CLEVELAND — Jarvis Landry played his usual receiver role, catching a 51-yard touchdown in traffic.
He took two turns at running back, scoring a 3-yard touchdown and setting up the go-ahead score with a 51-yard rush.
He tried to throw a touchdown on a double pass but it fell incomplete in the end zone.
Perhaps Landry’s best work Sunday came after the 26-20 win over the Panthers when he took two of the most memorable quotes of the year and combined them to capture the moment.
“I guess waking up feeling dangerous is contagious,” he said.
Landry’s “contagious” speech was a highlight of “Hard Knocks,” as he demanded his fellow receivers practice every day, repeating the mantra that losing and weak-mindedness is contagious.
Three months later quarterback Baker Mayfield gave T-shirt-makers a goldmine when he said he woke up “feeling dangerous” before a win over the Falcons.
Trying to stop Landry was risky business for the Panthers. He followed up a resurgent 100-yard outing against the Texans by catching three passes for 57 yards and a touchdown and rushing twice for 54 yards and a score.
He became the first Brown since running back Leroy Hoard in 1991 with a 50-yard rush and a 50-yard catch in the same game.
The runs were a new wrinkle under coordinator Freddie Kitchens.
Confidence of Baker Mayfield, Browns on full display after 26-20 win over Panthers
On second-and-goal from the 3 on Cleveland’s first possession, Mayfield faked a handoff to speedy receiver Breshad Perriman on an end-around to the right, running back Duke Johnson went to the left as if he were going to get a pitch and Mayfield gave the ball to Landry on an inside handoff to the right. He cruised in for the touchdown.
Kitchens called the same play on third-and-2 from the Cleveland 45-yard line on the second play of the fourth quarter. Landry made a decisive cut upfield, then made several defenders miss on the way to a 51-yard pickup.
He said it was energizing to get the handoffs.
“Just to have the ball in my hands, period,” he said. “We have been working on that play for a while now. It has been in the plan. It was two big plays for us.”
Free safety Damarious Randall wasn’t impressed when the offense tried the inside handoff to Landry in practice.
“I was like, ‘Hmmm, I think they ran it a little wrong,’” he said. “But they definitely ran it perfect twice today.”
Randall then yelled at Landry as he was leaving the locker room, giving him grief that linebacker Luke Kuechly chased him down to prevent a long touchdown.
Mayfield expected the play to work inside the red zone but not in the open field. But Kitchens had the Panthers overthinking and confused by the formation.
“They thought we were going to run the same type of play but actually pitch the ball (to Johnson), give the same look and do the opposite,” Mayfield said. “I guess calling it twice worked. Jarvis made a great play, made a bunch of people miss and extended the play.”
The touchdown catch tied the game at 14 in the second quarter and was what Mayfield and Landry are paid to do. Mayfield stepped up in the pocket on third-and-17, saw safety Eric Reid with his back to Mayfield and let it rip.
Landry beat Reid and the throw arrived before cornerback Donte Jackson could get there.
“The whole plan of that play was just simple and just get the first down,” Landry said. “The middle opened up. Baker got out of the pocket. I just kind of kept running, and he made a helluva throw.”
Did he think he was open when Mayfield let it go?
“I am always open,” Landry said. “It was a helluva throw, a helluva throw.”
Mayfield said he expected a different coverage than the Cover-2 zone the Panthers used.
“They kind of let him run free,” he said. “When I realized that (Reid) was chasing Jarvis down the field, I let it go because he is not going to make a play on the ball with his head turned and I trust Jarvis to make those plays.
“It is a 50-50 ball. That is why he is here is to make those plays. Unbelievable catch.”
To celebrate, Landry and teammates gathered in the end zone and sat down as if they were warming themselves by a campfire. He said it was his idea.
“It was cold outside,” he said of the 28-degree gametime temperature.
Landry is heating up as his first season with the Browns winds down. He was acquired from Miami in a trade in March and signed a five-year, $75.5 million contract.
“Obviously, when we get the ball in his hands, that is what happens,” Mayfield said. “You have to get him going early. You have to get that momentum. Then he is a guy who he feeds off that momentum, that energy and that confidence.”
Landry was looking for the trifecta of touchdowns when Kitchens called the double pass. Mayfield threw a lateral to Landry, who looked at Mayfield short before firing deep to covered running back Nick Chubb in the end zone.
“Oh, he’s a quarterback, too, now?” left guard Joel Bitonio joked.
“I am sure he will be begging to kick it now,” interim coach Gregg Williams said. “That is the kind of guy and the kind of athlete he is, too. You can’t have too many of those guys around.”
