CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Browns arrived at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona Sunday with one mission: to win and remain in realistic contention for a postseason berth in the AFC, but what they found was a three-win team ready to end the home portion of their 2019 schedule with a victory.
With an inability to stop the run and generate touchdowns on back-to-back possessions at any point in the game, those chances at the postseason were diminished further.
Arizona Cardinals running back Kenyan Drake scored four rushing touchdowns and rookie quarterback Kyler Murray added a fifth with a passing score in the third quarter on the way to a 38-24 win over the Browns (6-8).
The loss was the Browns’ second away from home in the last three weeks and extended their road losing streak to five straight after they started with wins at the New York Jets and Baltimore Ravens in the first month of the year.
“Frustration,” quarterback Baker Mayfield said following the loss. “We’re not having success. Frustration is the sign of everybody wanting it. Our guys didn’t give up. We kept playing, even though it was well out of reach. Just frustrating. That’s all I can say about that.
“We started slow. If we start fast, we can kind of control the game, but we weren’t able to do that.”
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Here is a breakdown of Mayfield’s second-to-last road start of the 2019 regular season.
What Mayfield did?
When the Browns took on the Cardinals, it was a battle of long-time friends, Mayfield and Murray, who was efficient with his throws, completing 19 of his 25 attempts for 219 yards and one touchdown against one interception on the way to a 98.6 quarterback rating.
Murray outdueled Mayfield, his former University of Oklahoma teammate and fellow Heisman Trophy winner, who completed 30 of his 43 attempts for 247 yards and two touchdowns against one interception.
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Analysis
The Browns’ opening drive against the Cardinals did not go to plan, as despite being able to move the ball down the field, the 10-play possession ended with an interception.
On first-and-10 from the Arizona 20-yard line, Mayfield took the shotgun snap from center JC Tretter and lofted a pass deep down the left side of the field for veteran receiver Odell Beckham Jr. However, Mayfield put a little too much air underneath the ball and the pass was intercepted by Pro Bowl cornerback Patrick Peterson.
Mayfield learned from that mistake, though, as he did not commit another turnover despite dropping back to throw 43 pass attempts during the loss.
“The ball was just too high,” Mayfield said. “Patrick Peterson’s a veteran player, understands concepts. He played behind it, saw the ball, played it well. I’ve got to get through the reads next time, or just make the throw.”
What’s next?
The Browns have little time to sulk about the setback to the Cardinals, not with the AFC North Division champion Baltimore Ravens coming to Cleveland for the home finale at FirstEnergy Stadium ahead of the conclusion of the 2019 “Battle of Ohio” with the Cincinnati Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati on December 29.
What are they saying?
“I thought Baker was hooked up, just threw the ball high there one time,” Browns coach Freddie Kitchens said. “I thought he was pretty accurate for the rest of the game. I thought he was pretty good.
“We called plays that we think are going to work, and wherever the ball goes in his read, we had a couple opportunities there and we just keep doing the same thing. I thought we moved the ball fairly well, nine of 14 on third downs. Nick ran the ball well. Odell made some plays, Jarvis made some plays. We just didn’t do enough.”
Mayfield added, “Some improvement, but a loss is always not good enough.”