Listening to Baker Mayfield, it Sounds Like the Patriots Broke the Browns

Source - Baker Mayfield was frustrated with the Browns’ mistake-filled performance coming off the bye, including three turnovers and 13 penalties in the 27-13 loss to the Patriots.

“It’s just undisciplined; guys not being focused on doing their job,’’ the quarterback said after the loss that dropped the Browns to 2-5. “It starts first and foremost with me, to be a leader every single down. Get our guys lined up, make sure that we’re set, we’re paying attention because if we can’t use cadence we’re hurting ourselves.’’ …

“Any time we try to use a double-count, it seems like we’re false starting a little bit, but we’ll get the discipline part fixed, the accountability,’’ Mayfield said.  …

“I wish I could put my finger on one thing because I’d do everything I could to get it fixed,’’ he said. “I just think everyone has to be singularly focused on doing your job, not worrying about what’s going on on the outside. We have to be willing to sacrifice the ultimate price to get to what we talked about preseason, our ultimate goals. We have to be able to sacrifice stuff each and every day: time, focus. It’s going to be a long stretch, but our guys are capable of doing that, and so it’s my job to make sure we do that each and every day.”

Ouch. If you have even a drop of the Milk of Human Kindness in your soul, you’ve got to feel for Baker Mayfield right now. It can’t be easy be in his shoes today. And I’m referring specifically to his literal shoes. Not his metaphorical ones. And not the shoes custom made of goat hair that his very high priced receiver talent handed to Tom Brady as Mayfield was standing there awkwardly waiting to congratulate him:

Giving us the best physical expression of jealousy since Distracted Boyfriend:

So pity him and the poor, hapless Browns. It was all supposed to be so easy for them this year. The roster was loaded with highly selected, blue chip talent, expensive acquisitions and solid veterans. And the team surrounded Mayfield with the iron pyrite of every badly run football franchise: Weapons. Those dangling shiny things that desperate GMs who are in over their heads think you need in order to win in 2019, despite the fact that the 2015 Broncos and ’08 Steelers are really the only team in this 21st century to win a Super Bowl with elite, highly drafted, big money wideouts.

The Browns gave their franchise guy all things he could possibly need to finally bring some respectability to this accursed team. This expansion team that was given the name, the colors and the history of one of the most storied franchises in all of sports, and in doing so became an affront to the eyes of the Lord. And in His displeasure, has forced them to wander in the NFL wilderness since their inception. And now they’re 2-5 and it’s over before it even began. It’s truly, truly sad.

On the other hand, Mayfield can take comfort in knowing that the Browns are not the first Next Big Thing to be put in their place by the One True Dynasty. The Patriots have been destroying challengers to their throne since the Greatest Show on Turf Rams. They never recovered from having their back-to-back dreams ripped out of their souls. Neither did the 2013-14 Legion of Boom Seahawks. The 2016 Falcons are hollowed out shells of themselves already, wandering the earth at 1-7 like the undead. The Rams are in 3rd place and looking like they might not even make the playoffs. And you can’t have watched that Chiefs team last night and not come away convinced the Pats did some serious, lasting damage to them.

Again, it’s sad. As everyone keeps telling C in “Bronx Tale,” the saddest thing in life is wasted talent. And sure, Mayfield might not be the most popular guy in the NFL among his peers at the moment,

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And after this he might not be the best candidate to lecture his teammates about focus and concentration:

But it’s not his fault if, just like everyone else, when the Patriots break him, he remains broken. Just imagine how defeated he’ll sound when OBJ starts saying he wants to come catch passes from Brady.