Browns overwhelmed by Texans early, fall 29-13: Five Takeaways

1) Not the Mayfield We Know

Baker Mayfield was spoiling Browns fans with his play the last few weeks. Coming into Sunday he had thrown for 771 yards, nine touchdowns and just one interception in three games with Freddie Kitchens as offensive coordinator. Against the Texans, he was cooled down pretty quickly.

After the Browns gained only 31 yards on eight plays on their first two drives of the game, Mayfield went out and tossed three consecutive interceptions on three ensuing possessesions. The first one was returned 28 yards for a touchdown by linebacker Zach Cunningham and put the Browns in a big hole early. It took just one play to throw his second pick immediately after Cleveland got the ball back from the pick-six. And after the Texans added a field goal, Mayfield threw his third interception of the day on the fifth play of next series. At halftime, the No. 1 overall pick was five-for-13 for 46 yards and three interceptions.

He rebounded well in the second half and was much more the quarterback fans had seen the last few weeks. He came out firing and completed his first 10 passes of the half. He finished the second half 19-0f-23 for 294 yards and a touchdown. It would have been two TDs if not for Antonio Callaway (we’ll get to this next). It was quite the response after a dud start from the rookie.

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