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BEREA, Ohio – Baker Mayfield was as stunned as everyone else on Black Monday when Hue Jackson and Todd Haley were fired, but he is ready to lead the team through adversity.
"Bring him," he says.
Mayfield and his teammates were in the building Monday morning when they heard the news on social media and on television. First Jackson was fired, then Haley soon after.
"More precisely, it does not matter whether it is one or both; it's surprising to me, "he said. "I have never lived like this and it's my" welcome to the business world, "I think."
His friend Patrick Mahomes, who will be in town on Sunday with the 7-1 Chiefs, is confident for Mayfield, who is experiencing the upheaval.
"We never want that, but I know Baker," he says. "I know how resistant he is and I know it will only make him better. He will continue to go every day and compete. This is one of the things you will always remember from him, a competitor who will try to win football games. "
Mayfield said even though the shots caught the players off guard, "We have to stay together as a team and we have to use that as a way to get closer. Obviously, this can be a huge distraction or something that brings this cloakroom closer. "
Owner, Jimmy Haslam, attributed the layoffs to "internal discord", but Mr. Mayfield said he was focusing solely on his job and that he had not noticed any problems.
"If it were there, I would not pay attention, "he said. "What matters is that we did not play and played well enough to win. If you look at the tape, it was always a mistake here or there, a bad reading, things like that, missed homework, so it was not just what was happening on the field, but the play . "
Mayfield will have a new offensive coordinator and play a role in former coach / associate coach Freddie Kitchens, who has never called an NFL regular season game. He played games in the final pre-season game in Detroit. But the system will be the same and Mayfield will still have the same quarterbacks coach at Ken Zampese.
Mayfield says Riley's style will be translated into the NFL
"It was different than training with Todd by calling the pieces," said Mayfield, "but I thought everything was fine, that's the starting point for that and we'll see where it's going to go. . "
He reiterated that the in-depth changes to the scheme are unrealistic at this stage.
"We will not launch the new game book in the middle of the season," he said. "We must be detailed. We have to do our job as best as we can, so it's a good week to do it. With all the distractions, we'll see what kind of men we have in this room. It's not the team we have, but what kind of men who can handle a distraction the right way, can get together and focus on doing their job and doing it at a high level against a great team on Sunday. "
Browns general manager John Dorsey said he believed Mayfield was as confident as ever and that the rookie was in agreement.
"Absolutely, yeah, ready to go," he said, adding that he had to set the tone, even if he was a beginner.
"It's a bit of a new start for everyone, even if it's mid-season," he said. "I think my leadership, my presence, and keeping guys focused are more important than ever."
What awaits are the high-flying leaders and Mahomes, who are arguably the hottest QB in the NFL with 26 touchdowns. The Chiefs are No. 1 in scoring with 36.25 points per game, while the Browns are 24th with 21.125 despite the defense leading the standings with 22 points to remember.
But Mahomes has players like Tyreek Hill, Sammy Watkins, Kareem Hunt and Travis Kelce playing for him.
Mayfield think he can reach a size similar to that of Mahomes with such a casting?
"I believe in our guys," said Mayfield. "I need nothing but what we have. I believe in these guys and I think if we get along on the same page, it will be great. Pat is there and he is in his second year and now they have the same guys in sophomore. So it's chemistry, it's like that, but we need to speed up our process to get to that point. "
Would he like some of his academic air raid concepts to be included in this program to make it more comfortable?
"No. I mean, when it comes to patterns and things like that, you can not come up with something new that you've never seen," he said. a lot of these things, it's just the way he's trained in. I just have to do my job and do it at a high level. "
Left guard Joel Bitonio thinks Mayfield can handle adversity.
"He's a confident cat, man," said Bitonio. "He'll go out and he'll be ready to play. He always has his guys with whom he works daily. You drew [Stanton], Tyrod [Taylor]Zampese and Kitchens has worked with quarterbacks before. We still have a good group of people here who are going to help him develop as a quarterback and we keep a very similar terminology.
"It's not like we're changing all the terminology and things like that, so all of this stuff will be the same for him and we hope we can now get it where it's not going to be done." both to hit and grow and see the field and we can help with that. & # 39; & # 39;
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