In Panthers’ Week 1 loss, Baker Mayfield showed why Browns traded him | Opinion
Sunday’s 26-24 loss to visiting Cleveland. They rallied from a 13-point fourth-quarter deficit as the fifth-year quarterback directed three scoring drives (a seven-yard scoring scramble, a 75-yard touchdown pass and a lead-capturing 34-yard field goal with 1:13 left on the clock) only to watch Cleveland’s rookie kicker Cade York drill a 58-yard field goal with eight seconds remaining.
“Disappointed,” Mayfield said after the game. “Disappointed in the way I started, obviously. Too many mistakes, self-inflicted mistakes by our offense and I take the blame for that, for sure. … I would’ve liked to have had bragging rights against those guys, but we didn’t finish, mostly because we didn’t start fast.”
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In the same game, Mayfield showed exactly why the Browns — the team that drafted him first overall in 2018 — replaced him with the talented yet controversial Deshaun Watson this past spring and traded him to Carolina in July, and he showed why the Panthers believe that he can lead them out of the swamp that is three straight double-digit loss seasons. But at the same time, he failed to answer questions over whether or not he can ever make good on the promise of a decorated college career and become an elite NFL passer.
their first playoff win 26 years. But the Browns believed Mayfield had taken them as far as he could.
Now, he’s starting over with a Panthers team that similarly longs for its own end to suffering and covets a consistent place among the league’s contenders.