Chris Rose of NFL Network just dropped this nugget while doing the Browns highlights.....
Nick Chubb is the first Browns running back since NINETEEN SIXTY SEVEN (that's 53 years ago, boys and girls) to score 2 rushing touchdowns in consecutive games while rushing for over 100 yards in those games as well.
Wow.
The last one to accomplish the same thing?
Hall of Fame RB Leroy Kelley.
THAT is an amazing stat.
One sad stat...the last time the Browns were over .500 was Dec 7, 2014. My 5 yr old son wasn't even born yet (2/14/2015).
So many stunning stats that tell us just how bad the Browns have been.
The happy stat: In 17 home starts, Baker is 11-6 with over 4k and 27 TDs, about 64% completion. You have to go back to the 1980s to get even close to that.
More stat weirdness: MK texted me (!) that Baker needs to get better, 27th in PFF, etc. And a bit later, I saw that he's 8th in QBR (78.9), a stat ESPN is real serious about again, replacing PR on player's front pages.
The purpose of QBR was (and is) to deal with what's meaningful to winning, not piling up stats. Apparently Baker is doing his best work at the most important times.
He's at 91.6 in PR, which is pretty meh, middle of the road stuff. In today's league, you really wanna be over 100, which he has been each of the last two games.
Seemed like weird timing (and some tone deafness) for MK to choose today to get negative about him. He's definitely trending up, not down. Consecutive 16/23s and 4/1 is tough to spin negative. Conservative? Sure.
Just feels like the wrong conversation at the wrong time. Figuring out the offense, getting comfortable, while going 2-1 is (again) pretty tough to spin negative.
That is an incredible stat partially because Chubb makes it looks so damn easy. He's an absolute monster, but so smooth and effortless it's incredible.
I watched Pats highlights and Sony Michel had a big run and he looked like he was really laboring. You look at Chubb, and he just glides.
So awesome to have a guy like this on our favorite team.
I know we've scored a bunch of points the last two weeks... but I get a strong feeling they're still figuring it out and are about to pop the top.
They'll need 35 to win, I bet... and we're facing a bad defense... so Sunday seems right on time to me. Deep shots off play-action. Good time to add DPJ to the mix.
As I said on game day, I would marry Nick Chubb and he's my religion.
The guy is the best back in the NFL and it isn't particularly close, in my opinion. He's 4th in the NFL in rushing yards and two of the guys ahead of him have (Henry) 27 more yards on 31 more carries and (Jones) 11 more yards on one less carry but a 75 yarder is the main reason for that. Impressively, Kareem Hunt is 12th in yards and he's chewed up 39 carries to Nick's 51.
As a team, we're 3rd in rushing and 3rd in yards per carry.
Yesterday proved our ground game only more vital. We were in real trouble while trying to pass on Washington. Ultimately, the defense creating turnovers gifted us scoring opportunities and the ground game created the lead.
It is a little concerning that we're struggling with the pass, but it's great to see the ground attack has already won us two games. Hopefully Baker is still just getting comfortable, and we can compliment the ground game with a little more aerial spark over the coming weeks.
But, so far so good. One of the positives of Stefanski was what he could do for the rush and he's certainly done it thus far.
Just awesome. I'm not at all concerned about the lack of passing. It's coming, and the commitment to the run forces defenses to expend precious energy tackling which can only help later in games when big plays will be key.
Right now, our offense comes in waves, and I just love watching the replays. The motion and coordination has been fantastic. And has anyone else noticed how few penalties we've had, especially procedure penalties?
I'd love to see the stats this year to last year.
@damajuki It's much more solid fundamental football. I fear Kitchens got too ahead of himself, started working on being a high-flying force of nature before doubling down on the little things which result in not kicking your own ass. Stefanski has done that. We're doing a much better job of not beating ourselves. Agreed. I can't be bothered looking up the numbers because precision is irrelevant - we're definitely better in that respect. From penalties to being organised to just simply running plays correctly.
Agreed the passing game is coming. Baker has been better for three consecutive weeks. Week one was a dumpster fire. Week two was good with some bad moments. Week three was good even when it was bad - he didn't shit the bed under pressure, in the face of good coverage, and made the plays when they were there: He capitalized on our red-zone opportunities and did his job on a big drive when we needed it.
It's still a little uncomfortable that it's not yet a clear and complete game from Mayfield, but this is a the high end of bad Baker. It's a flat tire rather than the engine exploding and sending the radiator out the back window along with fragments of brain and skull.
It's not pretty. Mayfield is 26th in passing yards, 25th in completion percentage, and only has 5 touchdowns but he's not turning the ball over, he's not losing us games and he's not repeatedly making the same mistakes to a fatal degree.
However, I will keep being a pain in the ass about it until we're there - even if, so far, the signs are positive that he can get there.
Just talking, not listening (WIFE: Uh, what's new?) cuz I gotta run: Last two weeks, Baker is #1 in the NFL in perfectly placed throws, like 78%. I actually said that to my son yesterday, no more back hip.
Speaking of mind blowing stats, Lamar Jackson being held to just 97 passing yards in week three is insane.
Now, this is obviously a bit cheap, but he's off to a much slower start this year. Over the last two weeks, he has just two touchdowns and 301 yards. Worth note that in both games he has been sacked four times.
We're nowhere near a Lamar being bad kind of take, I'll take a step backwards from MVP levels of play with zero hesitation.
Lamar can be contained. We proved it last year. We just failed to prove it in Game 1.
He's dangerous when he's on a role but once he's off rhythm and scrambling, he's much less effective.
