j/c...
I'll say one thing. The pissing contests over what kind of season Baker had (is still having) are funny to read. If I told you the Browns QB had 4000yds at 65%, 28 and 10 this year... you'd be pretty damned excited (and probably still have a reason to be this Sunday)... until I told you I forgot the word "former". Then you would know you're from Cleveland lol.
Whining about his competition is silly, it's any given Sunday more than ever before. The same dude threw for 381 and 4 TD with a perfect 158.3 just five weeks ago against Green Bay... they're in the playoffs and just knocked off Dallas. But oh wait, their defense sucks. The Browns defense is great... they just got smoked by a rookie QB, with a rookie coach, on a team that snuck in at 10-7 on the final day of the season. Any. Given. Sunday.
This season he landed on the front porch of filling Tom Brady's shoes. Hell, one of our now-absent football gurus was beating the drum that the Bucks were purposely tanking the day they signed him -- and he meant it. Since then he's put up the numbers I posted, is about to start his 19th game (he's started 30 of 32 since he left), and has battled all year in a way that would make even Pat Shurmur proud. And oh yeah, don't think the offense isn't on Mayfield's back... the Bucs have seen an RB rush for 100 twice this season... 100 and 102, to be exact.
So yes, it wasn't perfect out of the gate. Baker still has those moments, it's not all glamour, and sometimes it can be ugly as hell. But of their first seven losses, five were to playoff teams. Since then Mayfield and the Bucs have won 6 of 7 including payback in a revenge playoff matchup for an early season loss to the 'September version' of the Eagles.
And no, I'm not saying Baker is a great QB. Not even close. Not saying that... just saying. No offense to anyone, but if you can't tip your cap to that, it's on you.
Great post my friend. There's nothing in that post that is inaccurate.
No need to recant and wish you hadn't posted it and no need to respond to any/every post that derails several very good posts in this thread by several about BM and the state of the Browns. Honestly "somewhere in the middle" is where we should all be if we could be neutral about it. What I get from your post - Baker's not trash like many want(ed) to proclaim - and he's not a top 10-12 QB in the NFL either.... and as ever Folks who don't like Baker will manipulate the narrative to criticize whatever success he has - be it winning a playoff game in Pittsburgh, throwing 24 completions in a row to beat Cinci, or still being in the playoffs January 2024. Pointing that out doesn't make you a rah rah Baker fanboy.
