CLEVELAND — Cleveland Browns wide receiver Jarvis Landry has never been shy about setting lofty expectations, whether it be individual benchmarks, season goals for the team or the weekly mantra of working to be 1-0.
Following Thursday’s practice at team headquarters in Berea, Landry channeled his best inner-Joe Namath and stated the Browns’ simple goal for Sunday’s game against the undefeated New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
“We’re going to win,” Landry said. “We’re going to win. I think it’s just that simple. We’re getting guys back healthy again and we’re going to win.
“The mission don’t change. It’s the same thing. We’re going (there) to win the game.”
Namath famously predicted the New York Jets would upset the heavily-favored Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III, and he delivered on that promise.
Although bold enough to state the mission, Landry knows for the Browns to earn a win at the Patriots, it will take a total team effort.
“We can’t beat ourselves,” Landry said. “We can’t make mistakes at critical times. I wouldn’t even really say ‘match their intensity’ or ‘match what they’re doing.’ I’d just say, ‘We can’t beat ourselves.’ I think that goes for any game, no matter who you’re playing. You can’t beat yourself.
“We’ve just got to go in there and try to play a complete game. Obviously, we know they may not turn the ball over, but the defense is going out there to get turnovers, the defense is going out there to get stops. As an offense, regardless of what they’ve done as a defense, we’re going out there to score points. We’re going out there to control the game a little bit, take the ball out of (Tom Brady’s) hands, and on special teams, we’re going out there to make plays. That may be the game-changing play this week.”
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Since Gillette Stadium opened in 2002, the Patriots have the NFL’s best home record, and it is not even close.
Including the postseason, the Patriots have posted a 137-24 record at Gillette Stadium, good enough for an .851 winning percentage. The Seattle Seahawks are the next closest team to the Patriots, and they have a 107-44 record in home games.
“They’ve been a great football team for as long as I can remember,” Landry said. “They don’t really make mistakes. You can credit their fans or whatever, but teams go on the road and win in other people’s places a lot of times. That just seems to be one place that a lot of teams go in and aren’t very successful.”
Currently, the Patriots lead the AFC East with an unblemished 7-0 record, and they are coming into Sunday’s game on the heels of a 33-0 victory over the New York Jets, which extended New England’s winning streak over first and second-year quarterbacks to 20 straight games.
But Landry believes this week will be a different story when the Browns go to Foxborough with second-year quarterback Baker Mayfield at the helm of the offense.
Despite struggles to find consistency, Mayfield has led the Browns to a pair of road wins this season, first at the New York Jets on September 16, and then, at the AFC North Division leading Baltimore Ravens on September 29.
“I wouldn’t say they’ve faced a first or second-year quarterback like Baker Mayfield,” Landry said. “We’ll see after the game, and then, we can add to your statistics about first and second-year quarterbacks, but again, we’re going to win the game.”