VIDEO: Baker Mayfield Defended Browns' Questionable Playcalling in Postgame Press Conference
By Thomas Carannante
The Cleveland Browns let their fans down on Sunday Night Football when they dropped a heartbreaker to the Los Angeles Rams. The playcalling was a point of contention for many, as head coach Freddie Kitchens dialed up a draw play on a crucial fourth-and-9 that failed miserably and gave the Rams key field position. Not only that, but with three timeouts and under a minute to go, the Browns passed three times in a row from inside the 5-yard line. Baker Mayfield threw two incomplete passes and an interception on that series, but he defended the playcalling and blamed himself.
Mature response from the second-year QB, and he's right about his execution. Going 18-of-36 for 195 yards with a TD and a pick is downright unacceptable. However, if he's passing that poorly, Kitchens needs to know when to take the ball out of his QB's hands and go to the run game. When you're at the 3-yard line on second down, you have to at least try one run if you have three timeouts.
It's admirable that Baker is falling on the sword here, but there's no denying there are real issues in The Land with playcalling in addition to the execution.