Questioning Baker? Way Too Soon.

There is no question Baker Mayfield hasn’t played to the level he finished last season at.

His completion percentage has dropped from 63.8% to 56.6% and his interception rate has increased from 2.9% to 5.6%, almost double of his rookie season.

However, talk that he isn’t the answer to the Browns’ decade long quarterback issues is way too premature.

First, last season’s number were compiled over 14 games, 13 of them starts. This year, he has played just six games. So, there is a decent chance some of his numbers can improve over the next eight games.

This isn’t to say Mayfield has been blameless in the Browns’ difficulties in the early going. His interception just before halftime vs. Seattle was reckless considering the situation.

And yes, we know Jarvis Landry got a hand on the throw, but their were three defenders in the area, and considering the score at the time (Browns were leading 20-12), the better decision would have been to throw the ball in the seats and live to play another down.

On the other hand, Dontrell Hilliard and Antonio Callaway should have held on to passes each of the last two weeks, instead of popping them up into hands of defenders.

Quite frankly, it’s way too soon to jump off the bandwagon.

Mayfield’s biggest issue in our opinion is he is too aggressive at times. That’s a good thing in most football circumstances, but when he learns when to pull back on the throttle at times, we feel everyone will see a much more efficient (and better) player.

Some guys never get this, so we aren’t saying it will happen for sure.

What we do know is in the last seven games in 2018, Mayfield was sacked three times. Total. This year, in six games, he has been tackled for loss 16 times. That’s a huge difference, and most definitely could be a reason for diminished stats.

How many times have you heard opposing coaches say a quarterback can’t hurt them if he’s laying flat on his back.

How did the Giants beat the Patriots in two Super Bowls? The put pressure on Tom Brady. And as former Browns’ executive Ernie Accorsi has said, the two most important positions on the field are the QB and a guy who can get to the opposing QB.

No coincidence that when the Browns had the first overall picks in both 2017 and 2018 they took Myles Garrett and Mayfield.

What we don’t see, and this leads us to believe this is a blip on the radar, is a passer not being able to throw guys open, or missing wide open receivers.

Mayfield has had two games where he has hit over 65% of his throws this season (vs. Houston and vs. Baltimore).

And he’s not dinking and dunking either. The former Heisman Trophy winner ranks third in the league in average yards per completion at 13.4, behind only Patrick Mahomes and Jameis Winston.

Also, of the 10 worst pass defenses statistically, the Browns have faced one, Baltimore.

Conversely, they’ve faced two of the top 10 squads: San Francisco and Tennessee. So, Mayfield has seen more real good defenses than real bad ones.

Browns Have Plenty To Fix During Week Off.

Back in the late 1960’s, when the Browns were heading into a playoff game, the late sports editor of The Plain Dealer, Hal Lebovitz used to talk about “zero defects”, meaning the football team needed to stay away from mistakes in these big games.

We thought about that as we watched Sunday afternoon, when the Browns squandered a 20-6 lead and fell to 2-4 after a 32-28 loss to Seattle.

Freddie Kitchens’ squad is second in the NFL in turnovers on the season with 14, sandwiched in between the New York Giants and Tampa Bay, two teams who didn’t come into the season with big playoff aspirations.

And the Browns also are tied for the league lead in penalties (with Atlanta), and they have accumulated the most yards penalized to date.

You put those two things together, and it is amazing the Browns have won two games.

It is difficult for a coach to tell his team not to commit turnovers and still have them be aggressive, but in the past two games, interceptions before halftime have hurt the Browns badly.

This past Sunday, Baker Mayfield’s pick with a 20-12 lead and under two minutes to go was a terrible decision. The intended receiver, Jarvis Landry, was surrounded by defenders. With the score in his favor, the quarterback should throw the ball in Lake Erie instead of trying to fit one in.

At the very least, Cleveland should’ve went into the half with a 23-12 lead.

