CLEVELAND — “You can’t keep a good man down.”
The multi-platinum recording group, Alabama, might as well have been singing about Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield, who after suffering a hip injury early in the third quarter, summoned the strength to finish Sunday’s game against the Seattle Seahawks at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland.
“There was no conversation,” Mayfield said following the 32-28 setback, the Browns’ third loss in the last four weeks. “It was not even a thought.”
Admittedly, Mayfield was affected by the injury “a little bit,” but it was not going to keep him out of the lineup, not especially with the game hanging in the balance.
“Kind of tender right now, but we will see,” Mayfield said. “That is not an excuse. It hurts, but it’s a physical game of football.”
Mayfield was able to finish the team’s first drive of the second half after suffering the injury, but shortly after the possession came to a close, he headed to the locker room near the midway point of the third quarter of the game.
Mayfield rushed for a first down with an eight-yard run on third-and six, which moved the ball to the Seattle 48-yard line, but instead of sliding, he tried to spin out of a tackle attempt to gain an extra yard. However, after the play, Mayfield appeared hobbled by an injury.
Throughout the rest of the drive, Mayfield seemed to favor his left side in the abdominal/hip area, but before the Browns got back the ball, their quarterback was back on the sideline to warm up, and then, came back into the game without missing a snap.
“Baker is a tough individual,” Browns coach Freddie Kitchens said. “He is a tough quarterback, mentally and physically. He will be fine.
“He is our quarterback. He is going back in the game if he is healthy.”
Mayfield went 22 of 37 for 249 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions while playing much of the second half with an injured left hip.
“I thought Baker was wired in, focused, concentrated during the course of the week,” Kitchens said. “We had the best week of practice that we have had and did not execute in the critical situations, and I did not call good enough plays in critical situations.
“We are going to get better each and every day, and we are going to be playing our best football the next time we go out.”
In addition to his head coach’s appreciation, Mayfield earned a measure of respect from his teammates for putting forth a gutsy performance by playing through the pain, but they expected nothing less than him returning to the game despite the pain.
“He is a competitor and he is going to dig deep, so he does not come out of the game,” wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. said. “He couldn’t run, but he still is going to go back out there and help this team even when he is banged up. He gave us his all, but we came up short.”
Running back Nick Chubb added, “He is tough and he is a warrior. He is not going to go down easy. I know he got hit pretty hard, but he fought through it and he was there for us.”