The biggest news in Thursday night’s game isn’t that the Jets hold a 14-3 halftime lead. Or that Isaiah Crowell has scored two touchdowns against his former team.
It’s that Baker Mayfield has made his regular-season debut.
The No. 1 overall pick replaced starter Tyrod Taylor with 1:42 remaining in the half. Taylor left for the locker room for a cognitive evaluation after he got up holding his head on Avery Williamson’s sack.
Taylor went only 4-of-14 for 19 yards before leaving. He also had four carries for 22 yards.
Mayfield completed 3 of 4 passes for 47 yards on his first drive, which led to a 45-yard field goal by Greg Joseph. He also fumbled on a strip-sack by Jordan Jenkins. Browns offensive lineman Joel Bitonio recovered.
As inept as their offense was, the Browns actually ended up with more offense than the Jets. Cleveland had 112 yards and New York 109.
Sam Darnold went 5-of-12 for 45 yards, but the Jets have scoring drives of 28 and 63 yards that ended with Crowell touchdowns. Crowell, the ex-Brown, has 12 carries for 31 yards with touchdown runs of 7 and 2 yards.
The Jets have four sacks, including 1.5 by Williamson. Myles Garrett has the Browns’ only sack of Darnold.
The teams have combined for five penalties and 11 punts.
Jets cornerback Buster Skrine is questionable to return with a knee injury, and Browns safety Jabrill Peppers is questionable to return with a shoulder injury.
