Keeping Mayfield vertical

When the Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers get together for the 140th time in their 82-year-old rivalry Sunday on the shores of Lake Erie, the emphasis should be on the game itself. Unfortunately, that will not be the case..

This one has a subtext. It comes in the form of a quarterback for the Browns who, under ordinary circumstances, would sit this one out. What will take place, though, is far from ordinary.

First of all, there is nothing ordinary whatsoever about Baker Mayfield. He has been a lightning rod since that late April day in 2018 when the Browns stunned the world of professional football and made him the No. 1 overall pick in the college football draft.

Since then, he has become the face of the franchise. In his brief career, his highs have been nearly stratospheric, his lows plunging to depths that would damage those who have trouble dealing with failure. His resilience has no boundaries. So, it would appear, does his ability to deal with pain.

When he trots out Sunday for the Browns' initial possession of the game, he will do so with injuries that would at the very least sideline others for at least a brief period of time. It took a fully torn labrum in his left shoulder and a broken bone in said shoulder to tether him to the sidelines for last week's victory over Denver. In addition, his shoulder has popped in and out on several occasions.

All week leading up to this game, no one knew for certain whether Mayfield would miss two games in a row until head coach Kevin Stefanski, after watching him practice for three days and, presumably, with consent from the club's medical staff trumpeted his return to lead the huddle.

"He's met all the requirements medically," Stefanski said. "I feel good about that process and how that went. It's pretty simple,  . . Medically, he's ready to go. . . . Baker feels he's ready and ready to help this team win."

And how does Mayfield, himself, feel about what's going to unfold in a game where he's far less than 100% physically?  "If you go out there (and) you're scared, you're timid. That's how you really get hurt seriously, so I can't do that." 

I guess that means he was scared and timid previously because he was clearly seriously injured enough where he had to miss a game. That's how he got hurt in the first place. Scared and timid? Nah. Careless? Definitely.

Mayfield has been battered all season long. He has been sacked 18 times in six games and either hit or hurried on at least a few dozen other occasions. Part of his problem this season has been his inability to locate open receivers and extend plays with his legs, often getting trapped in the pocket.

One team that thrives on quarterbacks who lack mobility is the one coming to town to visit Sunday. The Steelers, edge rusher T. J. Watt in particular, always seem to take it to another gear for the Browns. And you can bet one of their targets -- maybe No. 1 -- will be Mayfield's left shoulder.

All it takes to exacerbate his condition is taking a shot to that shoulder or falling on it once again while attempting to escape pressure. It has happened too often for it not to happen again. That seems to the gamble Stefanski is willing to take to win.

In what ways has Mayfield protected himself? Correct answer: None. All you have to do is look at his patient chart and the only conclusion you would come to is he has learned nothing with regard to protecting himself. Not protecting himself is what got him into this mess.

Because of that problem, Stefanski, as the playcaller, will almost have to call a defensive kind of game on offense. Low-risk, high-percentage passes that leave Mayfield's hand quickly, Nothing that takes time to develop. Cater to the situation and be conservative. Counter, or at least neutralize, the Pittsburgh pass rush.

The ground game, which leads the National Football League, will take care of itself with the return of Nick Chubb and D'Ernest Johnson and be Cleveland's biggest weapon on offense.

Defensively, the job for the Browns will be somewhat easier. The Steelers, at 3-3 and coming off a bye, have had trouble scoring this season, averaging just 19 points game with season high of 27. Ben Roethlisberger, now 39, is playing like a 39-year-old quarterback unlike 44-year-old Tom Brady, who is playing like a 30-year-old quarterback.

Big Ben, who has feasted on the Browns (24-2-1) since entering the NFL, has thrown for only seven touchdown passes this season and fumbled five times, losing three. He also lost JuJu Smith-Schuster, his most reliable receiver, in week five with a season-ending shoulder injury. But he still has Diontae Johnson, Chase Claypool and James Washington, each of whom has hurt the Browns in the past.

Rookie running back Najee Harris is the Steelers' biggest threat. The dual-purpose back has totaled 632 yards from scrimmage (105 a game) on 136 touches and scored four of the club's 12 touchdowns.

Key to the afternoon for the Cleveland defense lies in the line's ability to take advantage of a mediocre Steelers' offensive line and make life miserable for Roethlisberger, likely making his final appearance in Cleveland.

The Browns have 20 sacks on the season, a robust and near-record nine coming in the Chicago victory. In four games since then, the Cleveland pass rush has mustered only eight sacks, four by Myles Garrett, who seems most of the time to be a one-man gang with 9.5 overall.

All this adds up to a low-scoring game with the Browns building a barricade around Mayfield to keep him vertical, throwing in a few play-action rollouts to keep the Steelers defense honest and mainlining Chubb and Johnson on the ground.

A couple of notes: Steelers coach Mike Tomlin is 10-4 coming off the bye week, three of those losses coming on the road. . . . And Jim Nantz and Tony Romo are doing the game for CBS. Why do I mention the latter? Because I can't remember the last time those two were in the booth for a Cleveland victory. 

So until that changes, I will continue -- regardless of the situation entering a game -- to pick against the Browns with Nantz and Romo on board. They'll be in Cincinnati, too, a week from Sunday for the Browns-Bengals game. Make it: Steelers 20, Browns 18