For the past few years, especially within their rivalry against the Bengals, the Browns were the ones taking the heat after a disappointing loss.
They flipped that dynamic in Week 12, though. The Browns didn't just beat Cincinnati, they did so in resounding fashion, just like Damarious Randall predicted.
There was enough bulletin-board material to force the Bengals to buy more thumb tacks. They'll have no shortage of motivation when they walk into FirstEnergy Stadium on Sunday.
"It's all right," Mayfield said. "Football is an angry, violent game. If you play anything but pissed off, I do not think that you are doing it right."
Mayfield and the Browns have significantly less to say this time around, though. Mayfield didn't expand upon his post-game comments in Cincinnati or speculate whether Browns fans would boo or cheer former Browns coach Hue Jackson. The uber-confident Randall spoke diplomatically when asked about his confidence for this week's game.
"I have moved forward from (my previous comments)," Randall said. "It's hard to win games, period, in the NFL. Then when you talk about divisional games, those are even tougher. You see those guys each and every year and they have a lot of familiar players."
That's a far cry from predicting a blowout, and it represents a change of attitude in Berea. The Browns are no longer the feisty little brother of the AFC North. Winning is an expectation instead of a happy surprise. And with that expectation comes a more business-like approach to an emotionally-juiced rivalry.
The Browns aren't talking like it, but they'll also be playing ticked off this weekend. Not because they have something to prove, but because that's how you're supposed to play, just like Mayfield said.
"It's just motivation," Mayfield said of how playing angry factors into his job. "If you are playing fiery, emotionally – which is how I do it — (it gives you) a little extra motivation."
