DAWGGONE GOOD
Beckham is no stranger to his new
quarterback. The two have trained
together the past two offseasons.
The receiver told GQ magazine that
Mayfield “is Brett Favre—he’s going to
be a Hall of Famer.”
Beckham, however, didn’t know his
new coach until he arrived in Cleveland.
But it didn’t take him long to forge a
bond. He greeted Kitchens with a big
hug. “He’s straightforward,” said
Beckham. “Authentic. I feel a
different energy when I stepped
off the plane.... It’s love.”
When Beckham greeted the media,
he couldn’t stop smiling and praising
Landry: “He made me who I am today.
He’s taken me to a level of greatness.”
During practice, they looked as if they were
having a ball. Microphones caught them playfully
arguing over what baby deer eat. Landry claimed
he googled the answer: baby milk and cereal.
“Now where do they get baby milk and cereal
from in the woods?” Beckham asked.
If anyone has had a problem, it’s Mayfield, who
will have to figure out how to keep two receivers
happy when there’s only one ball. “I’ll probably
just close my eyes and throw it and hope one of
them catches it,” he joked.
The bottom line is, these Browns look
impressive. But they haven’t been tested yet.
“We’re good on paper,” said All-Pro defensive end
Myles Garrett. “Everything looks good,
everything looks tight—offense and defense.
But until we go out there and prove it, it’s
just words.”
The time to go out and prove it is fast
approaching. And Beckham will be ready. “I’ve
watched this team from afar,” he said. “Each year
they were building, they were stacking players.
They go get [Landry], just stacking, stacking.
And now it’s like, It’s finally here.” ■
Unwelcome Return
In 1999, Cleveland got
a new incarnation
of the Browns. In
their first game,
they had just
two first downs
and lost 43–0.
They finished the
season 1–15.
Go Jump in a Lake
Then-coach Hue Jackson
kept his promise to
leap into Lake Erie
after the Browns
went 0–16 in 2017.
Cleveland has had
18 losing seasons in
the 20 years since the
Browns returned.
The Browns went with Mayfield,
though, and he became the starter
in Week 4. At the midpoint of the
season, the Browns were 2-5-1 and
had just lost to the Steelers for the
15th straight time. Jackson was
reportedly in a power struggle with
offensive coordinator Todd Haley.
Instead of siding with one or the other, Dorsey and
owner Jimmy Haslam made a surprising decision: They
fired them both. Defensive coordinator Gregg Williams
took over as head coach. The reins to the offense were
given to Kitchens, the running backs coach in his first
season with the team. It was an odd decision, to be sure,
but it paid off.
Mayfield thrived under the innovative Kitchens, who
spiced up the Browns’ attack. In the season finale against
the Ravens, he called a play in which Mayfield faked a
shovel pass by tossing the ball in the air and catching it
himself. The defense froze, and Mayfield drilled a strike to
Landry for a 48-yard touchdown.
Cleveland lost that game, but finished 7-8-1. Mayfield,
who threw for 376 yards against the Ravens, set an NFL
record with 28 TD passes as a rookie.
2019
fans provide
the bark, while
Mayfield (left)
and Kitchens
give the offense
some bite.
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