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CLEVELAND, Ohio – Baker Mayfield thought Tyrod Taylor was “showing a little booty” on his 15-yard touchdown run in the second quarter when he slowed his gait from a run to a walk, then started to walk. knees in the end zone dramatically.
“But he felt his hammer,” Mayfield said after the Browns’ 31-21 win over the Texans in the home opener. “I was quite shocked.”
The defense were lucky that Taylor had to stop him at halftime because he had his number. He might have taken revenge on the team that gave Mayfield their starting job in 2018.
In the first half, Taylor looked like the dangerous quarterback he was trying to prove to everyone that he still is. If it hadn’t been for a missed punt by wide receiver Andre Roberts after the Browns’ opener, they might have led at the half instead of being tied 14-14.
That’s how good Taylor was and how helpless the Browns were to stop him. At halftime, he completed 10 of 11 attempts for 125 yards with a touchdown pass and no interceptions for a score of 144.3. He edged Myles Garrett in the second quarter to give the Texans a 14-7 lead.
“I must have taken a lot out of him when I tried to chase him away,” Garrett joked.
But Taylor’s play and the Browns’ lackluster first-half performance were no joke – Houston converted four of six thirds in the first half in the first 30 minutes. Perhaps most disturbing is that their two best defensive players – Garrett and Denzel Ward – didn’t have the Pro Bowl-like impact they expected every week.
Taylor, who went 6 for 6 for 84 yards including a 22-yard screen pass to Phillip Lindsay in his first practice, targeted Ward three times during that walk. Ward gave up assists to three receivers, including one from 32 yards to Nico Collins in Game 1. It was a start very unlike Ward, and he found himself without a break.
As for Garrett, he was refused the dismissal of the mobile Taylor or the replacement of Davis Mills, the rookie of Stanford. Taylor released the ball so quickly that the often-skinned or doubled Garrett didn’t have much of a chance to make it home. Through two matches, he has a bag. Texans coach David Culley had a good game plan that caught the Browns off guard.
“I just go early like that,” Garrett said. “We didn’t expect them to throw the ball so soon. … I try to contain and rush the passer, but I’m pretty much stuck inside.
“It was just a little different from what we expected. We expected them to try to run the ball and impose their will. … It was just different timing of things. Once we picked up that pace and had the play call for us, we were able to do what we needed to do to get off the pitch. ”
They left the field, in part because Taylor was not there. Mills, taking his first pro snaps, completed just eight of 18 attempts for 102 yards with a TD and INT for a score of 58.1. But even he took him to the Browns on a 16-game, 75-yard campaign that reduced the deficit to 24-21 early in the fourth quarter – way too close for a Texans who were 4-12 in 2020 and was down to his third string quarterback.
During that epic march, the Texans converted four third downs – and Greg Newsome II was flagged for 27 yards for pass interference – to make things too tense in a game in which the Browns were favored by 13 1 / 2 – their biggest margin since their return in 1999. In total, they allowed seven third-party conversions out of 13.
The defense has seen a few highlights including the interception of Malcolm Smith in the second half, a handful of encouraging plays from Grant Delpit in his debut and just 82 rushing yards allowed. But that wasn’t the dominant performance expected of a team with Super Bowl aspirations.
It didn’t help that the Browns were without center linebacker Anthony Walker Jr. for at least three games. Walker’s leadership in the game was missed, especially with so many new faces in the unit. Walker having suffered a hamstring injury on Friday, the Browns didn’t have much time to adjust.
The revamped defense, which hasn’t trained much at camp due to injuries, will need time to get back into place and should play better as the season progresses. But by the time Garrett sat down for his post-game press conference, fans were abuzz on social media with criticism from the defense and coordinator Joe Woods.
“It’s on both of us,” Garrett said. “We have to play to the best of our ability no matter what calls he gives us. If we don’t play the game, it’s not just about him, it’s about all of us. You can blame everyone on the pitch, all 11 of us, and him too. We are a team and we are in the same boat.
If Taylor had been there in the second half, the Browns might go 0-2 and wonder what hit them.
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