CLEVELAND -- The stat line was not as impressive as the first preseason game, but Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield engineered a scoring drive and handled heavy pressure in Friday night’s 19-17 loss to the Buffalo Bills at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland.
And for Mayfield, continuing to learn how to play at the NFL level and leading the team down the field is the biggest part of the development process for the first-year player.
“I think command of the huddle,” Mayfield said following the game. “We did not have the personnel adjustment problems that we did last week. I think in and out of the huddle, we were more efficient with our time. We were able to get some different cadence calls worked in there.
“Those are the kind of things that I said during a week of practice that I wanted to eliminate, and you handle that stuff, and then, we will talk about the penalties and you get over that. Then, you start playing consistent football and you give yourself an opportunity to make big plays.”
In the game for much of the second and third quarters, Mayfield completed seven of his 13 pass attempts for 75 yards and scrambled for nine yards on four carries while escaping pressure out of the pocket.
“Football is not perfect,” Mayfield said. “That is why you joke about the stuff in 7-on-7 practice. You have to simulate having to move in the pocket, having to throwing awkward angles and move around people. It is just very rare that you have a perfect pocket.
“It is just the way it is. You just have to play ball at that point, and that is something I will be working on and keeping my eyes downfield. When it came down to it, two of those longer drives that I had, we had great pockets.”
Mayfield was sacked for an eight-yard loss on the first play from scrimmage in the second half, but despite that pressure, the first-year NFL signal-caller impressed Coach Hue Jackson with his ability to stand strong in the pocket while keeping his eyes down the field.
“He didn’t blink,” Jackson said. “That is what I love about him. Baker is still continuing to keep his eyes downfield, and there are a couple of times when he got hit early. That was water off a duck’s back to him. ‘Let’s keep going.’
“He led us down there a couple of times and put us into position to score. He did some good things. At the same time, we have to finish some drives and finish some other drives by protecting better. We have to.”
And while Jackson was impressed, Mayfield said such play is “kind of second nature” at this point in his career.
“We do enough in practice to where I am used to it,” Mayfield said. “The only difference would be the noise level compared to practice with no fans out there during the game. You have to make sure you have everyone’s attention and make sure you are commanding the huddle.”
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