The blindside hit that finally took out Baker Mayfield came off the field. The Cleveland quarterback had toughed it out for months, playing with a fractured left shoulder, bruised knee and heel issue. He was back to being himself, mostly healed.

“This is the best I’ve felt since Week 2,” Mayfield said following last week’s win over Baltimore. Now, he’s sacked. And he’s hardly alone.

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Mayfield is one of several Cleveland starters — along with coach Kevin Stefanski — expected to miss Saturday’s game against the Las Vegas Raiders after testing positive for COVID-19 during a week in which the virus ran rampant across the NFL, leading to an adjustment in the league’s health protocols.

As of Thursday, the Browns (7-6) had 18 players on the COVID-19 reserve list and were prepared to head into a game they need to win in order to keep their playoff hopes intact without Mayfield, top wide receiver Jarvis Landry, two starting offensive linemen and two starting safeties.

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On Thursday, Case Keenum, who was slated to replace Mayfield, tested positive as another wave of positive tests crashed down on Cleveland’s roster. The timing would be bad any time, but especially with four games left and little margin for error if the Browns want to make the playoffs.

To keep a season that begin with big expectations from fizzling, Cleveland will have to count on backups and probably its running game to get past the Raiders.

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It’s not a new situation for the Browns. Last season, Stefanski missed Cleveland’s first playoff game since 2003 after testing positive and watched the Browns beat Pittsburgh in the wild-card round from a couch in his basement.

Reliable Renfrow:

While the Raiders have been struggling, slot receiver Hunter Renfrow has been a consistent bright spot.

Renfrow has 30 catches in the past three games, the most receptions in a three-game span in Raiders history. Renfrow (86 receptions) is just the fourth Raiders receiver with at least 85 catches in a season.

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“It’s easy to identify him on the field because the ball seems to find him all the time and usually the ball finds good players,” interim coach Rich Bisaccia said. “He’s a really special player.”

Give it away:

The Raiders’ propensity for turnovers has played a key role in their recent slide.

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After turning the ball over just five times — second fewest in the NFL — over the first seven games, the Raiders have 12 giveaways in six games since the bye. They turned it over five times last week in the loss at Kansas City, including a fumble by Josh Jacobs on the opening play from scrimmage that was returned for a touchdown.

Las Vegas lost three more fumbles and had an interception against the Chiefs.