Browns QB Baker Mayfield might just wake up Sunday morning feeling dangerous.
Baker Mayfield circles the two Browns-Steelers matchups on the calendar each year. He has his heart set on being the quarterback who takes on the Pittsburgh Steelers in front of the home crowd on Halloween — but injuries could keep him sidelined.
In Week 2, in an attempt to tackle Texans defender Justin Reid — who picked Mayfield off — the quarterback suffered a complete torn labrum of his left, non-throwing shoulder. Four games later, Mayfield re-aggravated the injury in a repeat attempt to tackle a Cardinals defender he threw the ball to.
(Maybe re-think trying to redeem yourself, Baker?)
The next quarter, same game, T.J. Watt’s big brother J.J. Watt sacked Mayfield, causing a fracture of the humerus bone in the same shoulder, the quarterback disclosed to Fox’s Jay Glazer. Mayfield said the fracture is preventing his rotator cuff from firing.
“I need that fracture to heal for me to get back out there,” Mayfield told Glazer.
The Steelers aren’t dumb enough to think that Mayfield will take the field with a broken shoulder. Nevertheless, the Browns have no plans to tip their hat as to which quarterback they’re going to trot out in Cleveland Sunday afternoon.
Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski told the Cleveland media that he isn’t ruling Mayfield out versus the Steelers, but that time will tell as the practice week rolls on.
“It’s hard to say how it’s going to play out,” said Stefanski. “I’m not in the prediction business. I think we’ve just got to work through all of it. The quarterback position is no different than some of those other positions where guys’ availability, you might not know Wednesday; you might not know Friday.”
What we do know is that Mayfield hasn’t practiced, but Keenum is.
In his first start since 2019, Keenum led the Browns in a win over the Denver Broncos, going 22-for-36 on 205 yards and a score.
Brian Batko of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette noted that Keenum hasn’t won back-to-back starts since 2018, but one of them was a 24-17 win against the Steelers in Week 12.
“Keenum’s been in the league for a long time and has played solid ball his whole career, so we know what to do,” Steelers defensive tackle Chris Wormley said.
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