Ed Puskas: Mayfield’s candor is refreshing

The Browns play a game today against the Houston Texans that could cement them as a playoff contender or reveal them as not quite ready for primetime.

So can we finally put the Baker Mayfield-disrespected-Hue Jackson narrative to rest?

Mayfield shook the hand of the ex-Browns head coach as the teams mingled on the field after the Browns’ 35-20 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals a week ago at Paul Brown Stadium.

But Mayfield didn’t seem interested in hugging it out with Jackson, be it in a bro hug or a bear hug or any other sort of warm embrace.

Asked about Jackson in the postgame news conference, Mayfield was too honest.

The reaction nationwide was swift and critical, with talking heads Damien Woody and Colin Cowherd among the rookie quarterback’s harshest critics.

Later, Mayfield followed with an Instagram post directed at Woody in which he called Jackson “fake.”

That only fanned the flames for more critics, whose beef seemed to be that Mayfield didn’t show the proper amount of respect for Jackson, who was 3-36-1 in two-and-a-half seasons with the Browns.

It was as if Jackson had somehow earned exalted status. Maybe the post-firing media tour — during which Jackson was critical of Mayfield and the team that continued to employ him even as the losses piled up — earned him some cover nationally.

It certainly wasn’t anything Jackson did on game days that should have left him untouchable.

Even after a week of getting pilloried by national media types and others in northeastern Ohio, Mayfield stood his ground and was unrepentant.

“I have an opinion and I’m entitled to that, but the most important thing is me doing my job and I can manage both, and that’s what people don’t understand,” he said. “Yeah, a quarterback that’s a little different from some of the guys to have a voice, but that’s just how I’ve always been and I’m not going to change for anybody.”

This is what you get with Mayfield. Anyone who followed him at Oklahoma knows all about his flag-planting, crotch-grabbing, trash-talking tendencies.

But that’s clearly not all that Mayfield brings to the table. He has been the best of this season’s rookie QB class in the NFL and over the last month he has been one of the most productive QBs league-wide.

Mayfield has won over his teammates and the coaches who remained after Jackson and offensive coordinator Todd Haley were fired a month ago.

Browns fans couldn’t — and shouldn’t — care less what Cowherd, Woody or anyone else with a Twitter account and a “hot take” think about Mayfield. All of them seem emotionally invested in Mayfield and the Browns staying in their lane as the NFL’s go-to joke.

So did the Bengals, who reminded Cleveland’s players before the game that “you play for the Browns.”

Never mind that you actually have to go back farther in time to find the Bengals’ last playoff win than the last Browns’ postseason victory.

Times are changing. The Browns rookie QB and his teammates are pushing back and it’s frankly refreshing to see.

Mayfield is still planting flags on behalf of his team and its fans, but they’re brown and orange now, which is easier to accept.

Write Vindicator Sports Editor Ed Puskas at epuskas@vindy.com and follow him on Twitter, @EdPuskas_Vindy.