Now, it wasn’t Mayfield’s fault the defense let Seattle go 88 yards to cut the lead to 20-18 before intermission.

After a promising start to the season, the defense has been bad the past three weeks, allowing at least 175 yards rushing in each contest.

Here is a current list of the worst teams in the NFL against the run:

Cincinnati (0-6)
Miami (0-5)
Kansas City (4-2)
Cleveland (2-4)
Washington (1-5)

Another old adage for football teams is if you can’t run the ball and stop the run, it’s tough to win, and that holds true even in today’s pass happy NFL.

You can see from this list, you have to have an overwhelming offense to overcome not being able to stop teams from running the ball, and the Chiefs have lost two straight because their opponents have controlled the clock and played keep away.

Kitchens said during training camp the defensive front might be the strength of the team, but right now it looks far from that, and as for the pass rush, the Browns rank 4th, but it seems like if it isn’t Myles Garrett (9) applying the pressure, it simply isn’t there.

Cleveland is only in the middle of the pack in terms of quarterback pressures.

We understand it’s a pretty simplistic viewpoint, but it’s clear these are the two areas to clean up during the bye week.

The defense has to be better against the ground game. They cannot let opponents control the line of scrimmage and gash them for big yardage.

Offensively, they have to hold on to the ball, you cannot continue to turn it over at this rate and win football games.

It has been a brutal schedule to be sure. Cleveland has played two of the best five teams in the NFL thus far (San Francisco and Seattle) and will play another one (New England) in their next game.

The team currently leading the division, Baltimore, has to play the 49ers and Seahawks, as well as the Rams.

So, the division is still in play.

But the Browns have to get into “zero defects” mode. If they can, this season will still have a long way to go.

Good News…Browns Have Improved Each Week

To say the Cleveland Browns have disappointed their fan base would be an understatement.

Of course, after two seasons with a combined 1-31 record, last year’s 7-8-1 finish would compare to another franchise going 14-2 during the regular season.

And after GM John Dorsey traded for Odell Beckham Jr., the supporters of the Browns around northeast Ohio and all across the country had visions of a 12-4 or better record for the 2019 season.

So, the start after three games, with a 1-2 record, has greeted them like a bucket of ice water dumped over their collective heads.

No doubt, it has been a shock.

On the other hand, if you are a fan who didn’t allow visions of a Super Bowl dance in your head, then the performance of Freddie Kitchens and his football team is, although not satisfying, understandable.

In looking at the first three games of the season, the Browns are guilty of playing one horrible quarter, the fourth in the season lidlifter against the Titans.

Other than that, they’ve played okay. Not the above average brand of football many expected (including us), so there is certainly a lot of room for improvement.

Baker Mayfield hasn’t played to the level he showed in the second half of the 2018 season, and he appears to be indecisive, which could be an indication of running a different offense from a year ago.

This was illustrated to us in the fourth quarter of Sunday night’s game vs. the Rams when on a third and long inside the Browns’ own five, Mayfield was sacked by Clay Matthews III.

There was no outlet receiver for the quarterback. All of the targets streaked down the field, 20 yards from the line of scrimmage. There was no option to avoid the sack, outside of heaving the ball downfield and risking an interception.

This leads us to think there is more of the offense Todd Monken used last year in Tampa and less of what was successful for Cleveland when Kitchens was the offensive coordinator.

There is no question Mayfield plays better when he throws quickly, and also Beckham’s strength seems to be getting the ball on the move and his ability to run after the catch. So, why not do more of that?

We hope there was more than a discussion between Kitchens and Monken to do more of what Mayfield does well. After all, isn’t that the definition of coaching? Putting your players in positions where they have the best chance to succeed?

One thing that we think is for real is the Browns’ defense. Yes, the 43 points in the opener doesn’t look great, but 21 of them came in the last quarter with the Titans having a short field due to three interceptions.

