Franchise quarterback Baker Mayfield is back

It took a while, but Baker Mayfield has returned to form

The Cleveland Browns are coming off their biggest win of the season after a 41-35 drubbing of the (currently) AFC South-leading Tennessee Titans, and the game was never close. Baker Mayfield has taken plenty of (deserved) ridicule this season, and has missed some easy throws over the past few weeks, but you wouldn’t know it watching him against Tennessee. He was just about perfect, throwing for four (should have been five) touchdowns in the first half as he lit up the Titans secondary.

Mayfield finished 25 of 33 for 334 yards and four touchdowns. He extended his interception-less streak to 156, and would have done significantly more damage had Kevin Stefanski not gone ultra-conservative for the entire second half.

Mayfield was decisive and accurate all game long, and still put up perhaps the best game of his NFL career, despite some untimely drops from his receivers. The Browns were not supposed to win this game. They were supposed to get run over by Derrick Henry and struggle to throw the ball. Instead, Mayfield’s first-half dominance made Henry a complete non-factor. It’s difficult to overstate just how good Mayfield was, and in the biggest game of the season (thus far) nonetheless. 41 points while Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt were held in check was not the outcome anyone expected.

This isn’t a flash in the pan, either. Mayfield is growing more comfortable in this offense and is taking to coaching. The two remaining divisional games will be tough tests, but he looks up to them.

“Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen” – Kevin Stefanski, probably

Mayfield is currently in (by far) the best stretch of his NFL career. Here are his stats over the past six games:

5-1 record, 102/157, 1,347 yards, 11 touchdowns, and one interception (on the first throw of the game against the Cincinnati Bengals, which appears to have been a turning point in his career). That’s excellent QB play, and although he has had his share of misfires in that span, he’s making the big throws when his team needs them. For a player whose job many were calling for, his turnaround has been nothing short of remarkable.

It just goes to show how important coaching is, and it seems like the Browns finally have a good coach. Mayfield had to un-learn a lot of bad habits that he developed over his first two seasons, and the results are beginning to show themselves. He’s become excellent at drawing opponents offsides and his play-action fakes have been exquisite. Mayfield is comfortable in the pocket again. He’s moving defenders with his eyes and working through progressions. He’s doing everything he didn’t do last season, and his play of late could not be more encouraging.

Mayfield has been for sure a top-10 NFL QB since Week 7, and arguably top-five.

That grade will be quite a bit higher come Monday morning. It was always going to take time for Mayfield to adjust to this new offensive system, a scheme that he’s never played in before. Add to that the “offseason” impacted by the ongoing pandemic, and it’s a wonder he’s playing this well.

If the entire NFL world still doesn’t know that Baker Mayfield is back, he can show everyone by continuing his elite stretch of play on national television in a massive divisional showdown against the Baltimore Ravens on Monday Night Football. That game will be the biggest of his career, and probably the biggest for the team since 2002.

Oh, and he probably shut Colin Cowherd too, as an added bonus.