Magnificent Mayfield

Every once in a while in sports, a statement game arrives and grabs your attention immediately. Baker Mayfield, in a tour de force performance, crafted one for the record books Sunday in Cincinnati.

Against odds that would have humbled many of the great quarterbacks in National Football League history, Mayfield sneered at critics sniping at him recently and proceeded to play the game of his professional career en route to a hard-to-believe 37-34 comeback victory over the Cincinnati Bengals.

His 24-yard touchdown pass to rookie wide receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones with just 11 seconds left in regulation was the icing on a five-touchdown cake for the third-year quarterback, a back-shoulder throw that punctuated an historic day of throwing with a stunning exclamation point as the Browns moved to 5-2.

Mayfield completed 21 straight throws at one point, obliterating the club record of 16 held jointly by Kelly Holcomb and Bernie Kosar. He also joins Derek Anderson, Brian Sipe, Bill Nelsen, Frank Ryan and Holcomb as the only Browns quarterbacks to throw five touchdowns in a game.

His only incompletion was a spike -- even that was flawlessly executed -- during the winning drive just before he and Peoples-Jones broke the hearts of Bengals fans.

Mayfield stared the distinct possibility of losing squarely in the puss after the Bengals took a 34-31 lead with just 66 seconds left in regulation and working with no timeouts. He snarled as if to say, "This one isn't over yet."

The Cleveland offense operated the entire game with only three wide receivers after Odell Beckham Jr. left and did not return after injuring a knee while tackling Darius Phillips, who had picked off Mayfield's first pass of the afternoon on the second play of the game for the Browns.

Rashard Higgins and Peoples-Jones, more familiar with the bench than the playing field this season,  stepped up big time in his absence, especially in the Browns' 27-point second half. Higgins made one big-time play after another (five receptions for 100 yards in the second half) and Peoples-Jones, used mainly as a blocker early, contributed three grabs for 56 yards and the game-winner. 

Higgins, in particular, was the main catalyst, reprising his role as one of Mayfield's favorite receivers (remember 2018?) down the stretch as the Bengals never found a way to shut down the oncoming  Cleveland train. 

Mayfield's performance was reminiscent -- and then some -- of his rookie season when he tossed an NFL rookie-record 27 scoring passes. His resumé has taken well-deserved severe hits since then with questionable quarterbacking and many pundits wondering whether the old Baker was merely an aberration.

The Browns opened feebly on offense with just 19 yards on 11 plays on the first three possessions and, as it turned out, the lone Jamie Gillan punt of the afternoon, This one was getting away in a hurry. It sure looked a lot like the offense that staggered all afternoon against Pittsburgh a week ago.

By then, Browns fans no doubt begged silently for head coach Kevin Stefanski to tether Mayfield to the bench and replace him with Case Keenum while there was still an opportunity to complete a season sweep of the Bengals That's when Mayfield magically turned into an entirely different quarterback.

The defense, meanwhile, had held Cincinnati quarterback Joe Burrow in check in the first half, trailing by just seven at 17-10. The rookie, who threw another 47 passes in this one after hurling 61 in the first meeting in week two, would pick it up in the final 30 minutes.

So would Mayfield, whose assault on the accuracy meter in the final two quarters had to stun those who believed his gunslinger days were stuck somewhere in the rearview mirror. 

He finally began to heat up on the Browns' only possession of the second quarter, racking up more yards (70) and running as many plays (11) as he had in the first three drives, connecting with Harrison Bryant on the first of his two scoring connections with the rookie tight end. 

Little did he, Stefanski, the Bengals and Brown fans, who earlier longed for Keenum, realize the best, the very best of Baker Mayfield, was lurking ominously as the game wore on.

It eventually became a scoring extravaganza, especially in the fourth quarter. Back and forth they went. All offense. No defense. Punters for both teams might as well have taken the rest of the afternoon off in the final quarter with 35 points appearing on the scoreboard.

Mayfield, 17 of 18 for 252 yards and a quartet of touchdowns after the intermission, began his near-flawless second half with scoring throws to Bryant in the third quarter and fellow tight end David Njoku and running back Kareem Hunt in the fourth quarter before launching his game-winning drive.

It reached the point as time wound down where you figured the team that last owned the football -- they combined for 864 total yards on offense -- would win this one. And when Burrow hit Giovani Bernard with a little flare in the right flat 66 seconds remained, that team was the Browns.

In some circles, 66 seconds move quickly, almost too quickly particularly with no timeouts. Not to Mayfield. Not on this day. The way he was throwing and moving the football, the game definitely had slowed down for him.  

Sideline completions to Peoples-Jones, playing more like a veteran than a rookie, for 13 yards and Higgins, rolling untouched out of bounds smartly to stop the clock after an eight-yard grab, set up a 30-yard Mayfield-Higgins hookup at the Bengals' 24.

Then came the payback, Peoples-Jones establishing position on the smaller Phillips, who had swiped Mayfield on his first pass of the game so very long ago, cradling the back-shoulder throw in his arms while landing and then rolling out of bounds in the end zone.

No one saw this kind of performance coming. It was enough to shut up those -- yours truly included -- for at least the time being. Mayfield had, indeed, become the quarterback Browns fans enjoyed in 2018. 

His statement? "I'm back." Hard to argue after what we all saw Sunday.