Baker Mayfield says the Browns have dropped the passes are his fault, but he is to blame

Even though they had a 14-point lead in the second half and eight points in the final minutes, the Browns lost to the Raiders on Sunday for a host of reasons. Officials spoiled two late calls who went against the Browns. Baker Mayfield launched an interception on a potentially winning record at the end of the regulation period. And the Browns' goaltenders dropped nine passes against Hue Jackson.

Nine passes is too much for any receiving group, especially for those who s is presented as the best receiver group in football before the season. Their rookie quarter, however, is there to bail them out.

According to Mayfled, those nine missed passes were his fault.

"I have to put it in a better place," said Mayfield, Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com. "I think I can put it more in their chest, more on their eyes and make it easier to grab in. We just have to be more detailed."

"I do not stop saying it, but when you play on a field like that, it's a bit more slippery, you have to have your shoulders on your feet when you cut. good things, we talked about it, we all need to be more specific about this stuff. "

In general, Mayfield is not totally wrong. Clearly, what he does is blame and accept responsibility for mistakes made by his teammates, because that's what teammates, coaches, and fans expect quarterbacks of the franchise. But he is not wrong with regard to the placement of the ball. Precision is not just about passing the ball to the receiver. The difference between a five-yard rush and a 25-yard rerun is often the placement of the ball. The job of a quarterback is not simply to send the ball to a receiver. It is a question of transmitting the ball to his receiver in the best possible way.

But Mayfield is wrong about what happened on Sunday. Once again, he takes the blame as should every quarter. He was never going to go and scold his teammates for letting him down. But that's exactly what they did on Sunday. After reviewing the game, it is obvious who deserves the blame.

This is about Jarvis Landry, not Mayfield:

This is on Rashard Higgins, not Mayfield:

This intercept is on Antonio Callaway, not Mayfield:

This two-point conversion failed on Callaway, not Mayfield:

It's about David Njoku, not Mayfield:

NFL Game Pass

I could go on, but for this article to be loaded, I will stop there. Let's just say that this last image of Duke Johnson giving a boost to Mayfield and shaking his head after the fall of a screen is the best way to summarize his performance.

What's impressive is that Mayfield still managed to throw 295 yards and two touchdowns on his first-ever NFL road trip. Like his teammates, he made mistakes along the way. But it's hard to find many reasons to complain in terms of performance. He put the Browns in a position to win a game on the road. This is quite an achievement considering that the Browns have won a total of two games since the start of the 2016 season.

All rookie quarterbacks make mistakes. They all suffer from growth pains. It is the responsibility of Mayfield's teammates and coaches to make their development process as easy as possible. On Sunday, they did not manage to do it. On the contrary, they made the situation even more difficult than it already is.