Even with a totally new secondary against the Rams, they held the LA offense to just 20 points. And the Browns have a player offenses must account for in Myles Garrett, who has had a sack in all three games, and overall has six for the year.

John Dorsey added experienced depth in the secondary and it has paid off thus far. If that unit keeps improving and gets healthy, by the end of the year, it may very well be the strength of the team.

Because NFL teams play once a week, there is too much emotion involved in each game. If the Browns win this week at Baltimore, they will be tied for first in the division, and the optimism will no doubt be heightened.

Let’s all just take a deep breath.

Play Poorly And Win By 20? That’s A Good Thing.

It says something that the Cleveland Browns can win a game in which they played poorly.

They certainly didn’t play their “A” game while beating the New York Jets 23-3 last night in New Jersey.

In past years, the Browns needed to play very well, and have their opponents play bad to have a chance to win. The expectations nationally show how things have changed football wise here, but getting a win when you play subpar might be better.

We heard former Browns’ QB Trent Dilfer say recently that with teams not playing veterans much in the preseason, it takes about four weeks for teams to get in a rhythm.

Freddie Kitchens’ team can vouch for that.

We felt the penalties in the opener were an aberration, and that turned out to be true. Outside of Myles Garrett’s two roughing the passer fouls, the Browns played a fairly disciplined game.

Speaking of Garrett, much was made about this being Baker Mayfield’s coming out party, his debut on a nationally televised NFL game, but it was the 2017 first overall pick who impressed.

Yes, the penalties were bad, and he needs to play more under control, however, he dominated the Jets’ offensive line with three sacks, giving him five now on the young season.

The offense is still sputtering, and it seems like Kitchens is still a tad too pass happy, trying to use his new toys.

The second year passer threw 35 times, compared to just 18 rushing attempts for Nick Chubb.

It also hasn’t helped that Mayfield’s accuracy has been off through the first two games, he seems to be high on his throws. It may be because he doesn’t have the confidence in the offensive line just yet or it could be because defensive coordinators are disguising things a bit better for the second year quarterback.

We also think the QB is looking for big plays that aren’t there, and needs to take what the defense gives him more often.

We are confident that Mayfield will learn and adjust, and his play will improve as the season goes on.

Until then, we’d like to see the running game a bit more.

We also are feeling a little confident in the special teams. John Dorsey raised some eyebrows by going with a pair of rookie kickers, but through two games (again, small sample) Austin Siebert and Jamie Gillan have been just fine.

The former made three field goals last night and Gillan has had just one punt that has been attempted to be returned. And he made sure the Browns kept the field position advantage last night repeatedly making the Jets, with an inexperienced QB, start inside their own 20.

And the coverage has been very good too. After years and years of the special teams putting Cleveland in tough spots, this is refreshing.

It shows how far the Browns have come that they can still win a game on the road by 20 points, even if a backup quarterback plays for the opposition.

On the other hand, the NFC Champion Rams come to town this Sunday night, and a better effort will be needed.

As we always say, you don’t want to be playing your best football in week two. There is still plenty of time for improvement.

Relax, Browns Fans. It’s One Game

To be sure, no one in northeast Ohio thought the Cleveland Browns would lose by 30 points in week one of the 2019 NFL schedule.

After all kinds of optimism, including here, over the weekend, the Tennessee Titans pounded the Browns 43-13 at First Energy Stadium.

We are hearing the squeals of panic from both fans and media alike after the performance, with many focusing on the 20 penalties (two were declined) called on the brown and orange, saying it is a sign of the undisciplined ways of Freddie Kitchens.

We heard Kitchens say pretty much at every halftime during the pre-season complaining about the amount of penalties on his team, so we are pretty sure he doesn’t condone them.

Our thought at the time was that it was reserves committing the fouls, because let’s face it, the Browns didn’t play a lot of starters in the games that don’t count.

And we also doubt Kitchens told Greg Robinson to kick someone or Myles Garrett to slap someone in the face.

