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HE WAS years, and it seemed even longer, as many people stayed to watch the end of a Cleveland Browns game at First Energy Stadium. Trying to rush to an escalator, or an elevator, was useless. Almost everyone was caught in a slowly moving orange and brown sea, a wave of thousands of jubilant fans, drunk with cheap beer or hope (or both), standing side by side and progressively progressing in the labyrinth of sinuous ramps. their way to the exit of the stadium. Leaving a building dubbed "The Factory of Sadness" had never been so difficult.
For the first time in 635 days, the Browns had won a football match by beating the New York Jets 21-17 on a hot September night. A fan base that had been forced to accept misery as an integral part of its existence was singing and applauding in unison, with such enthusiasm that one could hear the songs resonating from the buildings of the downtown and Lake Erie waters.
Ba-ker May-field! (clap clap clap-clap-clap!)
Ba-ker May-field! (clap clap clap-clap-clap!)
The New Browns offensive coordinator, Freddie Kitchens, said Thursday that he wanted to see the growth of rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield and that his development was of "utmost importance".
Hue Jackson is in Cleveland and the coaching carrousel of 2018 has already begun to shoot. Here's what you need to know about each potential opening.
The dismissal and hiring decisions of the Browns are all about one thing: what's better for Baker Mayfield?
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"I would say that, from the final hissing to the finish in my car, it took me about 90 minutes because of the number of people being stuck until the end of the match," says Scott Sargent, a native of northwestern Ohio who co-founded the Cleveland Sports blog, Waiting For Next. Year, and who writes about Cleveland sports for over ten years. "All the while, people have been playing the song of" Baker Mayfield. "I've never seen a player enter a match and give hope to a franchise as he has that night. "
Some supporters just did not want to leave the stadium. While Mayfield stayed in the field to do a long interview with the NFL network, a small group got on the ground to continue the song, changing it from time to time and treating it as a deity.
You are the savior! (clap clap-clap-clap clap)
You are the savior! (clap clap-clap-clap clap)
Mayfield rolled his eyes when he was presented with a celebratory cake, but he played along. He knew what this victory meant for the city. "It's like a moment in these Talladega Nights where I do not know what to do with my hands," he joked. "As corny as it sounds, it's kind of like that all my life has gone by.I've been a backup, and I had to fight for some things."
At that point, you could forgive Browns fans for being totally optimistic. At Mayfield, they suddenly had a player and a leader with enough charisma and insight – and probably skill – to erase a decade of well-deserved cynicism. "To put things in perspective, Baker Mayfield has been selected in all the local fantasy football leagues where I am, and he was not even sure to play a setback this year," said Sargent. "I think it's indicative of the hope that he personified, that maybe this franchise was finally doing a good job."
All he had to do was continue to work miracles.
SIX WEEKS HAVE come and go since that moment. The joy that flourished in Cleveland that night was at best faded. Even the sellers selling the "Mayfield Mania" and "The Bake Show" t-shirts on Lakeside Avenue outside the stadium felt feverish. "We probably sold 3,000 t-shirts at $ 20 a t-shirt before the Ravens game," says DeAndre Stevens. "It's definitely slower since He's the only player we have, but he can not do it alone, it's really frustrating."
Lately, Mayfield has looked like a fallen man on a longtime reality show, only to realize, a month later, that his hope of changing the atmosphere would be in vain – that everyone spent several years plotting against each other. The Browns have lost five of the six, and the quarterback game since the victory over the Jets has been occasionally exciting, but mostly uneven. A power struggle behind the scenes between head coach Hue Jackson and offensive coordinator Todd Haley led to the firing of the two men. Owner Jimmy Haslam called the move a "restart" and insisted that it was done to send a message that the franchise would not tolerate internal conflict. Executive Director John Dorsey was quick to point out that the layoffs had been made with Mayfield in mind, as the franchise had already burned for six months, making his young quarterback an offense that will be dropped Here spring.
