Baker Mayfield posting W’s but not stats

Shouldn’t winning be enough, or does Baker Mayfield need stats also?

The Cleveland Browns are 7-3 for the first time in years, so you would think that there would be nothing but praise for coach Kevin Stefanski, quarterback Baker Mayfield and really everyone who wears the brown and orange. Not so, however. You see, perfectionist fans are disappointed that Mayfield is not putting up enough style points. They want to win fantasy football every week with Mayfield as their quarterback, and there he is, with fewer than half the points of Patrick Mahomes or Russell Wilson.

He is currently 27th in the NFL in yardage and has only 15 touchdown passes, tying him for 15th in the NFL. With Odell Beckham, Jr. out for the season and Jarvis Landry at less than 100 percent with cracked ribs, it’s predictable that Mayfield may not be the passing machine many of his fans expected to see.

Yet, with a healthy Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt, there is no reason why the backfield duo cannot continue to put up numbers and pound opposing defenses into the turf. Versus Philadelphia, the Browns had 40 rush attempts versus 22 pass attempts. In other words, the Browns ran the ball 65 percent of the time. The table below shows that the Browns, over the course of the season, have established an identity as a running team. They actually lead the NFL in percentage of run plays.

Team                    Rush     Pass     Rush Pct      Pass Pct

BALTIMORE             27        39           41%           59%

CINCINNATI             35        23           60%           40%

WASHINGTON        37        23           62%           38%

DALLAS                     40        31           56%           44%

INDIANAPOLIS        33       38            46%           54%

PITTSBURGH           22       28            44%           56%

CINCINNATI             22        29            44%           56%

LAS VEGAS               22       25            47%           53%

HOUSTON                41       20            67%            33%

PHILADELPHIA       40       22            65%            35%

TOTAL                        319  278            53%           47%

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the Browns prefer to run the ball, so gigantic passing numbers will not result. They actually run the ball more often than they put it in the air.