Baker Mayfield: Where Are We Now?
Entering the 2020 season, there was a lot of optimism regarding Baker Mayfield and his development in his third year under better coaching and eight games into the season, nothing has really changed for the Cleveland Browns, which is a little troubling, but could work out for the best.
The bad news is that Mayfield has not firmly established himself as the Browns franchise quarterback and the early returns from this season haven't been great. The good news is that the Browns have still won games, putting themselves firmly into the playoff picture, which has reduced the spotlight on Mayfield, allowing him to figure some things out and his play the two weeks before the bye week have been encouraging.
Mayfield had a tremendous performance, throwing five touchdown passes and showcasing all of the ability and promise he had his rookie year, leading the Browns to victory against the Cincinnati Bengals. Arguably the best performance of his career.
Against the Las Vegas Raiders, he wasn't perfect, but the weather didn't stop Mayfield from throwing some incredible passes that could have put the Browns firmly in the mix to win the game. He threw a pair of beautiful passes into the end zone that weren't converted.
The bye week should hopefully enable Mayfield to continue on an upward trend and come out playing well against the Houston Texans to open up the second half of the season, followed by the Philadelphia Eagles and Jacksonville Jaguars.
None of this addresses some of the lingering questions regarding Mayfield under pressure or against disguised coverages, but he was receiving fair criticisms about throws he wasn't making from a clean pocket. The past two games, he has been great in that area.
And this may have been mental as much as it was physical. The pressure to live up to being the savior of the Cleveland Browns and recapture the success he had as a rookie had him pressing, trying to be the hero and taking good situations and making them bad or making bad situations worse. A pressure he didn't feel as a rookie when he was just playing football and having the time of his life doing it.
That player showed up in Cincinnati. Given the fact the Browns only scored six points, the joy wasn't going to show up against the Raiders, but the throws did. With a week to reflect on the season up to this point, that player will host the Texans on November 15th.
Clearly, the preference would have been for Mayfield to come out playing great, looking like a Pro Bowler, eliminating any doubt he's the quarterback for this team, so the plan could be solely focused on improving the team around. Eight weeks in, it's still about his talent and just how much he's capable of and waiting for it all to come together.
For some, it won't matter how well Mayfield performs against anyone other than the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers. Mayfield is going to have to be able to lift his team to beat them if the Browns ever intend to be a true contender for the Super Bowl, but it's something he's going to have to work up to do consistently.
The Browns and Mayfield were able to beat both the Ravens and Steelers last year, but neither team was as potent as they are now. They are among the elite teams in the league this year, both viable contenders to win the Super Bowl. Mayfield must play better, but the entire team has to operate at a higher level.
In the mean time, Mayfield and the Browns have the bye week plus three games against teams with losing records to build up to a road game against Tennessee Titans. The following week they will face the Ravens at home. Those are two big games for this team, which are then followed with a pair of terrible teams from East Rutherford, New Jersey, the Browns will face off against the Steelers in the finale.
And unless the NFL adds an eighth playoff team to each conference due to COVID-19, which has been mentioned, the Steelers may have significant stakes to play for in the final week of the season. If beating the Browns would secure the Steelers the only bye in the AFC bracket, they are going to do everything they can to win that game.
As a result, that could be a huge game for the Browns and Mayfield as it could potentially determine their entry into the playoffs this year. Win or go home against arguably the best team in the league.
That is eight weeks and seven games away. For now, it's about building up to those types of games and unfortunately, that is asking Browns fans to have additional patience with Mayfield. The last two games are extremely encouraging. If those prove indicative of his play coming out of bye, the issue should take care of itself. It won't be perfect, but if he can simply be consistent in the areas he's historically done well and improve in the areas he hasn't, he can be the franchise quarterback this team needs.
