Baker Mayfield is not backing down from his comments about officials.
The Cleveland Browns second year quarterback was upset about the officials after the Browns lost 32-28 to the Seattle Seahawks in Week 6, so he spoke out on it, calling the officiating “pretty bad out there.” Earlier this week, he found out he was being fined $12,500, but he won’t back down from his initial comments.
In fact, he expanded on it.
Per 92.3 The Fan’s Keith Britton, Mayfield said that he felt it was necessary to be critical of officials because their “blatantly obvious” wrong calls were having an impact on his and his teammates’ jobs.
“Well, one, I wouldn’t say it’s complaining when it’s blatantly obvious,’’ he said Wednesday. “I’d say that’s just stating facts. Freedom of speech I thought, but that’s OK, I get fined for it. It’s the league, that’s what they do. They fine you for some ridiculous things. That’s just how it is. There’s a reason that everybody is talking about it. It’s not just me.
“It goes for every team. We’re not going to get a lot of calls, and we know that, especially going into this week. There’s no time to worry about it. No time to stress about it. Just play our game.”
“it needs to be said. People need to be held accountable for their job. When it affects my job, it sucks because it’s not in my control.”
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Aside from ripping refs off the field, Mayfield is not having as good a season as he had in 2018. His completion percentage is down from nearly 64-percent to 56.6-percent, with his interception rate taking a huge spike from 2.9 to 5.6-percent.
After racking up 27 thrown touchdowns and 14 interceptions in his rookie campaign, Mayfield has just five touchdowns to go with 11 interceptions through six games in 2019.
The team is 2-4 as they get set to face the New England Patriots.