On the other hand, if the Browns are penalized 10 or more times next Monday night against the Jets, then an eyebrow should be raised. Until that happens, let’s consider that the flags in the opener were a blip on the radar, or perhaps the result of one of the NFL’s terrible officiating crews.

We are frequent critics of the league’s officials, mostly because they are terribly inconsistent and selective. Perhaps the crew on Sunday interpreted the way the Browns did some things (not the kicking or slapping) as penalties and another crew won’t.

Remember, the same crew ignored a play clock violation for two or three seconds on Titans’ punt. Who knows what they were watching then?

That said, there were definitely some issues with the opening game.

It seemed that Kitchens got caught up in playing with his new toys, and ignored one of the biggest reasons for the Browns’ success in the second half of last season.

Nick Chubb carried the ball just 17 times for 75 yards, but just six times in the first half. Only one of those carries was for negative yards, and two of the totes went for 10 and 9 yards.

The offensive line was a problem too. Cameron Wake ran around RT Chris Hubbard several times, and when Robinson was ejected, it put the offensive line in shambles.

If your offensive line is an issue, doesn’t running the ball successfully take some pressure off the unit?

But let’s not forget this was a 15-13 game with two minutes to go in the third quarter. It’s not like they were blown out from the get go. The screen pass to Derrick Henry for 75 yards after Cleveland made it a two point game was the back breaker.

The Browns got impatient after that. Baker Mayfield forced a couple of throws, both were picked off, and the rout was on. Mayfield could’ve used some patience. There was still a quarter to play and it was just a two score game.

Plenty of time to come back.

We get that there was a lot of anticipation going into the season, and it was a kick in the head (no pun intended, Greg Robinson) for not only the fans, but also for the Browns.

Remember this, when the Browns beat the Steelers 51-0 in the season opener in 1989, the Steelers went 9-7 and made the playoffs.

It’s just one game. Again, if we see the same thing next Monday night against the Jets, then it could be a problem.

A Trip To The Playoffs Starts Today.

Today, the Cleveland Browns kickoff the 2019 season, and for the first time in four years there are expectations to live up to.

Fans expect this football team to make the playoffs, something the team hasn’t done since 2004. Cleveland went 5-2 to end the season a year ago, and the last loss, in the final game of the season, ended with Baker Mayfield through an interception with the Browns driving for a go ahead score.

That was the last time we saw this team in a game that counts.

While the Browns didn’t beat any winning teams in that seven game stretch, they did give several a battle early in the season when Hue Jackson was at the helm.

They tied the Steelers in the season opener last year.

The tied the Saints with a little over a minute to go in New Orleans in week two, and a missed extra point could’ve given them a 19-18 lead. The Saints kicked the winning field goal with 21 seconds left.

They played four overtime games in 2018, going 1-2-1, beating the Ravens, their only win over a winning team.

This is a very young football team. As we said a week ago, there are only five players on this roster over 29 years of age, and two of them are backup quarterback Drew Stanton and long snapper Charlie Hughlett.

The thing about a young football team is it will get better with experience. Baker Mayfield should be better, Nick Chubb should be better, Denzel Ward should be better, and Myles Garrett should be better.

But that wasn’t good enough for GM John Dorsey. He wanted more help for his two franchise cornerstones, first overall picks Garrett and Mayfield.

He accelerated the progress by trading for Odell Beckham Jr. and Olivier Vernon, an elite wide receiver to help Mayfield and another pass rusher to aid Garrett. He also signed DT Sheldon Richardson as a free agent.

Remember what former Browns GM Ernie Accorsi said were the two most important positions in football. The quarterback and people who can get to the quarterback.

Mayfield and Garrett. Mayfield and Garrett. Mayfield and Garrett.

Dorsey also understands this is a passing league now, and so in addition to the pass rushers, he loves secondary people.

