4 reasons Baker Mayfield has seen his numbers go down

The Browns are not protecting Baker Mayfield well enough

Let’s get real for a moment. Baker Mayfield has been sacked 12 times, and has been pressured 25 times in four games. To compare, Joe Burrow of the Cincinnati Bengals has been sacked 11 times and has been pressured 26 times. Yet the buzz is that the Bengals have a lousy offensive line and cannot run the ball, yet statistically they are in a dead heat.

What about the Pittsburgh Steelers? They are sitting pretty having allowed only 10 sacks of Ben “The Dancing Gazelle” Roethlisberger. If the Browns are giving up more sacks than the Steelers, perhaps there is something wrong, particularly because the Steelers put the ball in the air so many more times than the Browns.

How can you possibly sit there gloating about how good the offensive line is while the Browns are giving up more sacks than the Steelers?

Cleveland is way better than the Steelers. Nobody is saying that the Bengals offensive line or the Steelers offensive line are more talented than the Browns offensive line. But it’s true that the Browns offensive line is way underperforming right now.

You simply cannot argue with the numbers. Something is wrong with the pass protection. Part of it is injury related, as Jed Wills has been battling a sprained ankle all season long (so far, the sprained ankle is ahead on most of the judges’ scorecards). Jack Conklin and J.C. Tretter have not missed time, but they have been banged up a bit also. Backups Chris Hubbard and Michael Dunn are not at full health either, though they are getting close.

Extended over a 17-game season, Mayfield is being sacked at the rate of 51 sacks per year. As a rule of thumb, quarterback bodies deteriorate if they are tackled more than twice a game, but they will regenerate if they are tackled fewer than twice per game.

The Tim Couch rule says it is impossible to accurately evaluate a quarterback who is getting sacked at the rate of 50 times per season. The prediction of the Couch rule is that Mayfield’s health will get worse, and his numbers will be bad, which is what we are starting to see.

If the Browns can patch together some of the holes in the offensive line, things might improve for the quarterback also.