Baker Mayfield has always challenged the definition of what it means to be a leading quarterback. Everyone knows his backstory — underrated college recruit and two-time walk-on turned Heisman Trophy winner. But now that Mayfield has left Oklahoma and started his NFL career, Norman is trying to fill the gap.
In the months since the NFL draft in April, Norman has transformed into "Little Cleveland," with No. 6 Browns jerseys roaming the streets and crowding sports bars. And that was before Mayfield even took over the starting spot for what has long been one of the NFL’s worst teams.
“It’s a Browns town now, this is a Browns town,” says Riley Fish, general manager of the Norman Buffalo Wild Wings about two miles from the stadium where Mayfield entertained thousands six Saturdays a year. “We have it on sound every Sunday and that has never happened in the past. The Browns were always the last thing that would go on sound.”
Fish has started to plan his Sunday staff around the Browns’ schedule. Of his six big-screen projectors, Fish dedicates three at a minimum to Cleveland’s game every Sunday to please all those requesting a good view of the game.
Myron Patton is the sports director for FOX 25 OKC, which is prioritizing airing Browns’ games in a market that has never done so before. The sports broadcasting veteran says he has never seen a craze like this. His station has gone so far as to run on-screen crawls to inform viewers when they are unable to air Mayfield’s games.
“We try to get as many Browns games as possible,” Patton said. “We did tons of things with him at rookie minicamp, training camp, running sound bites, practice footage anything we can get ahold of we ran it. The Browns are definitely hot, no doubt about it. I think it’s national, I think he is a big draw nationally. I think his personality is one that people are kind of drawn and attracted to.”
The stats back that up. In Week 3, the Browns faced the New York Jets in a Thursday night game. Between lackluster teams that lacked a compelling start, the game seemed to be nothing spectacular. Then Tyrod Taylor went down with an injury and Mayfield entered the game trailing 14-0, Mayfield went on to lead the Browns to their first win in 635 days. He, and Oklahoma fans, have never looked back. In fact, a peak of 10.3 million viewers ultimately tuned in -- the highest-watched Thursday night game on the NFL Network in three years, and 3.1 million more than this season’s highest-rated college football game.
Sooner fans have committed their enduring loyalty to the headband-wearing, arm-waving quarterback, with some even wearing orange in a town that traditionally despises it.
OU senior Harry Ford believes that Sooner fans owe him that after he has given the university so much. “I think that he is just a person that we can all get behind,” Ford said. “The way he stuck up for us we have to have his back, too.”
The Browns came into the 2018 NFL season as an underdog, 0-16 the previous year. This played directly in No. 1 overall pick Baker Mayfield’s hand. Because, if there is one thing he is used to its being an underdog.
Everybody loves an underdog.