Ward was his first defensive draft pick, and if he can stay healthy (he had two concussions a year ago), he looks like he can be the shutdown cover corner good teams need.

That’s why he took CB Greedy Williams as his first pick (second round) in the 2019 draft. Williams was heralded for his ability to pick off passes in college, and the brass hopes eventually he will team with Ward to have a pair of corners to rival the 80’s duo of Hanford Dixon and Frank Minniefield.

Yes, the Browns have a new coach, and yes, that coach was only a coordinator for seven games last season.

We don’t know how Freddie Kitchens will do in terms of clock management, etc. (the things media and fans focus on), but we do think the players respect him and like playing for him.

He seems like to right guy to lead this football team.

Everyone may be singing a different tune in about a month, but optimism reigns as the Browns take the field this afternoon, and it should.

Barring injuries, the talent is there. Now it’s time to put the talent into use.

Pressure To Win Should Be Welcoming To Browns

Losing isn’t any fun, but it also doesn’t bring any pressure. That’s what the Cleveland Browns have dealt with for much of the last 25 years.

This year is different. This year the Browns are expected to contend for a playoff spot if not win the AFC North.

It all starts next week when training camp commences in Berea.

GM John Dorsey has put together a solid roster, and winning five of the last seven games the prior season puts expectations at a higher level than they’ve been since Cleveland came off a 10-6 season in 2007.

The 2008 squad, coached by Romeo Crennel, started the season losing their first three games, but rebounded to 4-6 after a Monday night win over Buffalo.

They lost their last six games as the offense fell apart, scoring no more than 10 points in any of those games, and were actually shutout in the final two games, losing 14-0 to Cincinnati with Ken Dorsey at quarterback, and dropping a 31-0 decision to Pittsburgh with Bruce Gradkowski at the controls.

From there, the Browns have been largely irrelevant as a franchise.

After the 2016 and 2017 seasons produced just one win combined, things could only go up, right?

Following those two disastrous campaigns, the organization drafted what should be franchise cornerstones in Myles Garrett and Baker Mayfield, a pass rusher and a quarterback, arguably the two most important positions on the field.

Add in the acquisition of All Pro wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. and suddenly the Browns have a national buzz around them. But can they live up to the hype?

New coach Freddie Kitchens, never a head coach before, understands the expectations and repeatedly says the players have to know they haven’t accomplished anything to this point, and he is there to remind them if they start believing it.

Yes, the Browns went 5-2 to end the season, but they didn’t beat any teams with an above .500 record in that stretch. In fact, there only win over a playoff team last season came over the Ravens, and Hue Jackson was the head coach!

Fans shouldn’t expect the division to be a cakewalk either. After all, the Browns didn’t beat the Steelers last year, and the Ravens still have one of the game’s best coaches in John Harbaugh, even if they have a QB who can’t pass.

The reasons for optimism are real though. Mayfield showed signs he can be one of the sport’s premier signal callers, and as everyone should know by now, if you have that quarterback, you have a chance in every game you play.

On Thursday, the pressure to succeed starts for the first time in over ten years. The Browns are supposed to be good. A playoff berth is expected by the fan base, although playoff contention should be a more realistic goal.

Kitchens knows it, Dorsey knows it, and Mayfield and the rest of the roster knows it.

They know, barring injuries, that a 6-10 record will be viewed as failure. There can be no excuses.

That’s the new challenge for the Cleveland Browns. Gutting the roster is easy, the first chore is to acquire talent, and next thing on the checklist is to convert the talent to victories on the field.

Finally, the Browns have the pressure to be an NFL playoff team.

Browns Make A Trade And Use Patience

The legal tampering period in the NFL started yesterday, so the NFL rumors will start flying around over the next couple of days.

The Browns did make a move ahead of the league’s new year, trading guard Kevin Zeitler to the New York Giants for pass rusher Olivier Vernon.