I had thought we all agreed were writing off the first 4 weeks of the season due to COVID/new offense, so I'll be ignoring all non-fatal critiques of Baker until after the Steelers game. No further questions until that time.
EXACTLY, Grimm.
See my response to Brooksie below but it's not just sunshine-pumping to speak facts:
Baker never, EVER had this kind of coaching and support. Ever.
And put in that context, especially in the COVID-era, he's been everything we need. He drives the ball accurately and on time. He moves well. He's bailing out less. He's finding Hunt inside the 10. He's finding Hoop more. The pass to Bryant was routine gorgeousness for the Lamars and Patricks of the world, who have that killer redzone TE pass down, and Baker in college dominated with Mark Andrews just like this, so we know he has that ability.
Everything is lining up. Baker just needs to keep playing within structure and remembering it's a long game, and season, and not every pass is designed to score a TD.
Once he gets into the Brees/Brady place of "take what they give you, then take a shot downfield", he'll be deadly.
Since this is the stat thread...
Quincy Carrier @Kwen_C
AFC North QBRs after WEEK 3:
Baker Mayfield - 75.6 (9th)
Lamar Jackson - 69.7 (12th)
Joe Burrow - 51.6 (23rd)
Big Ben - 51 (24th)
8:00 AM · Sep 29, 2020
*** And no, I don't think this justifies he's playing at his top end, but it's not a bad stat for a QB who we all know hasn't hit his stride in this new offense.
It's a GREAT stat, Ocon, because Baker is looking like a real NFL QB learning a new system, which is EXACTLY what he is. He should be nothing more or less than this and this is PLENTY good enough for now.
We'll need more, including this Sunday, but not MUCH more. One or two deep balls more, for example, one or two OBJ-Star plays, one or two more Hooper completions, one or two more Janovich checkdowns.
That's how you build.
The best stat to come out out Sunday's game vs. The WFT - ZERO turnovers by Baker.
We can nit pick his performance ad nauseum, but one of the tried and true measuring sticks of NFL success is the turnover battle. Bottom line - you stop giving the ball away, your chances of winning football games goes up exponentially.
Exactly, Brooksie. Look at Haskins KILLING his team as a not-needed reminder of our near-past where poor DeShone Kizer looked exactly like this kid, throwing the ball nowhere and everywhere except where it should go.
I've said this on The Athletic and I'll repeat it here:
Baker is essentially in his PROPER rookie year right now, with an organization and an offensive-minded HC, a real OC/QB coach, and surrounded by talent in an offensive system that minimizes his exposure to error.
Think Big Ben as a rookie, think Lamar as a rookie, think any number of logical ways to handle your #1 pick.
If we look at Baker that way, we should feel GREAT about these first three weeks.
What a joyous thread. The Baker bashing out there is both relentless and dimwitted. He's in his 4th offense, he's only played 2 seasons prior to this one and had no preseason.
And to say he hasn't received the Mark Roman Experience is spot on and also one of the greatest understatements ever. He hasn't been shat upon as much as Darnold but it's been very, very messy.
Until now. And you can see the growth arc right in front of your eyes. He's been the most spot-on passer the past two weeks, leads the league in perfect placement over that time. His footwork is WAAAAY better already, just two weeks after B-more. It's been rapid.
QBR is really healthy. Interesting to see how back that thing is, on the front page of ESPN player cards instead of PR. I always loved the intent, to measure QB play when it matters most, not just piling up yardage... but I have no clue how it works. But baseball makes their complex metric work, we can live with some deep dish.
He's a great passer of the football and he's plenty mobile. No, he isn't Mahomes or Jackson but nobody is, they're utterly unique as starting QBs. Mahomes because he's just about the best there ever was and Lamar because he's an amazing runner but super meh as a downfield or pocket passer. Shit, did you hear 75% of his targets last year were ANDREWS?
That's so Vince Young at Texas. Manufactured accuracy. Throw 22 times a game when nobody's defending it, just stopping the run and keeping receiver routes in front of them with a deep safety.
Lamar has zero comeback after trailing at the half. You take a lead on that offense, they're not so great anymore. Remember last year?
Agreed on the criticism of Baker being both dim-witted and incredibly short-sighted.
Reminds me of the draft debates we had that year. Let me pat myself on the back a little here in our new home and recap:
I argued relentlessly against the "taller is better" crowd and said the Browns should draft the obviously best pure passer, who was clearly Baker, regardless of his height. Then I said, if you don't want Baker, trade down and target the guy who is so obviously superior athletically, and that was Lamar.
My argument was simple then and I'm happy to have been proven correct since:
You don't draft for "height" you draft for accuracy and athleticism, IN THAT ORDER.
Baker will prove to be the most accurate of that class, I'm convinced, and though he may not end up being as exciting as Lamar, or as dynamic as Allen (at least right now), I believe his floor will be no lower than his backup (who's had a pretty great career) and could be as high as a Romo+.
We could choose to be disappointed that he's not Patrick or Lamar, sure. Or we can be grateful Dorsey didn't pick "the tall QB" and didn't go with Darnold, Allen (because obviously Hue and Greggg weren't going to be the right coach for that guy) or Rosen.
Baker has what it takes. After all, he only needs to win one Super Bowl with the Browns to go down in history as an all-timer in our town. I truly believe he has it in him.
Let's enjoy the ride!
Stefanski has us #1 in rushing and #1 in points scored in the AFC.
(just saw BDU posted this and more elsewhere, eh, I leave it)