Questions are still there – Beckham has known to be a problem, at times – will he destroy Baker’s team?
Is Odell a team player?
Will the Browns regret this move after a season?
All these things we should be asking – and only time will tell.
Sports Articles, Fantasy, and Predictions
As annoying, immature and disrespectful as Baker Mayfield can be at
times, with his cockiness or crotch grabbing – his play on the field
and skill cannot be looked down on. He led the Cleveland Browns to a 7-8-1 record
this season after the Browns won just 1 game the past 2 years.
Saquon Barkley has the game skill
and the attitude that everyone loves, including myself. But looking at
what they have each brought to the NFL and their teams is an
interesting conversation.
Cleveland has just about the same talent as they had on the team last
year and they fumbled to 0-16. What was the only major change on that
team? One name – Baker. Giants were 4th in the NFC East last year, at
3-13 this year they went to 5-11. Now take a good hard look at the
Browns this year compared to last year. It doesn’t take a genius to
see who improved more. This can mostly be contributed to Baker and his
play on the field.
Browns would not even have sniffed .500 without Mayfield, as they
finished 7-8-1 this year, up +7 games from 2017. If anyone has paid
any attention to the Browns the past few seasons – with records of
0-16, 1-15, and 3-13 since 2015, the Browns have been more of a train
wreck than any other team in the NFL. The impact on a team from a
player has everything to do with the success they bring to the team.
Without Barkley – the Giants are worse – they win 1 or 2 less games,
they still have WR, Odell Beckham who can lead them to a few Ws.
Baker’s value to Cleveland has been phenomenal – and they win because
of what he does, they win because of their faith and trust in him.
Barkley, has done a ton for his team without a good defense – that
ranked 21st vs passing TDs. And the Giants had one of the worst Olines
in the league, a line that had given up 47 sacks on the year, 10th
most in the league, and ranked 29th overall as per FootballOutsiders.
Barkley had carried the Giants on his legs – with 8 games of 80 or
more rushing yards, and an awesome 126 total YDs/game.
Barkley is going to be one of the most dominant RBs in the NFL for
many, many years – as long as he stays healthy. But, as far as impact
this season, Mayfield has impacted the Browns the most. The overall
impact made by Mayfield on his Cleveland Browns team is bigger, he
changed the Browns mentality of his team to a winning mindset. A
mindset that he is to be handed the keys, he will get them a win when
backed into a corner. And if we remove both players from their teams,
the Giants are pretty much the same team – the Cleveland Browns on the
other hand are staring 2-14 down the barrel.
I feel if Baker had started from the beginning and didn’t play for Hue
Jackson he would have even more than his 27 TDs and 3725 YDs. He
probably would have ended with 30 and 4K – and maybe the Browns would
have even made the playoffs this season. During the time he wasn’t
getting the nod and dealing with his rough relationship with Jackson,
Cleveland lost to the Oakland Raiders, 45-42, a team that they very
well should have beaten, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. If they win
those games, that would have put them at 9-6-1 and directly in the
thick of things in the postseason.
They’ve both proven themselves on the field this season – I just think
#6 has done more for his team to win the award this season.
Johnny Manziel has been called a lot of things. One thing he hasn’t been called is a mature young man.
But Manziel deserves a chance to start this week against Oakland. That’s not going to happen as Cleveland coach Mike Pettine already has named Josh McCown the starter. McCown has recovered from a concussion he suffered opening week.
The Raiders have lost 12 consecutive road games. That string extends to 15 in a row when they play in the Eastern Time Zone.
Pettine trusts the 36-year-old veteran McCown to take care of the ball better than Manziel. I understand that. Pettine needs all the wins he can get with his job likely on the line. McCown is worth a half to one-point more on the betting line than Manziel.
I find Pettine’s decision short-sighted, though.
The Browns drafted Manziel in the first round last season. Supposedly he’s more mature. Manziel made several big plays to help beat the Titans last week.
Manziel can make plays that McCown, who is near the end of the line, can only dream about. Manziel can escape pressure not curl into a fetal position like McCown does when he sees pass rushers in his face.
It’s not like the Browns are going anywhere this season. They may not be favorites in a game the rest of the season.
Cleveland needs to give Manziel game experience every week. The Browns need to find out if Manziel has what it takes to be a quality starting quarterback. This just gives him one less opportunity.
Written by Stephen Nover of VegasTopDogs.com