🤔 What To Make Of Baker And The Browns

Baker Mayfield and the Browns are 8-3, but with so much room for improvement, it’s hard for fans to know what to make of it all. [View in browser]( [FOX SPORTS INSIDER WITH MARTIN ROGERS] In today’s FOX Sports Insider: Baker Mayfield has guided the Browns to an 8-3 record, marking the first time Cleveland has recorded eight-or-more wins since 2007 ... we take a look at Sarah Fuller’s path and the winding road of two-sport immortality ... and Lionel Messi pays tribute to Diego Maradona. Amid all the mayhem on Sunday, where the NFL’s oddest weekend was filled with rescheduling and firings and severe quarterback shortages, the Cleveland Browns clinched. They didn’t clinch a playoff spot, although the chances seem solid that one might be coming soon. They did, however, clinch – with their eighth win of the campaign – the certainty that this will not be a losing season. That last part might be a little ho-hum for followers of teams that are accustomed to their squad being, if not good, at least occasionally passable. The Browns, however, haven’t been anything like that, not for a long time, which makes Sunday’s victory a true milestone. The Browns haven’t had a season where they didn’t lose more games than they won since … wait for it … 2007. Back then, with names that the modern radar forgot all about like Derek Anderson, Josh Cribbs and Willie McGinest, they went 10-6. Over the 10 years that followed, they went 38-120. Then Baker Mayfield came along. Then things got a whole lot better, especially this year. [STORY IMAGE 1] Yet how much and how little those two things are connected - the arrival of the 2018 No. 1 draft pick and the upturn in Cleveland’s fortunes - is a conversation guaranteed to split opinion. Now, with the Browns sitting at 8-3 (yes, 8-3!), Mayfield’s perceived value and future prospects are more uncertain than ever. “Cleveland needed more than three seasons to win eight games before Mayfield arrived,” [wrote Yahoo Sports’ Jay Busbee](. “But man, Mayfield keeps things interesting for this team. He can throw a playing card into the middle of a deck, but he can also have trouble hitting the ocean from a boat.” Getting to that rare eighth win on Sunday was done in about the most unconvincing way possible. The Browns held on for grim life to squeeze out a 27-25 teaser against the Jacksonville Jaguars, an opponent that has now lost 10 straight and fired its general manager Dave Caldwell immediately afterwards. And my, was it close, with the Jags coming within a two-point conversion of tying things late in the fourth quarter. “We left a lot of points up on the board,” Mayfield told reporters. “There were a ton of missed opportunities from my perspective, a lot of missed throws.” [STORY IMAGE 2] Mayfield can be infuriatingly bad one minute and undeniably good the next. There are a lot of QBs that slide through the NFL who make poor throws and lousy decisions and miss open targets and put their teams in tough spots. Mayfield isn’t alone there, but the reason he still has a starting job is the way he is able to make surprising completions with his back against the wall. In the second quarter of Sunday’s game, Mayfield stood tall in the pocket and had a wide-open Rashard Higgins in the end zone in front of him. He missed. Later, with the chance to ice the game with a first down, he threw behind an unguarded Kareem Hunt. But, of course, there were some highlight worthy items of note as well, like a superb throw from the back of the end zone to find Jarvis Landry, which got the Browns rolling in the fourth quarter. And, whatever it looked like, he won – again. [STORY IMAGE 3] Consider this. Tom Brady and his Tampa Bay Buccaneers would love to be 8-3. The Seattle Seahawks hope to get there on Monday night and fashionable teams like the Los Angeles Rams and Arizona Cardinals would love to be there, too. Every team in the NFC East dreams of having that many wins, yet is no more than halfway to it. The Baltimore Ravens, such a popular preseason pick to win it all, would gladly swap places. “Average quarterback play, it turns out, can lead to an 8-3 record when paired with a ferocious running attack and an opportunistic defense,” [wrote The Athletic’s Jason Lloyd](. “About the highest compliment I can pay Mayfield is that he isn’t turning the ball over this season. That’s no small feat. He is putting the Browns in position to win games and he’s limiting turnovers.” Mayfield only has seven interceptions, but he also has one of the lowest completion rates in the NFL among starters and a QBR of 68.8 that is good for 29th. [STORY IMAGE 4] And yet, 8-3. Hope is a strange thing. At their highest point for a generation, with the chance to make the postseason for the first time since 2002 on the horizon, it is hard for Browns fans to know what to make of it all. They’re trying to figure out if they should really be feeling happy, frustrated, grateful or wondering if things could be even better if a more consistent thrower was under