Baker Mayfield’s magic delivers Cleveland’s first NFL win in over 600 days

It took an unfortunate injury for Baker Mayfield to make his NFL debut, but he took full advantage of the opportunity, much like he has everywhere he has been in his football career.

The former Sooner quarterback and 2017 Heisman Trophy winner entered the Thursday night NFL game between the Cleveland Browns and New York Jets in the second quarter when Browns’ starter Tyrod Taylor left the game with concussion symptoms.

Mayfield brought the Browns all the way back, turning in a very Mayfield-like performance in leading Cleveland to a 21-17 victory and ending the longest active winless streak among NFL teams.

According to NBC Sports, Mayfield is the first quarterback to come off the bench in his official NFL debut, throw for more than 200 yards and lead his team to its first win of the season since Fran Tarkington did it with the Minnesota Vikings in 1961.

Oklahoma Sooners Football

The Oklahoma City Oklahoman reported that after the game, Lincoln Riley, Mayfield’s coach all three seasons he was at Oklahoma, tweeted:

"“Hey bud, bet they forgive you for the flag planting now,” referring to when Mayfield planted the OU flag on the Ohio State logo at the center of the field after the Sooners 31-16 win over the Buckeyes a year ago."

Cleveland trailed the Jets 14-0 when Mayfield made his official NFL debut taking over for the veteran Taylor. Mayfield led the Browns on a six-play, 39-yard drive that ended in a 45-yard field goal right before halftime to cut into the Jets lead.

The Browns converted a New York fumble into another field goal midway through the third quarter, and Mayfield led a seven-play 69-yard touchdown drive later in the third, adding a two-point conversion on a pass from wide receiver Jarvis Landry to a wide-open Mayfield in the end zone that knotted the game at 14-14. Sooner fans will remember a similar play Oklahoma ran with Mayfield that resulted in a touchdown in the College Football Playoff game with Georgia last season.

The Jets added a field goal early in the final period to briefly regain the lead 17-14, but Cleveland came right back, marching 75 yards for what turned out to be a game-winning touchdown that ended a 20-game winless streak, The last Browns win was on Christmas Eve 2016, a period spanning 635 days.

Mayfield accounted for 203 of Cleveland’s 323 yards of offense in the game, completing 17 of 23 passes for 201 yards and a 100.1 passer rating. Mayfield’s performance overshadowed that of the Jets’ quarterback, Sam Darnold, himself a first-round selection in the 2018 NFL Draft, who was 15 of 31 for 169 passing yards and two interceptions.

Before Mayfield entered the game, Taylor had completed only 4 of 14 pass attempts for just 19 total yards.