CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The day for the Browns started with a last minute walk-through in a parking garage outside the team hotel and ended in frustration in the bowls of MetLife Stadium.
Baker Mayfield fumbled three times, including on fourth down in the final 90 seconds, and the New York Jets recovered all three of them in a 23-16 win over the shorthanded Browns Sunday afternoon.
“We had all of the guys we needed, and we did not get it done,” head coach Kevin Stefanski said.
Cleveland played without their top four receivers, two starting offensive linemen and a pair of linebackers due to injuries and COVID-19 protocols.
“Credit to the Jets. They beat us,” Stefanski said. “I got outcoached. We got outplayed. We did the things you can’t do. We were minus-two in the turnover battle – you can’t do that. Penalties. Drops. Not good. That is going to get you beat, and it did.”
Mayfield threw it 53 times, completing 28 passes for 285 yards in the loss. He was sacked four times as New York teed off on an offensive line that was without starters Jedrick Wills Jr., due to an illness, and Wyatt Teller, who was sidelined with an ankle sprain.
Mayfield made no excuses after the game.
“I put three balls on the ground – two of them they recovered and the other on the fourth down, I just need to hold onto the damn ball,” Mayfield said. “Plain and simple, I have to hold onto the damn ball. I failed this team. We had exactly what we needed to win this game, and I did not do good enough. That is it.
“I am proud of these guys being able to step up. These guys did not even think they were going to play. For anybody to criticize them, shame on you. Put it on me for not doing my job.”
Austin Hooper led the Browns with seven catches for 71 yards as the tight end was targeted a team-high 15 times.
Receiver Ja’Marcus Bradley, fresh up from the practice squad, caught five of 11 targets for 60 yards.
New York stacked the box, put pressure on Mayfield all afternoon and stymied Cleveland’s dynamic rushing attack, holding the Browns to just 45 yards on the ground.
“We just did not execute the game plan,” left guard Joel Bitonio said. “They dared us to run the ball, and we did not execute well enough. They beat us up and stopped the run. We went to the pass, and it kind of got us going a little bit in the second half.
“It is unfortunate. You want to come out and try to establish the run, especially when you do not have those receiving threats that are normally out there. We did not do a good enough job executing. They beat us up there.”
Chubb ran 11 times for 28 yards and Hunt four for 11. Chubb also caught five passes for 38 yards and Hunt three for 41.
Both running backs scored on the ground - Chubb from a yard out to make it 20-10 and Hunt from four yards to cut the deficit to 4, 20-16 because Cody Parkey missed the PAT off the left upright.
Parkey, who opened the scoring with a 44-yard field goal in the first quarter, has missed kicks in three straight games.
The Jets took the lead for good late in the first quarter by dipping into their razzle-dazzle bag of tricks.
Ty Johnson took the handoff from Sam Darnold and flipped the ball to Jamison Crowder, who rolled to his right and fired a pass deep to a wide-open Braxton Berrios, who was lined up as the tailback, for a 43-yard touchdown.
Darnold, who completed 16 of 32 passes for 175 yards and a pair of touchdowns, turned Mayfield's first fumble, a strip sack by linebacker Tarell Basham, into an 11-yard TD toss to tight end Chris Herndon for a 13-3 advantage.
Myles Garrett picked up his 12th sack of the season and appeared to have his fifth strip-sack in the second quarter, but replay upheld the original ruling of an incomplete pass. The officials quickly blew the play dead as the Browns attempted to return the loose ball for a score.
“I guess that is up for interpretation,” Garrett said. “They told me on the field that it was too tight to overturn. That is my fault that I did not go out there and get it done.”
Olivier Vernon also picked up his eight sack of the season.
The Browns fell behind 20-3 thanks to a blown coverage that allowed a 30-yard TD pass to Crowder on the Jets opening possession of the third quarter.
“I am one of the reasons that we did lose this game,” cornerback Denzel Ward, who broke up a pair of passes, said. “I need to play better, and this was not one of my best games.”
Defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson helped spark a comeback by blocking a pair of kicks – a PAT and then a 50-yard field goal try.
Ultimately the Browns didn't execute and allowed an inferior opponent to take it to them.
The salt in the wound: the Steelers rallied to beat the Colts, which would’ve clinched a playoff berth for the Browns had they won.
Instead, the Browns slip to the No. 7 position and can get in with a win next week over the Steelers.
Baltimore beat the Giants to overtake the Browns for second place in the AFC North by virtue of the head-to-head tiebreaker.