CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Baker Mayfield kept it real when discussing the difference between his jittery Week 3 effort against the Rams and his back-to-reality performance Sunday in Baltimore.

During his postgame press conference, the Browns quarterback said he had his eyes and feet in the right places against the Ravens, which helped him get the ball out quickly to his playmakers, specifically Jarvis Landry and Ricky Seals-Jones.

“I played better, made it easier on (Kitchens),” Mayfield said Sunday. “Anytime the quarterback sucks, it is probably pretty hard to call plays."

His self-criticism fueled a 20-of-30 passing day (66.7 percent) and Mayfield threw a first-quarter touchdown to Seals-Jones. He posted a season-best 102.4 rating and only threw four fourth-quarter passes because of Cleveland’s dominance.

His pocket poise, downfield eyes and confidence in his reads exemplified a return to the Baker of old, rather than the Mayfield who was rolling right, often into chaos, and bailing out of the pocket.

The @RamsNFL pass rush was too much for Baker Mayfield and the Browns OL (46% pressure rate). Mayfield struggled when throwing from outside the tackle box:



Inside Box: 17/26, 176 yards, 1 TD (97.6 passer rating)

Outside Box: 1/10, 19 yards, 1 INT (0.0 passer rating)#LARvsCLE pic.twitter.com/mxJvz0Mb8c — Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) September 23, 2019

Let’s take a look at the mostly good, some bad and handful of decent plays from Mayfield on Sunday that illustrate when Baker trusts his protection, he is one of the league’s best pocket throwers.

The Good

The Browns started Sunday going three-and-out. Mayfield had a pass batted down and took a sack on a third and manageable. This was foreshadowing, as Mayfield remained poised and marched Cleveland downfield en route to the game’s first touchdown.

On the 13-play, 84-yard scoring drive, Mayfield completed three critical third-down throws, including the series-capping 9-yard pass to Seal Jones.

Here are a few of those plays from the Browns’ second drive.

Mayfield stays tall in the pocket, delivering a strike to the crossing Landry. What stands out is despite the Ravens’ pressure, Mayfield stands in and completes the throw. In addition, he starts under center and uses play action to hold Baltimore’s linebackers, opening up Landry.

Turning your back to the defense can be an uncomfortable feeling for a quarterback. Mayfield’s quick release helps this ball leave his hands before a real threat presents itself.

From the snap, Mayfield trusted his eyes, knew where he was going and let it rip.

Time in pocket = 1.5 seconds

One of Mayfield’s three third-down conversions came early on his second drive. Facing a third down and 7, Mayfield kept his eyes downfield, helping him beat the Ravens’ man coverage.

There is a split-second where the pocket gets a bit messy. The Mayfield from last week would’ve bailed. But instead, Mayfield keeps his eyes straight, climbs the pocket and finds Damion Ratley for nine yards.

This is an example of Mayfield trusting his protection, which allows him to play within Kitchens’ offense rather than freelance.

Time in pocket = 4 seconds

Another third down on the same drive birthed Mayfield’s best throw of the game. Needing 13 yards to avoid fourth down, Mayfield first fields an off-center snap before again climbing the pocket to find Odell Beckham Jr.

Not many quarterbacks could deliver a ball with such heat as Mayfield does here. The Ravens drop seven into coverage and there is little reason this pass should even reach Beckham. He ends up not making the catch, but the Ravens are called for illegal contact for a first down.

Mayfield is battling an aggressive rush and is still able to step up, pump fake, avoid a defensive lineman’s raised hand and then place a rocket only where Beckham can catch it.

That is what makes Mayfield a special arm talent.

Time in pocket = 4 seconds

The Browns capped this drive with a nine-yard touchdown pass from Mayfield to Seals-Jones, which would’ve never been possible without the previous two crucial third-down conversions.

When Mayfield is calm and precise, the Browns move the ball and score, as shown on Cleveland’s second series and on Mayfield’s second-quarter pass to Landry, which got the Browns three points before half.

Facing another four-man rush, Mayfield evades the pressure by shuffling left and slowly climbing the pocket. He is not in hurry to get anywhere. He is trying to buy enough time for Landry to slide open against the Ravens’ zone coverage.

As soon as Landry is free, Mayfield, who continued to keep his eyes downfield, finds Landry and the rest takes care of itself.

Time in pocket = 2 seconds

The Bad

There is not much to talk about here considering Mayfield played a solid game. Even his interception does not land in this category, but we’ll get to it later.

Entering Week 4, Mayfield was sacked 11 times, including three sacks in Weeks 2 and 3, respectively. The narrative quickly became he was holding on to the ball too long. Many blamed the offensive line, others the quarterback but regardless, it did not look good.

There were still some flashes of early-season Baker on Sunday, but it was rare.

Whether it was a coverage sack or not, Mayfield needs to find a place to put the ball and avoid another big yardage loss. To Cleveland’s credit, the entire offensive unit learned from this play as Mayfield was not sacked again.

Time in pocket = 3 seconds

Another habit Mayfield is letting re-emerge is his tendency to roll right out of a messy pocket. On this red-zone play, there are flashbacks to the Rams game as he bails right and creates self-induced chaos.

The throw is poor because he is off balance and throwing from 10 yards behind the line of scrimmage.

Mayfield does not have much reason to bail right. Sure there is pressure, but no more than in previous clips.

This is a habit he needs to break, as he did most of Sunday.

Time in pocket = 3.5 seconds

The Decent

Like life, football isn’t black and white. There are plays where the quarterback does good, where he does bad and plenty of in-between. A testament to Mayfield’s performance Sunday is that there wasn’t much in-between, just like there wasn’t much bad either.

Here are a few plays where Mayfield was decent, but could’ve been better and will be after watching the film.

It may seem odd critiquing a touchdown, but playing quarterback well relies on fundamentals and specific movements. There is no reason for Mayfield to be as nonchalant as he is on this 9-yard scoring throw to Seals-Jones.

For whatever reason, Mayfield again backs out of the pocket, throws the ball from 10 yards behind the line of scrimmage and off his back foot.

Again, this is picky but had this ball ended up falling short, Mayfield would’ve been kicking himself over his mechanics.

Time in pocket = 2.5 seconds

Mayfield added to his league-high interception total, throwing another pick to raise his season total to six.

When he watches the tape, he’ll see this interception is avoidable. First, on the throw, Landry does his quarterback zero favors by not even attempting to make the catch. Had he, the interception likely could’ve been broken up.

However, Mayfield should not have even had the opportunity to throw. Instead, giving the ball to Nick Chubb is the proper read. Watch how a lane opens up as Mayfield decides to pull it.

It’s difficult to criticize Mayfield for this, as his receiver should’ve made a play on the ball. But Chubb likely picks up the first down here if Mayfield just keeps the ball in his gut.

Time in pocket = 1 second

Here is proof Mayfield either heard all the hoopla about how he should’ve snuck the ball up the middle vs. the Rams two weeks ago, or a coach got in his ear about keeping it.

Either way, this is an example of Mayfield trying to learn from his mistakes. Though the play ends with him taking an unnecessary hit, his ability to be coached and learn from past errors are on full display on this keeper.

Time in pocket = 1 second

What we learned

It took four weeks for the Browns offense and Mayfield to find themselves. In that time, Mayfield likely realized he needs to trust his eyes, along with his protection and go back to delivering rockets from the pocket.

Of course, his offensive line played much better Sunday than against the Rams, but Mayfield said it himself: He spent the week focusing on his eyes and feet to make sure he made sound pocket throws.

When he does that, there are few that can match his velocity and accuracy.