We will spare you the whole “trust in Dorsey” stuff, but we will say we do believe the Browns have a pretty good idea of what they have in last year’s second round pick Austin Corbett, and wouldn’t have made the deal without a staunch belief he will be more than a adequate replacement for Zeitler.

Remember, Corbett was a few picks away from being a first rounder last season.

As for Vernon, our opinion defensively is the same as former Browns executive Ernie Accorsi, who said the most important positions on the field are quarterback, and guys who can get to the quarterback.

That means you can never have enough pass rushers, and the Browns needed someone opposite Myles Garrett, who could pressure opposing passers.

Vernon had 22 sacks in his 39 games with the Giants. Contrast that to Emmanuel Ogbah, who has had 12.5 sacks in his three year career, spanning 40 games, with the Browns.

Ogbah’s high total in sacks for a season was 5.5 in his rookie year, the season he played without Garrett as his bookend. We are sure Dorsey and the coaching staff didn’t love that Ogbah didn’t make opponents pay for double teaming the former first overall pick.

It’s a risky deal because Zeitler is a quality player, but the Browns had a replacement for him on the roster, and used a strength to fill a weakness. We wish other teams who play in Cleveland would do the same thing.

Outside of pass rushers, the other thing good defenses can’t have enough of is cornerbacks, and that’s an area we believe Dorsey will continue to build on in the off-season.

We wouldn’t be surprised if a corner was drafted in either the first or second round in the upcoming draft, nor would it be a shock to see one signed in free agency, perhaps Steven Nelson, who played with Kansas City (Dorsey factor) last season.

With the release of TE Darren Fells, no doubt a tight end will be sought too. Fells is 33, and we know Dorsey prefers younger players who still have an upside.

It’s hard to believe with all of the two tight end sets the Browns use, they will go into the season with just David Njoku, Seth DeValve, and Orson Charles, who really played H-back, on the roster.

We also believe the team knows they need to upgrade the defensive tackle position. Larry Ogunjobi needs someone next to him who will make offenses pay for double teaming him too. Today’s signing of Sheldon Richardson will help there too.

Remember, when Dorsey strikes, there aren’t a lot of rumors attached signaling a move. That’s how he operates.

We do believe the general manager at his word that the Browns won’t go crazy in free agency, but we do feel he will make two or three solid roster additions in this market.

The organization isn’t going to go “all in”, but they know the time to take the playoffs has arrived. That will drive the GM’s aggressiveness.

Thanks, Browns. For Making Football Matter Again

If the plan for the Cleveland Browns continues to progress, 2018 will be the known as the year football became relevant in northeast Ohio again.

This afternoon, the Browns have a chance to finish over .500 at 8-7-1, and as a bonus, they can knock the Baltimore Ravens out of the playoffs.

After a pair of seasons in which they won a single game combined, Cleveland has become normal. They can be classed with the rest of the league, and not a joke of a franchise.

And over the past three seasons, the organization (and yes, we mean both general managers) has put together a solid core of very good young players.

It appears after all these years the Browns have their quarterback in rookie Baker Mayfield. They have a pass rushing force, Myles Garrett, for perhaps the first time since the 1950’s.

They have a shutdown cornerback in Denzel Ward, if he can avoid getting concussions which kept him out much of the second half of the year. We have heard people talk about Ward not making as much of an impact since the first few games of the season, and that’s because opponents stopped throwing his way.

Nick Chubb should reach the 1,000 yard plateau today, despite not really playing much in the first half of the season. Joe Schobert is the leader of the defense from middle linebacker, and when Gregg Williams is asked about Mayfield’s leadership, he always brings up Schobert as well.

And Jabril Peppers and Larry Ogunjobi are showing they will be mainstays of the defense.

Yes, the Browns still have some holes, they need to add depth, and they could use help at linebacker and in the secondary, and also need to add to the offensive line.

