With Baker Mayfield (6) at quarterback, the Browns don't have to obsess about past quarterback misses anymore. (Joshua Gunter, cleveland.com)

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EXPLAINING 3RD & SHORT

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CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Baker Mayfield on Thursday relayed a Todd Haley philosophy of life that should inspire a legion of Browns fans on Sunday.

To paraphrase, it went something like, "When you succeed, enjoy your success, then amplify that joy by reveling in the failure of others."

To quote Mayfield directly, it went, "Coach Haley said, 'It is like winning twice. You win on Thursday, and then you get to watch everybody lose on Sunday.'"

Regardless of what happens Sunday, the 1-1-1 Browns will enter next week with a record better than Buffalo, Houston, Oakland, Detroit, Seattle, Arizona and the Giants. Those seven teams are currently 0-2.

But Browns fans should pay attention to the 13 teams that are currently 1-1. Lose, and they enter week four behind the Browns.

Among the most interesting candidates for 1-2 are the Super Bowl combo of the Patriots and Eagles, the Jimmy Garoppolo 49ers and the always lovable Cowboys. Then there's the AFC North, where the 2-0 Bengals sit in first, but losses by the 1-1 Ravens and 0-1-1 Steelers could keep the Browns in second place by themselves entering next week.

So, if you're in front of the TV Sunday, root for Denver to beat Baltimore, Seattle to beat Dallas, Kansas City to beat San Francisco, Indianapolis to beat Philadelphia in the afternoon, and then Sunday night, pull for Detroit over New England and on Monday night, Tampa over Pittsburgh.

If not for yourself, do it for Todd Haley.

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Philadelphia's Carson Wentz is one young QB that could have been a Brown. (Charles Rex Arbogast, Associated Press)

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3 QUARTERBACKS THE BROWNS NO LONGER MUST REGRET PASSING ON

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Tracking regret takes time and energy, and when it comes to Cleveland and quarterbacks, tracking regret has been a full-time job for well over a decade.

When the Browns trotted out quarterback after quarterback, and experienced failure after failure, it wasn't really about the quarterbacks they were playing. It was about the quarterbacks they could have been playing. That's what may baffle some Browns fans about Baker Mayfield at the moment. Shouldn't he be in another jersey while the Browns bemoan the fact that they passed on him?

No. He's here.

So if Mayfield, truly, is the answer, and the bet here is that he is, let's take a final accounting of all the quarterbacks the Browns supposedly would be regretting if they didn't finally have a quarterback themselves.

Because the list of Could-Have-Browns quarterbacks is about as long as the list of failed Browns quarterbacks.

By my count, 20 of the other 31 starting quarterbacks in the NFL could have been Browns just by the Cleveland football franchise making a different choice or putting in a little more effort. Because, after all, every single half-decent professional football player that could have been in Cleveland and isn't must be pointed out as a colossal mistake even if the entire rest of the league did the same thing, because that's how some people want to operate around here.

By the way, is one-time Browns receiver Taylor Gabriel, who has 55 receiving yards in two games for the Chicago Bears, still on track for the Hall of Fame?

Obviously, I don't think every Almost-Brown or former Brown needs to serve as a haunting, tear-inducing reminder of errors past in Cleveland. It's more than enough just complaining about the guys who are actually here. It's an unhealthy pastime to consider every NFL player who didn't get drafted in the first round, and therefore was passed on at least once by the entire league, as a missed opportunity for the Browns, when it's actually just life. That's how it works.

So this is a cleansing exercise, one based on the idea that Browns fans no longer have to care about which quarterbacks are on which other teams, because the Browns have their guy, and when you have your guy, the heck with the other guys..

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Eleven starting quarterbacks were never available to the Browns because they were picked by their current teams in the NFL Draft at a spot when the Browns hadn't yet selected. For instance, Cam Newton was the No. 1 overall pick to Carolina in 2011. There's nothing Cleveland could have done about that.

Newton is a Never-Brown among starting quarterbacks. The other 10 are Atlanta's Matt Ryan, Baltimore's Joe Flacco, Detroit's Matthew Stafford, Indianapolis' Andrew Luck, Jacksonville's Blake Bortles, San Diego's Philip Rivers, the Los Angeles Rams' Jared Goff, the New York Giants' Eli Manning, Tennessee's Marcus Mariota and Tampa Bay's Jameis Winston.

Now, Ryan Fitzpatrick may be the new starter for the Bucs, but that bearded journeyman has been around the league so many times, no team can harbor regrets about him. They just didn't want him.So he's a Never-Brown, too.

Goff with the Rams and Luck with the Colts could be classified as Fantasy Browns, because there was a time when they were considered as future Cleveland franchise QBs. But they wound up as the No. 1 picks in drafts where the Browns didn't have the No. 1 pick. Sure, the Browns could have lost another game or two to get that top pick, or traded a ransom to acquire the top pick to take Goff. But it wasn't just a pass. So the regret is minimal.

Not like with these other 20 Could-Have-Browns, starting QBs who were Cleveland options.

They are: Arizona's Sam Bradford or Josh Rosen, Buffalo's Josh Allen, Chicago's Mitch Trubisky, Cincinnati's Andy Dalton, Dallas' Dak Prescott, Denver's Case Keenum, Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers, Houston's Deshaun Watson, Kansas City's Patrick Mahomes, Miami's Ryan Tannehill, Minnesota's Kirk Cousins, New England's Tom Brady, the New York Jets' Sam Darnold, Oakland's Derek Carr, Philadelphia's Carson Wentz, Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger, San Francisco's Jimmy Garoppolo, Seattle's Russell Wilson, New Orleans' Drew Brees and Washington's Alex Smith.

