Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield might have saved his strongest delivery for Sunday’s post-game.
Moments after throwing a game-sealing interception with 1 minute, 9 seconds left that gave the Kansas City Chiefs a 33-29 win over the Browns in the season opener, Mayfield quickly made sure that his teammates kept the sickening loss in perspective.
When he entered the locker room, Mayfield overheard some conversations and noticed some of his teammates either shaking their heads or hanging them — that is when he stepped up.
Photo: AFP
“We should have won that game,” Mayfield said he told them. “But there’s 16 more... Be critical of yourself — absolutely should be, and I’ll be damned if we’re not, because we expect to go in there and win — but there are also more opportunities. So you have to roll with the punches, face adversity. How do you handle it — this one should sting and you need to learn from it, because we had that game and we got to close it out.”
The message resonated with running back Nick Chubb, whose momentum-swinging fumble in the third quarter contributed to the Browns blowing a 12-point halftime lead and failing to put away the reigning AFC champions.
“I was thinking, like, the season was over again, because that’s how it ended last year,” Chubb said on Wednesday, recalling his feelings following Cleveland’s 22-17 playoff loss to Kansas City in January. “I had to take a second, step back and realize we have 16 more to go.”
“So it’s not the end of the world. We did lose, but we can correct some things. Me personally, I can correct a lot of things and we can go from there,” Chubb said.
As the Browns are moving forward toward Sunday’s home opener against Houston, there is still some reflection going on after not finishing off the Chiefs.
For Mayfield, that last, forced pass seemed to eclipse all of the good ones that he made in a duel with Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
Mayfield was poised to lead the Browns to a comeback win, but came up short. On first down at the Chiefs’ 48, Mayfield moved up in the pocket to avoid a sack and, as he tried to throw the ball out of bounds, safety Daniel Sorensen wrapped up his legs.
Mayfield’s throw was short and an easy pick for cornerback Mike Hughes.
A tough self-evaluator, Mayfield said that he is hardest on himself for his late-game mistakes.
“It’s critical situations,” he said. “Those are the moments where you look back and everybody’s going to remember that last play and that can be the difference.”
“Just try and find a way to not have a negative play,” he added.
‘EVERYONE SAW’: The visitors were left fuming after Jules Kounde was fouled by Claudio Echeverri in the buildup to the winning goal and it went unpunished Spanish champions Barcelona on Monday fell to a damaging 2-1 defeat at Girona to leave them trailing Real Madrid by two points at the top of La Liga. Los Blancos beat Real Sociedad on Saturday to overtake the Catalans and Hansi Flick’s side could not defeat Girona in an gripping derby clash to reclaim the lead. Teenage star Lamine Yamal missed a penalty for Barcelona, who took the lead through defender Pau Cubarsi just before the hour mark. However, goals from Thomas Lemar and Fran Beltran helped Girona, 12th, mount an impressive comeback. “In the end Girona deserved it, they had a lot of
A dominant Cade Cunningham on Thursday scored 42 points as the NBA-leading Detroit Pistons swatted aside the New York Knicks 126-111 on the NBA’s return from its brief All-Star Game break. Billed as a must-watch clash between two Eastern Conference rivals each in red-hot form, the game at Madison Square Garden became an exhibition for Cunningham, who also provided 13 assists and eight rebounds. The 24-year-old burnished his credentials as a Most Valuable Player contender, helping a young, surprise-package Pistons side to improve the best record in the entire NBA this season so far, to 41-13. After the game, Cunningham said that he
Amanda Anisimova on Monday was handed a walkover into the last 16 of the Dubai Open after her opponent Barbora Krejcikova was forced to withdraw from the WTA 1000 event. The American second seed enters the round-of-16 against Janice Tjen without swinging a racket as two-time Grand Slam winner Krejcikova pulled out due to an issue with her left thigh. They became the seventh and eighth players to pull out, a list that includes the world top two Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek. Tjen booked her meeting with Anisimova thanks to a 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 win in her round-of-32 match against 2021 US
Amanda Anisimova on Thursday ended a tearful Mirra Andreeva’s Dubai title defense with a comeback 2-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7/4) victory in the quarter-finals. The second-seeded American trailed fifth seed Andreeva by a set and a break before rallying to complete a 2 hour, 38 minute win. She booked a place in the semi-finals of a WTA 1000 event for the fourth time in her career. “I was almost in tears there at the end,” Anisimova said. “It made me emotional seeing her like that. I feel we both won today.” Anisimova was to face fellow American Jessica Pegula, who beat Denmark’s Clara Tauson 6-3,
RSS