CLEVELAND -- For the first eight games of the 2018 regular season, Cleveland Browns running back Duke Johnson Jr. was underutilized, particularly in the passing game, where he was the team’s leading receiver a year ago.
But Johnson made up for lost time in Sunday’s 37-21 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland, as he caught all nine of the passes thrown to him by quarterback Baker Mayfield and turned them into a team-best 78 yards and two touchdowns.
“Duke made a bunch of plays for us,” Mayfield said. “Obviously, he is one of our playmakers. Whenever we get a chance to get him going…those are the types of plays we expect him to have. That is what he is capable of.”
The Browns answered the Chiefs’ third touchdown of the game with one of their own late in the first half.
Johnson Jr. caught a pass from Mayfield and hustled down the field and into the end zone for a 19-yard touchdown, which trimmed the Chiefs’ lead down to one score, 21-15, with 26 seconds remaining in the second quarter.
On second-and-two from Kansas City’s 19-yard line, Johnson Jr. ran out of the backfield to the right side of the formation and into space, where Mayfield found him just beyond the numbers. After securing the catch, Johnson turned upfield, hustled down the sideline and juked a defender at the goal line before breaking the plane of the end zone.
“That is what he has shown, time in and time out, when you get him involved that much,” Mayfield said. “We have to continue to build on that. I say there is a lot to build on.
“There is positive right there. We just have to see that positive because you could very well throw in the towel at this point, but that is not what we are going to do. That is not what we are about.”
At the end of the third quarter, Mayfield cleared NFL Concussion Protocol after being evaluated on the sideline, and upon reentering the game at the start of the fourth period, he found Johnson Jr. with a pass over the middle of the field for a five-yard touchdown.
Mayfield’s second touchdown pass to Johnson Jr. in the game trimmed Kansas City’s lead down to 34-21 with 14:57 to play in regulation.
On third-and-goal from the five-yard line, Mayfield took the snap and fired a quick throw over to Johnson on the right hash mark. After securing the catch at the four-yard line, Johnson Jr. hustled up the field and blasted through a pair of tacklers at the goal line for his second receiving touchdown of the game.
“There was a lot of back and forth throughout the week, talking about the little details and things here and there,” Mayfield said.
“I think that is why we played better on offense. It was, ‘We are going to do what we are best at and continue to get better at that.’ We said we were going to get the ball in our playmakers hands, and that is why you say Duke was more involved. It was good to see some of those other guys involved, too.”
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