At 2-6, the Cleveland Browns aren't where they or anyone else expected them to be.
But they are indeed 2-6, and they have another game to play Sunday against a Buffalo Bills team that is in a much better position after eight games at 6-2.
Because he handles the ball on every down and because he's played in more games than he's thrown touchdown passes in 2019, quarterback Baker Mayfield finds himself at the center of questions surrounding this team. One appropriate question asked of him Wednesday: How does this group proceed in the final eight games?
"Just stay the course," Mayfield said. "I think no matter what's going on I think we've made strides in certain areas that we needed to, but now we just need to make the plays when they're there. We have to execute when it's in the red zone. We have to do those obvious things that we lost because of. Continue to stay the course and improve each week. We know right now, eight games left in the season, just have a single-week focus coming into it and do our job."
Mayfield acknowledged what was most glaring for the Browns in their Week 9 loss to the Denver Broncos: red-zone execution. Browns coach Freddie Kitchens emphasized the importance of execution ad nauseam Monday, because after seeing the more obvious culprits for defeat -- penalties, turnovers -- disappear in Denver, the Browns still lost the game.
Thus, there's nothing more the team can do but continue to work toward improving. Perhaps one week they fix penalties, the next, turnovers and the next, execution. The latter is easier said than done, though, and will require precision from all 11 players on the field.
That's precisely what they've lacked for almost this entire season.
"The execution is the thing that has gotten us beat. The past three weeks I've steadily improved where my eyes need to be, and I think Freddie and my coach would attest to that. Just one week at a time, continuing to take care of the ball and get the ball in our playmakers' hands."
The last time Mayfield did that, Jarvis Landry had a career day in less than a full game and the Browns dominated the Baltimore Ravens. That was in Week 4, which seems like an eternity ago for this team.
They'll need to do that again Sunday if they hope to end their losing streak against a Bills team with a stellar defense.
And since it's made the internet rounds for most of the week (and produced some excellent memes), Mayfield addressed his high-altitude, double-shave Sunday, which included a bit of self-punishment:
"The quarterbacks had a Movember mustache," Mayfield said. "The original thought for me -- do the handlebars. I was undefeated before Sunday with the handlebar mustache. So I shaved it off because I didn't deserve it."
