Did Baker Mayfield audible to a draw on fourth and nine?

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Good coaches protect their players. Browns coach Freddie Kitchens apparently provided a safety net for quarterback Baker Mayfield after Sunday night’s loss to the Rams.

As explained by Chris Simms earlier this week on his Unbuttoned podcast, the much-criticized decision to run a draw play on fourth and nine in the fourth quarter possibly was made not by Kitchens but by Mayfield.

Simms spotted the evidence while studying the game film.

“As soon as the ball’s snapped, Freddie Kitchens looks and just stares at Baker Mayfield. Looks downfield to see the guy got two yards, right? And then looks back at Baker Mayfield like, with the arms out, like, ‘What are you doing?'”

While Kitchens may have been lamenting the execution of the play, the more reasonable interpretation, given the pre-snap activities, seems to be that Mayfield changed whatever play Kitchens had called, dialing up the ill-fated draw play instead.

Simms also thinks it was a bad decision because a draw wasn’t going to work against the specific defensive alignment. Linebackers were present on the side of the defense that the run attacked. The goal in a situation like that is to find a gap in the defense created by efforts to rush the passer.

Since it was an obvious passing situation, the concept made sense. The decision to send a running back where defenders were, not where they weren’t, didn’t.

“Before we all jump on Freddie Kitchens,” Simms said, “I’m pretty sure that Baker Mayfield would be the one to blame on that play.”

If that’s the case, Kitchens surely scored points with his young quarterback for not throwing him under the bus. Some may say that Mayfield should have piped up and taken responsibility for the decision, given the criticism that was being dumped on Kitchens.

Here’s what Mayfield said about the play after the game: “I know what you guys are going to try to do is blame the play calling, but that is why I said execution is the most important thing. Whatever we have called, we have to do our job.”

Then, when Mayfield was asked whether he had anything to add about the play on Wednesday, he said, “No, it was just trusting our guys to make a play.”

Execution aside, responsibility for calling the draw play remains unclear. Whatever the explanation, the play didn’t work. But it makes sense to pay even closer attention to the sausage-making process in Cleveland when key moments arrive. From Kitchens admitting that he’s new at this to the possibility that Mayfield opted to change the play that Kitchens called, decisions like that make the difference between wins and losses and, ultimately, playoffs or no playoffs.