Instead of looking for a quarterback, the main focus of this off-season will be to find the head coach that will hopefully guide the Browns to the playoffs for the first time since 2002, and the man who can take the franchise to its first Super Bowl.

In the past week, we have heard growing whispers that owner Jimmy Haslam will be involved in the process, and we pray this is not the case.

Let GM John Dorsey lead the search, make the decision, and have the owner sign off. That should be the extent of Haslam’s involvement.

Our concern is that ownership wants to bring in the “hot” name, a flashy hire, instead of getting the best man for the job.

In our opinion, there aren’t a lot of difference makers as a head coach in the NFL, and two of them, Andy Reid and John Harbaugh, were not the hot coordinators in the league when hired.

But they were leaders, and turned out to be the best men for the job for their respective teams.

And that’s what Dorsey should be looking for, and we believe he will pick the correct candidate. Hopefully, the ownership goes along with his choice.

With a bunch of draft picks this spring and a ton of salary cap space at his disposal, Dorsey’s charge this off-season is taking the Cleveland Browns from a contender to an AFC power, a team that is consistently in the playoff mix.

No matter what happens today, 2018 will be looked at fondly down the road by football fans here.

It was the year football mattered again.

Playoff Hopes Slim, But These Browns Have A Lot To Play For.

After defeating the Denver Broncos last Saturday night, nothing went the way the Cleveland Browns wanted them on Sunday.

Most notably, the Steelers defeated the Patriots, meaning the Browns already slim chance to make the playoffs are down to a very convoluted results, which would need Indianapolis and Houston to tie on the last weekend of the season.

That said, there are still plenty of things for the Browns to play for during these last two games, the home finale this week vs. Cincinnati, and at Baltimore the weekend before New Year’s Day.

First is a chance to finish over .500 for the first time since 2007, and only the second time since they returned to the NFL as an expansion team in 1999. The even crazier stat is since 1989, 29 years ago, the Browns have been over the break even mark just three times (1994, 2002, and 2007).

That’s unbelievable.

They also have a chance to win four divisional games in one season. That hasn’t happened since Bill Belichick was in charge here, and that was 1994. Back then, the Houston Oilers were still in existence and were in the AFC Central with the Browns, Steelers, and Bengals.

So, success has been a seldom occurrence for this football team, which we think everyone has realized this season.

It’s been so rare, some fans don’t know how to handle it. We have heard a few people saying since the last two games don’t really make a difference for the Browns, Baker Mayfield and some other key players should sit them out to avoid injuries.

First, athletes (and include leaders and coaches) don’t think that way.

Second, the only reasons to do that is to rest players for a possible playoff game or to sit a veteran player out in order to look at younger guys. In Cleveland’s case, Mayfield and the others are the young players.

Sitting them out is a loser mentality, living in your own fear. Besides, would you want to be the person to tell Mayfield he isn’t playing the last two contests?

Nick Chubb, who didn’t play much in the first quarter of the season, needs to average 70 yards per game in the last two weeks to reach the 1,000 yard plateau. Now, a 1,000 yard season doesn’t have the cache it used to have, but it still would be a great accomplishment for the rookie.

With three more sacks this season, Myles Garrett would rank in the top ten all time for the franchise in career sacks, tying Kennard Lang and Jamir Miller. Reminder, he’s playing in just his second year.

We said this when he was drafted, but we’ve been watching Browns’ football for more than 50 years and they have never had a pass rusher like Garrett.

And then you have the coaching situation. There is no doubt that Gregg Williams has a better case to keep the job if the Browns go 6-2 in the last eight games rather than 5-3 or 4-4.

Also, Freddie Kitchens’ reputation would be more enhanced the more Cleveland racks up victories. If he isn’t the offensive coordinator here next season, we will have that job somewhere in 2019.

While the playoff hopes are minuscule, there is still a lot to play for if you are part of this Browns’ organization. That’s why they will treat these last two games like they have any of the contests since Gregg Williams took over.