Comparing Baker and Bernie
BAKER DOING EXACTLY THE RIGHT THING IN DISSING HUE
By STEVE KING
For whatever reason – perhaps because they want to be confrontational, in this case to prop themselves up and draw ratings, or because they really, truly don’t understand how these things work – some of the so-called talking heads, both locally and nationally, continue to criticize Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield’s rebuking of former Cleveland head coach Hue Jackson.
When Jackson went off and joined the Cincinnati Bengals as assistant head coach, it was the act of a football traitor, for he spat upon the Browns.
That much is obvious, or at least it should be to anyone who deals in the truth.
What also should be obvious – at least to anyone who deals in the truth and also knows football – is that quarterback is the most important position in team sports, and the players who have those jobs are the leader, emotionally and physically, on and off the field, in any and all occasion, of their respective teams.
So when the former head coach of a team does something sleazy to that team, as Hapless Hue did to the Browns, then it is the quarterback’s job to stand up for his club – his guys — and put the perpetrator in his place, both privately and, even more importantly, publicly.
That’s what Mayfield did.
I’m happy he did it – for several reasons. And if you’re a Browns fan, then you, too, should be happy that he did it.
Mayfield is a Brown – through and through, knee-deep, completely – and Cleveland is his new home.
He’s not afraid to show it, either.
And as I’ve written here in this space any number of times, Mayfield’s ability to say the right things at the right times is as impressive – and about as important – as his ability to throw a football.
This has all happened before in this town, and it worked out very well.
In fact, in one regard, it is still working out very swell.
I’ll explain in my next post.
DÉJÀ VU ALL OVER AGAIN?
Let’s put this out here right now, right from the start: it’s hard – really, really, REALLY hard — to look at Browns rookie quarterback Mayfield in 2018 and not see another Browns rookie quarterback from a generation ago, Bernie Kosar in 1985.
It’s so hard, in fact, that it’s bordering on the impossible to avoid comparing Baker and Bernie.
Advertisement: Free Everstryke Match for football season!
I’ve tried to keep from writing that, or saying that, let alone even thinking it. It’s just too early. There’s simply not enough evidence.
That – not saying it, at least in public – is exactly what Browns head coach Gregg Williams and offensive coordinator Freddie Kitchens have done and certainly will continue to do. They certainly want to encourage him. He needs that. Without it, it would become much harder for him.
But at the same time, they don’t want to canonize this kid – not yet, at least – because once you do that, everything changes, and not necessarily for the good. It opens Pandora’s Box, so to speak, and once those thoughts and opinions are let out, they can’t be put back in. They just can’t.
Williams and Kitchens are smart. As the two men most responsible for Mayfield’s development, growth, maturation and production, they would rather be the last ones to the party – the last ones to hop onto that bandwagon. By not doing so – again, at least yet – they can use it as a carrot dangling on a stick so as to bait him to work harder, reach higher and do even better.
That’s the way it was with Kosar 33 years ago.
Like Mayfield, who was supposed to stand on the sideline and watch veteran Tyrod Taylor, acquired in an offseason trade from a team bordering Lake Erie, the Buffalo Bills, to see how it is done at this level, Kosar was scheduled to stay on the sideline and watch and learn behind veteran Gary Danielson, who arrived in an offseason trade from another team on the Great Lakes, the Detroit Lions.
But fate intervened in both instances. Because of injuries early in the season, the guys who were taken at the top of the draft to be the franchise quarterbacks got their chance way earlier than planned and had immediate success.
We all know how it worked out in the long run with Bernie Kosar.
Could it work out that way with Baker Mayfield?
Before saying yes – or no – let’s just wait and see, while at the same time keeping our fingers crossed. That last part is allowed.
It’s called the audacity of hope.
And finally – finally! – Browns fans can legitimately have that with their team and, just as importantly since he’s the one who will have to steer the ship, their quarterback.
Stories related to Comparing Baker and Bernie here
