IT HAD TO BE MAYFIELD, AND IT IS
By STEVE KING
Yes, quarterback Baker Mayfield took over ownership of the Browns with his stand-up, mature and leadership-laden comments to the Fox cameras just minutes after the fight at the end of his team’s 21-7 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers.
On a night when neither club came even remotely close to putting its best foot forward, Mayfield’s astute comments were, by far, the highlight of the entire evening – for either team, really. Along with the victory itself, what Mayfield did was the silver lining for the Browns, not just for that day, that week or that month, but in going forward indefinitely.
Everybody seemed to get that in the minutes, hours and days coming out of that crazy situation as they began to put the pieces together as to what, exactly, happened, and why. And that’s great. It is as it should be.
But here’s what’s missing. Here’s what no one is getting. At least that’s what you have to assume because no one is saying it.
And it is this: A quarterback has to be the leader of a football team, at least a good football, or even one that just aspires to be good and is expected to be good. It can’t be the left tackle, no matter how good he is, even if he’s going to the Pro Football Hall of Fame someday, or the strong safety, or the defensive end, or the wide receiver, or the running back, or the linebacker, or the cornerback, no matter what their resumes are.
It has to be the quarterback, since he plays the most important position in team sports. If a team has a good quarterback, then it has a chance to be good. And if it doesn’t, then it doesn’t.
Mayfield is a good quarterback, so when the Browns got him, they began having the chance to be good themselves. That hope is still there, buoyed by the dominating win over the team that has ruled the AFC North for some time, and how the quarterback took the club and put it onto his back during and after that victory.
Let’s see how the new, undisputed leader of the Browns plays on Sunday in the game against the Miami Dolphins at FirstEnergy Stadium. Moreover, let’s see if he can deliver a win, for that’s a quarterback’s most important job.
