4 reasons Baker Mayfield has seen his numbers go down
The Browns just played legit good teams
This factor is saved for last because it is the cheesiest excuse, but it has an element of truth to it. Minnesota and especially Chicago may have some problems on offense but these two teams are very strong defensively and are quite capable of disrupting the Browns’ plans on offense.
Maybe if the Browns looked bad on offense, we are failing to give enough credit to the defenses that created those situations. They are paid to make plays in the NFL also, and their job is to make opposing offenses look bad. The Browns have played Kansas City, Houston, Chicago and Minnesota.
In terms of pass defense, they rank Kansas City 27th, Houston 22nd, Chicago 15th and Minnesota 18th. Nobody was thinking at the beginning of the season that Kansas City was going to be ranked so poorly, but there they are. If you just look at the sequence, Chicago and Minnesota are ranked higher than Kansas City and Houston.
Thus, if you are looking for reasons why the Browns passing offense has looked weaker the past two games, maybe it is because the opponents have been significantly tougher. Specifically, the NFC North teams average an average of eight slots higher than the other two. (16.5 versus 24.5). So maybe it should not be a shock that Mayfield looked better in the first two games compared to the last two games.
There is almost never just one reason that explains everything about a trend in the NFL. It is fair to say that Baker Mayfield had a poor game against the Vikings, which followed a so-so game against the Chicago Bears.
This fan is not panicking, but does believe that the brain trust will make some adjustments versus the Los Angeles Chargers. These include:
One: The Browns will make a concerted effort to target talented Donovan Peoples-Jones in the passing game. He’s a good player, and the coaching staff and quarterback simply developed a glitch in the game plan and execution to overlook him.
This is going to be corrected. At this point we are not going to promote conspiracy theories to explain why DPJ has been under-utilized the past few games.
Two: Similarly, the Browns will make Odell Beckham, Jr. more effective by mixing it up with him a little more and not making him into a high-class version of Sammy Coates; i.e., a receiver who specializes in deep routes. This again was a case of everybody stubbornly sticking to the original game plan a little too long and trying to force the deep ball to work when it was just not working.
A few sessions in the film room will bring them back to sanity. If so, we will see OBJ run some additional short routes and catch a few short passes. Soon we will have a three-dimensional player again.
Three: In general, they are going to realize that Mayfield’s accuracy may be a little off due to the harness issue and ease off from the deep passes. This is not the time for Mayfield to audition for the lead role in the Hollywood movie about the Life and Times of Daryle “The Mad Bomber” Lamonica. There may come a time when this is exactly what the Browns expect out of Mayfield, but not week five of the 2021 football season.