center. With such a well-stocked roster and a ton of potent offensive options, should Browns fans be lamenting that Mayfield isn’t Bernie Kosar or grateful that he’s not Johnny Manziel? Given where they’ve come from, in truth, it might not be such a bad problem to have. [STORY IMAGE 5] Here’s what others have said ... Jason Lloyd, The Athletic: “Even before this masked season began, back when Kevin Stefanski was still trying to decipher the east side of Cleveland from the west, I convinced myself that this year was about Baker Mayfield. Nothing else. With his contract status looming, the sole purpose of 2020 would be determining whether Mayfield was the future of the quarterback position in Cleveland … Now 11 games into the most unusual season in NFL history, when games are postponed and teams are forced to play without quarterbacks, the Browns have the type of record we expected from them last year … It’s refreshing. It’s surreal. It’s foreign and tingly and definitely a bit strange.” Baker Mayfield, Cleveland Browns Quarterback: “I’d say if you asked any quarterback, the hardest throws are when guys are just standing there by themselves. Sometimes you overthink it in split seconds. Those are just routine throws when you throw on air (instead of a defender) that you always make so there’s no reason to overthink it. You just have to make it the next time.” Nick Chubb, Cleveland Browns Running Back: “We can always tell if (Baker) is upset with himself when he doesn’t make the play. He expresses it, and we see it, but we understand. I know Baker is a warrior and he keeps fighting. If he does miss a play here or there, he’s going to make a big play for us as he always does. He never gives up.” [IN OTHER WORDS] - Sarah Fuller became the first woman to participate in a Power 5 football game. [ESPN staff writer Alex Scarborough]( dives into Fuller’s path and the winding road of two-sport immortality. - They’ve been around for a century, and it doesn’t appear new technology will wipe them out. [Sports Illustrated’s Alex Prewitt]( looks at the who, how and why of the NFL’s chain gangs. - Tom Brady has more hardware, for now, than Patrick Mahomes, but it’s not a fair fight at this stage. [Yahoo Sports columnist Dan Wetzel]( writes that the gap between Mahomes and Brady is greater than their 18-year age difference. [THE INTERNET IS UNDEFEATED] [THE INTERNET IS UNDEFEATED]( Soccer fans were treated to a beautiful moment on Sunday as Lionel Messi scored against Osasuna, then took off his shirt to reveal a No. 10 Newell’s Old Boys jersey – the Argentine club where Messi began playing in his early years, and where the late Diego Maradona played during the early 90s. Check out these photos, which show Messi’s beautiful tribute to Maradona, who died last week at the age of 60. Well done, Messi! [VIEWER'S GUIDE] North Carolina vs. UNLV (ESPN2, 7 p.m. ET) Garrison Brooks and the North Carolina Tar Heels take on Bryce Hamilton and the UNLV Rebels. WWE Monday Night Raw (USA, 8 p.m. ET) A Sudden Death Triple Threat Match featuring Matt Riddle, Keith Lee and AJ Styles will take place for the right to become Drew McIntyre’s next challenger. Seattle Seahawks at Philadelphia Eagles (ESPN, 8 p.m. ET) Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks take on Miles Sanders and the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday Night Football. [BET OF THE DAY] [BET OF THE DAY] Odds provided by [FOX Bet]( Seattle Seahawks at Philadelphia Eagles: Seahawks -6 Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks travel to Philadelphia to take on an Eagles team that remains in the hunt for a division title. Seattle is coming off an impressive victory over Arizona last weekend, and with a win, could take over sole possession of first place in the stacked NFC West. The Seahawks will get a much-needed boost in their running game this week as Chris Carson returns to the lineup after missing the past four games with a sprained foot. Look for this Seattle offense to click on all cylinders, and while Philadelphia should be able to put some points on the board, it’s tough to envision this being a one-score game. With that said, taking the Seahawks at -6 could lead to a nice, little Monday Night Football pay day! [WHAT THEY SAID] “I may win and I may lose, but I will never be defeated.” — Emmitt Smith [FOLLOW FOX SPORTS] [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [YouTube]( [Instagram]( Download FOX Sports App: [Fire TV]( [Roku]( [Google Play]( [App Store]( [Fire TV]( [Roku]( [App Store]( [Google Play]( Also available on these devices: [fireTV | AppleTV | ROKU | Google Chromecast | XBOX ONE | SAMSUNG Smart TV] [fireTV | AppleTV | ROKU | Google Chromecast | XBOX ONE | SAMSUNG Smart TV] Trademark & Copyright Notice: ™ and © 2020 Fox Media LLC and FOX Sports Interactive Media, LLC. All rights reserved. Please do not reply to this message. If you do not wish to receive emails like this in the future, please [unsubscribe](. 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