Browns Winners and Losers of Week 15: Baker Mayfield, playoff chances and OMAHA! - cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Browns defeated the Giants on Sunday night, 20-6. But that’s just what the scoreboard said.

Here are the real winners and losers:

WINNER: Playoff chances

The Browns are 10-4.

You need all your fingers to count those wins.

Rashard Higgins knows.

The last time the Browns won 10 games in a season was 2007, Joe Thomas’ rookie year. That team didn’t make the playoffs. It was denied the final Wild Card spot by the Titans based on winning percentage in common games.

On Sunday, the Browns won a forgettable game against the Giants that we probably won’t talk much about once the season is over. But getting that 10th win this week was important because of the rest of the playoff field.

Only two teams with at least 10 wins have failed to make the AFC playoffs since that 2007 Browns team. This year could produce the next 10-win miss. Eight AFC teams have at least nine wins with two weeks to go, and six have at least 10 wins.

The Browns are still clinging to the best Wild Card spot, the No. 5 seed. They hold tiebreakers over the Colts and Titans and a one-game lead on the Dolphins.

Despite such a successful season so far, the Browns’ playoff odds would’ve plummeted with a loss Sunday, according to the New York Times playoff picture simulator. The Browns’ playoff chances were at 74 percent prior to kickoff, thanks to the Titans, Colts, Dolphins and Ravens winning this week.

A loss would’ve dropped that percentage to 53. Even a win next week against the Jets would only boost that to 67 percent following a loss to the Giants, putting the Browns in a must-win situation against the Steelers in Week 17.

Instead, the Browns beat the Giants and have an 89-percent chance at the playoffs. A win against the Jets next week raises it to 98 percent.

And, more importantly, a loss to the Steelers only drops it to 97.

LOSER: Kicker TD

I’m sure that throwing touchdowns to offensive linemen is all the rage after the Browns did it in Tennessee two weeks ago, but you just don’t pass up an opportunity to get a touchdown for your kicker.

The Giants blew it.

Facing fourth-and-5 from the Browns 8-yard line on the opening drive of the game, the Giants tried to trick the Browns by faking a field goal attempt. The Giants motioned into an offensive formation with linemen split out wide to the left, kicker Graham Gano split wide right and punter Riley Dixon in shotgun formation.

Dixon tried to connect with center Nick Gates on the play by throwing into triple coverage, and that went about as well as you’d expect.

Asking your punter to run through his progressions on a fake field goal might be too much to ask, but instead of forcing the pass to Gates, the better option for Riley was Gano, who crushed his slant route and was wide open.

Gano will have to dream about what might’ve been. The rest of us will have to wonder what kind of touchdown celebration he would’ve had.

That bar was set by Phil Dawson and Chris Gardocki in 1999.

WINNER: Baker Mayfield

Baker Mayfield completed 84.4 percent of his passes against the Giants (27-of-32). That’s not his personal best as a pro. That was last season against the Falcons, when he completed 85 percent of his passes (17-of-20).

But thanks to Sunday’s performance, Mayfield now owns the second- and third-best single-game completion percentages in Browns history. Only Vinny Testaverde’s 21-of-23 performance in 1993 (91.3 percent) has been better.

Sunday’s 126.2 passer rating boosted Mayfield’s season rating from 96.6 to 99.4. That’s the fourth-best single-season passer rating in Browns history (minimum 100 attempts). Mayfield is behind only Otto Graham (99.7, 1953) and Milt Plum (110.4, 1960). Bernie Kosar is fourth (95.4, 1987).

LOSER: Double Grand

Nick Chubb rushed for 50 yards against the Giants and needs only 69 more over the final two weeks for his second straight 1,000-yard season. But Kareem Hunt’s chances of joining him took another hit Sunday.

Chubb and Hunt had been on pace to become the sixth running back duo to each rush for 1,000 yards in a season, but Hunt’s production has fallen since his 100-yard game against the Texans in Week 10. He gained just 21 yards against the Giants, and that comes after two straight games of 33 yards.

Prior to Sunday Hunt needed to average 76 yards per game over the final three weeks to hit the mark. Now he needs 103.5 per game.

WINNER: OMAHA!

Omaha used to have mystique. You might remember Peyton Manning barking the term prior to snaps. He was coy about its meaning during his playing days.

“I’ve had a lot of people ask what Omaha means. Well, Omaha, it’s a run play,” Manning deadpanned in 2014. “But it could be a pass play, or a play-action pass, depending on a couple of things: the wind, which way we’re going, the quarter, and the jerseys that we’re wearing. It really varies, really, from play-to-play. So there’s your answer to that.”

After retiring, Manning admitted that the term was often an indicator to quickly snap the ball due to a dwindling play clock. He once used the term more than 40 times in a playoff game.

Colt McCoy seemed intent on topping that on Sunday. His repeated shouts of “Omaha!” prior to snaps came through loud and clear on NBC’s broadcast.

WINNER: Looooong Drives

My colleague Dan Labbe pointed out on our postgame podcast that the Browns-Giants game featured his favorite drive of the season.

It stretched from the third quarter into the fourth and ended with the Browns’ final touchdown, which stretched the lead to 20-3.

Here’s the breakdown:

Start: Browns 5-yard line

Plays: 14.

Yards gained: 115.

Penalty yards: minus-20.

Net yards: 95.

First downs. Six.

Time: 8:04.

It was the longest drive in a game full of them. The Browns also had two drives of 10 plays and one of 13 plays. Four of their drives lasted at least 4:30.

The Giants had a 12-play drive and three nine-play drives. They also had two drives last more than six minutes.

There were just 15 drives total in the game. Last week, the Browns and Ravens combined for 23.

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New Browns face masks for sale: Here’s where you can buy Cleveland Browns-themed face coverings for coronavirus protection for adults and youth, including a single mask ($14.99) and a 3-pack ($24.99). All NFL proceeds donated to CDC Foundation.

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