Baker Mayfield Outdueled Joe Burrow With A Game-Winning Dime To Donovan Peoples-Jones

The future of Ohio professional football was on display on Sunday afternoon in Cincinnati as Joe Burrow and Baker Mayfield had quite the quarterbacking duel in what ended up being a thrilling 37-34 Browns win to move Cleveland, somewhat improbably, to 5-2 on the season.

The rookie Burrow was sensational, completing 35-of-47 passes for 406 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception — on the opening drive in the end zone. His finest work came on the Bengals final drive, as he picked apart the Browns secondary to march Cincy to a touchdown and a 34-31 lead, using his legs and his arm, culminating in a touchdown pass on fourth and inches inside the five.

On the opposite side, Mayfield got off to a rather hideous start, going 0-for-5 in the first quarter with an interception on his first pass of the game, but once he settled in he really locked in, going 22-for-23 the rest of the way for 297 yards and five touchdowns. Like Burrow, his finest hour came on Cleveland’s last drive as he was able to answer the rookie with a dime to Rashard Higgins to set them up in field goal range with a chance to tie, and then found Donovan Peoples-Jones for a remarkable touchdown pass with 11 seconds to play to give Cleveland the win.

Mayfield has faced plenty of questions this season even as the Browns win games and while there is rightful criticism of some of his decision-making, he quieted panic with his play in the final three quarters against the Bengals. Now, that comes with the caveat of it being against Cincinnati, but it’s the kind of confidence Browns fans have missed seeing from him pushing the ball down the field — and that confidence was certainly back in the locker room celebration after the win.

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