It is clear, even after only eight weeks, that Mayfield has rare leadership qualities, but difficult to quantify. Any suggestion that it would act from Johnny Manziel 2.0 – another under-sized and provocative quarterback from a prominent program, who was leaping into football after being chosen as a candidate for the first turn by the Browns – has turned out to be the laziest comparison. Unlike Manziel, Mayfield played primarily in the Cleveland offensive structure, throwing the balloon in rhythm and through tight windows. (He achieves 60% of his throws, even though the Browns are sixth in the NFL for lost passes.) When he improvises, it's usually because the protection is broken. In the locker room, he earned the respect of veterans without moderating his bravery, not an easy needle to put on for a young quarterback.
"I went through a lot of quarterbacks," says the offensive lineman Joel Bitonio, who has been part of the Browns since 2014. "It's the guy who really has this factor" it ".It's hard to explain what that is, exactly.C & # 39; He is obviously a good player But it starts with his competitiveness Everything he does, he wants to be the best, but he puts in the work I love him No matter what happens In the game, he is always in the embarrassment of the kind: "okay, you score a hit." driving. "It's always good to have leaders, but that your quarterback is this guy, it's special. "
At the beginning of the season, when reporters insisted that Jarvis Landry, Cleveland's best wide receiver, was not connecting more often, Mayfield quickly tried to blame him for his own shots.
"I'm just going to get better for him," says Mayfield. "I was not the exact quarterback that they proposed to me, it's clear.I am going to settle that." It does not matter. As for Jarvis, he's doing his job, I'll do better than me. "
Some of the best evidence of Mayfield's potential, both as a player and as a leader, came in the Brown's 45-42 loss to the Raiders on September 30 – Mayfield's first career start. Praised by NFL Films, his swaggering air was featured throughout the match, even during the warm-ups, when he gave some great deeds to the Raiders fans just before the national anthem.
"I have more Raider fans than them," joked Mayfield with Browns receiver Rashard Higgins. "I have a fucking rocket on my right arm!" he boasted after throwing a 49-yard touchdown over Darren Fells over the center.
But perhaps it was more revealing of one of his preparatory discussions before the training. "All right, listen," Mayfield scolded as the Browns took the field in the second half. "No one needs to step in. Just do our job the best we can.It's all we need.We do not need anything." They are no better than us, do our best work. "
When Nick Chubb crossed the finish line late in the fourth quarter for a 41-yard touchdown, giving the Browns a 42-35 lead with 4 minutes and 20 seconds to play, Mayfield rushed to the end zone to be able to shake his teammate in his arms. as a teenager who rushes to the stage at a concert of Ariana Grande.
"It's what makes us move forward," says Orson Charles, of Browns. "A lot of people may not agree, but I like that, I do not want a shy quarterback." I played with Drew Brees, and Brees had also a token on his shoulder, but he showed it differently. [Mayfield] wherever he wants to go. He can connect with anyone. I like it at home. It's just like: Hey, can you help us win? So let's go. "
Mayfield's ability to communicate with people, to make them feel that they are part of something bigger than oneself, has always been one of his natural gifts, ranging from his move to the Lake Travis High School in Austin, Texas. His high school football coach, Hank Carter, often thinks of a moment in Mayfield's senior season when the Lake Travis High March Band has qualified for the semi-finals. "There is a tradition in Lake Travis, when a sports team sets a level of competition comparable to that of the nation, the community will make a shipment," Carter said. "The group's departure took place on a Saturday morning, the day after the match.As you can imagine, high school students are not particularly keen to show up early in the morning to signal and to But not only was Baker in the forefront, he was directing the songs, the same type of song that you will see in the huddles today. "It's really special for these kids." Most high school students would think they were too cool for something like that, but Baker saw it as an opportunity to celebrate someone who had supported him. "
WHAT IS IT? the limits of charisma and leadership? Can the personality of Mayfield really compensate for the limitations in other areas? Brees gets a lot of praise for his leadership, but he also understands better when the receivers are about to break into the gap than any quarterback to play. It is not leadership or charisma that allows him to slide the ball into tiny windows, on time and under duress. It's that he's a sporty monster, perhaps as much of a NFL unicorn (in his own way) as Michael Vick during his heyday.
