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Traina Thoughts: Baker Mayfield Lighting Up The City Of Cleveland Made Hue Jackson A Punching Bag

Browns coach Hue Jackson says he has to study film before naming Baker Mayfield a starter.

Jimmy Traina

Jason Mille/Getty Images

1. The Cleveland Browns won a game for the first time in 635 days last night and everyone wants Hue Jackson fired.

First things first. I don't want you to think I'm being a Debbie Downer. I loved last night's game, I was rooting hard for the Browns, it was a great scene in Cleveland and, if you've read Traina Thoughts regularly, you know I've been firmly on the Baker Bandwagon for a long time. But my colleague, Dan Gartland, covered all the feel-good stuff in today's Hot Clicks, so I have to bring something else to the table.

Yes, Baker Mayfield is the story of the day, but it's also amusing that, because Hue Jackson started the completely mediocre Tyrod Taylor for the first three games and then said he had to look at the film after last night's win before naming a starter in Week 4, people are losing their minds. 

Even I was in on the action.

I did not call for Jackson to be fired, but many people have done so even after the Browns dumped the Jets, 21-17.

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Clearly, Jackson is going to go with Mayfield and he made the comment about watching film because he probably wants to tell Taylor in person that he's lost his job. But it's still a ridiculous thing for Jackson to say. Now let's turn to some positives

It was almost like Baker knew what was coming last night when he posted this on Instagram in the afternoon.

Also, despite Baker playing out of mind and the Browns pulling off the victory, we cannot ignore the fact that the play of the night came from offensive lineman Joel Bitonio (even though the play didn't count).

My goodness, what a thing of beauty!

2. We can finally close the book on the FanDuel saga that we've been covering all week. Late Thursday afternoon, FanDuel announced that it was reversing its initial decision and would pay the guy who took advantage of a glitch to win $82,000 on an in-game bet that the Broncos would beat the Raiders on Sunday. Here is the official statement from FanDuel:

“Above all else, sports betting is supposed to be fun. As a result of a pricing error this weekend, it wasn’t for some of our customers. For eighteen seconds, bettors were offered odds paying out 750-1 on the Denver Broncos converting a 36 yard field goal. A 36 yard field goal has approximately an 85% chance of success, so the astronomical odds offered on something highly likely to occur was very obviously a pricing error. These kinds of issues are rare, but they do happen. We have clear house rules about how such obvious pricing errors are treated, which is to pay winners at the correct price.

For those familiar with the industry these rules are understood, but we realize a lot of our customers are new to sports betting and were not familiar. We want FanDuel to be a sportsbook for all bettors, and we want sports betting to be fun. So, this one’s on the house. We are paying out these erroneous tickets and wish the lucky customers well. Going forward, we are working with the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement to improve our processes and procedures.  We will also work with  others in the industry on educating bettors on these and similar instances and how they work.

We are committed to ensuring sports betting is reliable and fun for everyone, and we don’t want an eighteen second error to define anyone’s experience. So let’s have fun. This weekend, we’re giving away $82,000 to our customers, by adding $1,000 to the account of 82 lucky users. Any person who has a FanDuel Sportsbook online account as of 10AM ET this Sunday will be eligible for random selection.  Wagering is permitted only while present in New Jersey.  Full terms and conditions are available at www.sportsbook.fanduel.com.  Good luck!”

Bottom line: This is an outstanding PR move by FanDuel.

3. The newest SI Media Podcast features two interview. First up is Rolling Stone chief TV critic, Alan Sepinwall, who talks about his upcoming book on The Sopranos, plus all things Sopranos, the state of broadcast TV, the three shows you should be watching right now, the worst show he's ever seen, his top 10 shows of all time, what daily life is like for a TV critic, Friday Night Lights, The OC, Beverly Hills 90210 and much more.

New York Post media columinst, Andrew Marchand, comes in at the 44-minute mark to talk about ESPN's Monday Night Football booth, NFL ratings, FS1's terrible lineup of shows, the glut of gambling shows, Michelle Beadle's departure from Get Up, Mike Francesa's new app and more.

You can listen to the podcast below or download it on iTunes.

4. This team had Aaron Hernandez on its roster, its quarterback peddles $100 "recovery" pajamas, its coach was once fined $500,000 for illegally videotaping other teams and Julian Edelman is currently serving a suspension for PEDs. 

5. When you're a 20-game winner, like Rays pitcher Blake Snell, you can just randomly steal a fan's delicous chicken fingers.

6. Attention NFL bettors: The Week 3 edition of The MMQB Gambling Podcast, hosted by yours truly, is here for your listening pleasure.

7. RANDOM YOUTUBE VIDEO OF THE DAY: Let's remember the time when Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit acted like Baker Mayfield was a serial killer because he had some fun after a big win.

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Traina Thoughts is the best of the Internet, plus musings by SI.com writer, Jimmy Traina. Get the link to a new Traina's Thoughts each day by following on Twitter and liking on Facebook. Catch up on previous editions of Traina Thoughts right here.And make sure to listen to and subscribe to the SI Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina.

IN CLOSING: My best bet of the weekend is under 40.5 Bills-Vikigns on Sunday.

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Jimmy Traina
JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.

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