: “A win’s great, but I hope everybody keeps the same energy. Threw us in the trash. We won’t forget it.”

Apparently they have. Consecutive losses to San Francisco, Seattle and New England have the Browns closing in on the trash heap at 2-5.. Only the total ineptitude in Cincinnati, where the Bengals are winless in eight games, prevents the Browns from regaining their annual residence as basement dwellers in the AFC North.

Otherwise, it’s been a litany of reasons (excuses?) why the Browns are not who fans thought they were.

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Looks as though it will be Justin McCray at offensive left tackle for the time being, or at least until he plays himself back to the bench with Greg Robinson retaking his position along the offensive line.

General Manager John Dorsey made no moves at the trading deadline Tuesday. He tried hard to trade for Washington offensive tackle Trent Williams, but the Redskins wanted more than Dorsey was willing to part with.

McCray, who was less than mediocre in his debut at the position last Sunday against New England, is a natural guard. At a thumbnail under 6-3, he might be the shortest offensive tackle in the entire NFL.

The failed move to pry Williams from the Nations capital falls into the category of some of the best trades you make are the ones you don’t make. Williams would have been only a palliative move that would not have helped that much.

Besides, he will be 32 years old on his next birthday. His days as one of the best offensive tackles in the NFL are clearly in the past. The Redskins wanted at least a No. 1 pick in the next college draft for him. Maybe if he was four or five years younger. That’s way too much now.

The offensive line remains the biggest problem on the Browns. Dorsey needs to take the blame for its current state. He traded away the best member of that line in Kevin Zeitler and has swung and missed in the draft and free agency.

If he takes credit for making the Browns relevant again in a short period of time, he’s got to take heat for not properly addressing this unit and protecting his young quarterback.

For years, the Indianapolis Colts failed to protect Andrew Luck and he suffered physically as a result. It caused his premature retirement. It wasn’t until the Colts used the draft and free agency to cobble together one of the best lines in the league, which has paid off handsomely the last couple of seasons.

If there aren’t at least two, better yet three, new faces on that line for the Browns next season, expect more of what you’re seeing now next season. The skilled positions are solid. Now it’s time to address the guys in the trenches.

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Have to feel little sorry for Joel Bitonio. The Browns’ left guard (and best offensive lineman) was involved inadvertently on two plays that helped the Patriots to knock off the Browns last Sunday.

On the second play of the second series of the game, Bitonio was upended by New England defensive end Kyle Van Noy while blocking for a Nick Chubb run. His right foot flew up into the air and kicked the ball out of Chubb’s hands.  It was scooped up by linebacker Don’t’a Hightower and returned 26 yards for a touchdown.

Two series later, still the first quarter, Patriots defensive lineman Lawrence Guy beat Bitonio off the snap on first down at the Cleveland 21 and blew up what was supposed to be a shovel pass to Landry on a reverse. It was picked off by Guy and returned to the 11. Two plays later, the Patriots scored again.

Two unfortunate plays for one of the best players on the team. Suffice it to say they will not take up residence in his memory bank,

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Chubb was the unfortunate victim of two fumbles against the Pats. That should not deter Freddie Kitchens and offensive coordinator Todd Monken from making him the key ingredient of a Cleveland offense that ran roughshod over a Patriots run defense that was one of the best in the NFL.

Why Kitchens benched him in the fourth quarter is puzzling. The Browns trailed by only two touchdowns at the time. The young man is a load, arguably one of the best running backs in the league. Leave him alone, Keep feeding him the football.  Now is not the time to rely on Mayfield to be the difference.

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Finally . . .  We’ll never know, of course, but wonder what would have happened had Denzel Ward picked off Tom Brady in the end zone on the Patriots’ second drive of the game. The ball slithered through his hands, setting up a field goal. It was a momentum changer. . . . Mayfield has thrown only six touchdown passes this season. Five have wound up in the hands of tight ends: Two each by Demetrius Harris and Ricky Seals-Jones and one by Njoku before he was hurt. . . . Seals-Jones was in on 31 snaps against New England and was not targeted once. Hmmmm. . . . The Browns get a break next Sunday in Denver. Broncos quarterback Joe Flacco, who used to kill the Browns when he was in Baltimore, is out indefinitely with neck problems. They will face Brandon Allen, a career backup who has never appeared in an NFL game.

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