Monday leftovers

It sure looks as though the departure of Odell Beckham Jr. has had a profound positive effect on the way Baker Mayfield operates the Browns' offense if game one in the post-OBJ era is any indication.

Forget the statistics, which were good to begin with. What Mayfield did Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals passed the eye test with flying colors. He looked nothing like the struggling, clueless quarterback who was awful as he shepherded the offense through a rough patch that produced a 1-3 record.

Gone was the indecision. His body language shouted, "I've got this.' Just about everything flowed. The rhythm, so dependent in a Kevin Stefanski offense, was more precise than it has been in a long time as he snapped a personal three-game losing streak. 

Considering all the tumult off the field that led up to the 41-16 walloping of the Bengals, a Mayfield stickout performance wasn't among predictions for the game. Some, in fact, believed he had reached the zenith of a rapidly fading career, his numbers were so bad.

What they didn't know was Stefanski gave him a terrific game plan, one that spread the football around and left the Bengals' defense guessing most of the afternoon. After weeks of numerous three-and-outs, only one in 11 possessions.

This was the Baker Mayfield who emerged as one of the top quarterbacks in the National Football League last season and led his team to the postseason. He was the quarterback fans started believing was the one to lead the Browns to the Super Bowl.

On Sunday, he was a quarterback wearing a cumbersome harness to protect a badly injured left shoulder. But you'd never know it. He answered yet another question about how difficult it was operating with just one good arm. Has the deep ball been eliminated from the playbook as a result?

Uh, no. Not when he hoisted a football 56 yards into the air after a deft play fake and floated it parabolic fashion into the waiting arms of Donovan Peoples-Jones in perfect stride for a 60-yard touchdown strike in the second quarter to take a 21-7 lead.

It was a thing of beauty as it descended, almost as it was drawn in the playbook. It was the kind of play that not only restored whatever confidence he had lost -- or at least questioned -- during the prolonged down period, it sent a message to his teammates that the old Mayfield was back.

And now as they embark on the second half of the schedule Sunday on the road against the New England Patriots, the Browns do so with a level of confidence that had been absent for almost the entire month of October. As they say, it's not how you start (in this case a season) that counts, it's how you finish.

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Kudos to Stefanski for beautifully preparing the Browns for the game under what had to be trying circumstances with all the nonsense swirling around the offices in Berea all week long. He latched on to the team's focus and held it through the weekend.

Coaching a football team, especially one at the professional level, requires as much psychological and emotional approach as it does drawing Xs and Os on a whiteboard. Getting between the ears of the players is equally important.

Beckham was a popular player in the locker room. Because of that, the manner in which he left had to be difficult to handle for those close to him, especially Jarvis Landry. It was a delicate balancing act for Stefanski and the coaching staff to sustain the players' attention.

Obviously, it worked in what must be labeled the most important game of the season. Of course, they're all important, but this one took on much more importance because the result hinged on what direction the Browns would head following it. A loss would have dropped them to 4-5 with a very uncertain future.

The very positive outcome now propels the Browns into the second half with a renewed confidence, one that was AWOL for a month. They needed a game like that to feel good about themselves and get back on track. 

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Let's put this one to rest. No matter how Mayfield performs the rest of the season, what difference does it make that he, at least statistically, is a more efficient and successful quarterback with Beckham elsewhere in the NFL?

The point is moot. Beckham is not wearing Seal Brown and Orange anymore and is a much happier football player. Makes no difference where he plays next. It will not cast aspersions against either  Mayfield or OBJ in any way whatsoever. They now travel different paths.

All this does is prolong an argument that died the day the wide receiver and Browns reached an agreement to go their separate ways. It has been established Mayfield was not a good quarterback with Beckham in uniform. Now that they are no longer teammates, time to move on.

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Nice to see Stefanski has rediscovered Nick Chubb. For a coach who is madly in love with a balanced attack, he is reluctant to use his best running back more often in an offense designed to set up the passing game with a strong ground attack.

He's rarely going to get games out of Chubb like the one he put together in Cincinnati, running only 14 times, picking up 137 yards and scoring a pair of touchdowns. There will be games, probably like the one Sunday in New England where he won't be as effective.

Chubb's value, besides being the hardest man to bring down in the NFL, is battering defenders. The more he is used, the harder it is to stop him. He can singlehandedly wear down a defense. So by the fourth quarter, he becomes more dangerous. Running 14, 15, 16 times a game won't accomplish that. He needs more, 

We are eight games away from the finish line and Chubb, by virtue of his relatively light load this season -- only 17 carries a game -- is fresh. He averages an incredible six yards a pop in seven games. He is the kind of runner who does not require a pitch count. He needs to touch the football 25-30 times a game. 

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Finally . . . Heading into the season, Rashard Higgins was thought to be the No 3 wide receiver for the Browns after Beckham and Landry. He and Mayfield have a nice symbiotic relationship in the passing game. Not anymore. Higgins has dropped almost entirely out of sight, booking only three snaps against the Bengals, He went untargeted, Peoples-Jones now seems to be WR3 and rookie Anthony Schwartz is WR4. . . . Among the items Stefanski needs to clean up are pre-snap penalties, The Browns had five in the first half Sunday. Paying attention before the ball is snapped shouldn't be that difficult. . . . Cornerback A. J. Green was in for only seven snaps, but it was in long enough to recover a fumble by Bengals rookie receiver Ja'Marr Chase in the second quarter after a John Johnson hit, It led to one of Chase McLaughlin's  two field goals. . . .  Welcome back Andy Janovich, who exited injured reserve and had four snaps Sunday. Why is he sill on the team?