CLEVELAND, Ohio - In Baker's dozen, the Cleveland Browns' young quarterback stood on the threshold of a significant record after his 13th game, one shared by Peyton Manning, an all-time great, and Russell Wilson, one of today's elite quarterbacks.
Wilson and Manning played all 16 games in their rookie seasons.
Browns rookie Baker Mayfield needed two more touchdowns passes to tie the rookie record with 26. There would be no cupcakes for Baker against Baltimore's ferocious defense in the Browns' 16th game and Mayfield's 14th.
The stats
When the dust had cleared, the record book read this way:
G TD Int Yds Comp. % QB Rating GWD 4QC
Mayfield 14 27 14 3,725 63.8%. 93.7 4 3
Manning 16 26 28 3,739 59.8 67.9 1 1
Wilson 16 26 10 3,118 63.0 100.0 5 4
(GWD: Game-winning drive; 4QC: Fourth-quarter comebacks)
Mayfield's 16-game projections are 31 touchdowns, 16 interceptions.
Mayfield and running back Nick Chubb are finalists for the NFL Rookie of the Year award. The winner will be announced Saturday, on the eve of the Super Bowl. The Browns' quarterback has already won the Pro Football Writers rookie award
Beyond the numbers
Wilson is a dual threat quarterback with an excellent 5.7-yards-per-carry rushing average in his career.
Manning, who, for all his mobility, might be a statue in Monument Circle in Indianapolis, where he spent most of his career, did not win the rookie award in 1998. Receiver Randy Moss took the honor in Minnesota.
Manning won two Super Bowls. He was the Most Valuable Player in his first with the Colts, who faced only the usual quarterback-challenged Bears (Rex Grossman!) in a dreary game.
Manning won his second in Denver as a don't-screw-it-up game manager.
Manning should have won more. True, he faced a great rival in Tom Brady's Patriots, but so did Dallas' Troy Aikman against Steve Young's 49ers and then Brett Favre's Packers. Aikman won three rings.
Wilson won one Super Bowl when the Seattle defense dominated Manning's Denver Broncos.
Wilson would have won another except for his infamous last-minute interception against the Patriots on the New England 1-yard line. Coach Pete Carroll took the heat for one of the worst calls in history with power back Marshawn Lynch (13 rushing TDs that season) on the field.
But Wilson threw the pass.
The pretenders
Browns fans have seen a lot of flashes whose reviews turned into pans.
Derek Anderson seemingly signed a one-year contract in blood in 2007, then reneged on it.
Josh McCown had a trifecta of games in 2015 that registered two heavy 300s and a 400 on the passing yardage meter, then got hurt.
Kelly Holcomb took Tim Couch's job on merit, then broke his leg on a quarterback sneak.
Robert Griffin III got knocked out while scrambling.
So did Colt McCoy.
Mayfield has the ability to extend plays Anderson lacked and the discretion to use his mobility to throw or at worst run and slide, which RG3 never had.
Mayfield possesses the chippy attitude of a player who started out as a walk-on at Texas Tech and yet started the opening game as a freshman. This is added to the confidence of a Heisman Trophy winner at Oklahoma, where he transferred.
Neither Manning nor Wilson won a Heisman.
As for Mayfield's in-your-face attitude, deposed former Browns coach Hue Jackson, object of a sideline staredown by Mayfield, can lump it.
The quantum jump
The Browns were 6-7 with Mayfield, but they were 5-2 with him after firing of Jackson.
Manning, who was also the No. 1 overall NFL draft pick, did not improve the Indianapolis Colts in his rookie season, when they matched 1997's 3-13 record.
Wilson, a third-round bargain at No. 75 overall, helped the Seattle Seahawks go from 7-9 to a wild-card berth at 11-5.
Mayfield, of course, improved the Browns from Jackson's execrable 1-31 two-year record to a 7-8-1 mark.
It should have been better. Bad calls likely cost Cleveland wins against the Raiders and Ravens.
A proud promise
But the gripes are about the officials here now, not the Browns. A franchise quarterback has arrived.
"When I woke up this morning, I was feeling pretty dangerous," said Mayfield after the Browns upset Atlanta.
It became a catch phrase for the dawn of a brightening, burgeoning future.
The Browns that made fans' chests puff with pride are back.
Bill Livingston is a retired Plain Dealer columnist who writes occasional columns for The Plain Dealer and cleveland.com