Can Mayfield really become a Brees version by a poor man? There are times when he will make you a believer. Against the Steelers, he escaped a handful of escaped Houdini, including one where he avoided being sandwiched. Cameron Heyward and T.J. Watt and pirouetted back to find an open space and zipper the ball to Landry. But he struggled when he was forced to throw from inside the pocket, with an average of only 5 meters per end. It is after this loss that Jackson and Haley were fired.
"It's not as accurate as I thought – just a few throws that are not as accurate as what you saw in Oklahoma," said a reception officer. "But I think it's all about the growing pains and everything that's going on around him, it's clear his teammates are responding to him, and very early on you've seen the revealing games that made them believe that was the guy I'm interested in seeing how he handles coaching changes and whether we're seeing progress the rest of the year or if he's starting to look overwhelmed. "
It already seems obvious that it's not Patrick Mahomes, the man with whom he shared a pre-game hug Sunday before Mahomes roasted the Browns, scoring 375 yards and three touchdowns in a 37-21 Chiefs victory. And it seems obvious that Mayfield is not Carson Wentz, who finished third in the NFL's Most Outstanding Player vote last season despite three missed matches due to a knee injury. The Browns could have had one or the other player in consecutive games, but they preferred to focus on the defense.
Mayfield, plus defender Myles Garrett (first choice in 2017), has a better bet than Mahomes alone? Were the 11 choices they made as a result of trading with the Eagles better than choosing Wentz? At this point, the answer does not matter. The Browns must succeed, whether or not they doubt Mayfield's potential in the long run. The pressure on the franchise to do it right this time is huge.
At the very least, the fan base knows that Mayfield will be the quarterback in 2019, a rare continuity for a franchise that has not had a quarterback since at least 12 consecutive games since Tim Couch lined up. did it. 2001 and 2002.
"As a fan, I think you get numb after a while, especially when you have a project or you have players under the center, you know, will not be here for long," says Sargent. "Cody Kessler was not chosen to be a quarter of the future." Mike Holmgren may have sworn by him, but no one is paying for tickets, merchandise or offering his three and a half hours on Sunday thought that would be the case when the most successful quarterback of your stadium since the resumption of the franchise is Ben Roethlisberger.You know that your team has not really been stable in quarter position. "
In league circles, there is a sense that Brown's position is more attractive to potential head coaches than it initially appears, despite the constant dysfunction. Observers are quick to draw parallels between the Browns under Jackson and the Los Angeles Rams in their last season under Jeff Fisher. Jared Goff seemed lost as a rookie, but after being paired with Sean McVay, he looks like a most valuable player candidate. That's perhaps the reason why former Arizona Cardinals coach Bruce Arians said this week that Cleveland was the only job he was considering taking after his retirement.
Mayfield, on the other hand, was reluctant to do anything that might make her feel attentive, mainly limiting her interactions with the media at her weekly press conference. Approached after the defeat of the Browns in overtime against Tampa Bay and asking him if he would be willing to sit down for an interview, Mayfield was clearly annoyed.
"It's just a really unfit moment for you to ask me questions about it right now," said Mayfield, still furious after the defeat as he headed for the bus. ;team.
This competitive rage reigns in everything Mayfield does, and that's one of the reasons the Browns hope it will be the perfect match: an oppressed franchise and a perpetually aggrieved player. Bitonio could not help but smile at one of the week's training prior to the Browns match against Kansas City, during a "seven shots" exercise – where the offense has seven opportunities to enter the end zone – a jarring match broke out between a pair of beefy line player. As it got hotter and hotter, several other players joined the fray.
"Most quarterbacks stay out of this stuff, but Baker is at the heart of the action," Bitonio said. "He rejects the guys, he gets up in the mouth, well, if your quarterback goes into a fight, you can not let him go unattended, so now everyone has to step in. It's really fun. But if he has your back like that, you know you have to be on the ground.
"Football is a unique melting pot, because you have 53 guys from completely different backgrounds.When you have a quarterback that connects to everyone? It's pretty special.It was good for we, man, now we have to protect him and keep him there as long as we can. "
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