Had some pangs of regret reading that list, right?

But let's boil those 20 down some more.

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Three are Free Agent Choices in that Cousins and Keenum were on the market this offseason and if the Browns wanted to throw a few gazillion at them, maybe they would have been here. Cousins especially was a topic for a couple weeks in the Browns universe, but there's not deep regret here. And when the guy who is going to wind up as the NFL's all-time passing leader was once available, he has to be on this list. But no one is Cleveland truly views Brees, who went from San Diego to New Orleans in 2006, as the one who got away.

Four are League Misses as guys who were drafted late - Brady in the sixth round, Prescott in the fourth, Wilson in the third and Rodgers late in the first. What are you gonna do? Stuff happens.

Three are Mayfield Runners-Up, because the Browns could have drafted Darnold, Allen or Rosen at No. 1 instead of Mayfield and they didn't. Bradford is currently starting in Arizona, but Rosen will be soon, and really, who would want Sam Bradford?

Three are Reasonable Draft Decisions. Trubisky went No. 2 in 2017, but the Browns took Myles Garrett No. 1 , and who's going to quibble with that? Tannehill went No. 8 in 2012, after Luck and Robert Griffin III were off the board, so the Browns took Trent Richardson at No. 3 and Brandon Weeden at No. 22. Sure, Tannehill could have been the call at No. 3, but did anyone think he was worth the third pick? No. And Dalton went No. 35 in the second round in 2011 after the Browns traded out of the Julio Jones spot at No. 6 and wound up with Phil Taylor at No. 21. Dalton was there, but did it ruin your franchise to pass? No.

Two create the Kansas City Connection, and were options here in their own way. Smith was dealt by the Chiefs to the Redskins in the offseason, at a time when many believed him an option for the Browns, thanks to his connection to Browns GM John Dorsey, who had traded for him in 2013 as one of his first moves as the Kansas City GM. But the price was too high, and the Browns settled on Tyrod Taylor instead, and that was fine.

Mahomes is another issue, and the Browns may want to linger on that regret, depending on if he continues to obliterate defenses like has he through two games. Dorsey in KC traded up to No. 10 to take him in the 2017 draft, when many believed him a candidate for the Browns at No. 12. If Dorsey doesn't make that move, Mahomes might be the quarterback here now. But the Browns wound up trading down from 12, and added Jabrill Peppers and Denzel Ward as a result. Any move for Mahomes takes them off the roster. And it would have cost something else as well.

The Chiefs gave up a future first-rounder to go from No. 27 to No. 10. It was bold move by Dorsey, and it worked. But the Browns not acting to make the same move wasn't a failure. It wasn't passing on a pick. It was a choice. So, temper the regret - unless Mahomes keeps throwing five touchdown passes every week.

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Kansas City traded up for Patrick Mahomes in 2017 before the Browns could pick him. (Justin K. Aller, Getty Images)

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That leaves five Could-Have-Browns among starting NFL QBs. Two are players that have been discussed endlessly, and for good reason. Some Browns fans will never get over them, and Baker Mayfield may never be enough to justify why they aren't in orange and brown.

Every franchise has regrets, but Roethlisberger and Wentz, in the 2004 and 2016 NFL Drafts, will always exist as Could-Have-Browns.

You can hang onto those. So we'll deal with the three remaining quarterbacks who have caused a lost of consternation in Cleveland, but who might be wiped away by Mayfield.

Because you can't regret everything forever. And are we sure the Browns should really be regretting these three?

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The Browns picked Johnny Manziel when they could have chosen Derek Carr. (Jack Dempsey, Associated Press)

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3. DEREK CARR, OAKLAND

He's better than Johnny Manziel. The proof of that is Oakland is not in Canada, so unlike the Browns pick at No. 22 in the 2014 NFL Draft, the Raiders pick at No. 36 in the 2014 NFL Draft is still playing in this country.

But Carr, in year five as an NFL starter, isn't looking quite like the franchise quarterback he appeared to be in 2016, when he was 12-3 as a starter before breaking his leg and watching the Raiders lose their first playoff game. He's 6-11 as a starter the last two seasons, and his QB rating lands him in the middle of the league consistently.

Fine, but not regrettable.

Compounding that, the contract extension he was awarded in the summer of 2017 made him the league's highest-paid player at the time - for a franchise that then decided not to pay Khalil Mack.

Maybe worse in the NFL than a failed quarterback that you dump is a mediocre quarterback that you invest in.

The Browns picked DeShone Kizer in the second round, watched him bomb out, traded him for Damarious Randall and moved on.

The Raiders drafted Carr in the second round, watched him lead one fantastic season, paid him, traded the best defensive player in football and now have Jon Gruden coaching Carr while wondering if Rich Gannon will come out of retirement.

Carr's fine. The Browns, it turns out, are fine without him.

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The Browns traded the No. 12 pick to Houston in 2017 to allow the Texans to select Deshaun Watson. (Maddie Meyer, Getty Images)

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2. DESHAUN WATSON, HOUSTON

Trading out of the No. 12 spot in the 2017 draft to watch Houston take Watson was met by many fans with nearly the aggravation of the Browns trading out of the No. 2 spot in 2016 to watch Philadelphia take Wentz.

I loved Watson, and though a completely different quarterback and a very different personality than Mayfield, I viewed him in the same way. Both were big winners in college with innate leadership skills who could handle becoming the face of Cleveland football and leading a losing franchise out of the doldrums, while translating their college success to the pros.

Unlike Wentz, Watson hasn't won the Super Bowl yet.

Like Wentz, he has been hurt, and injury concerns had to factor into his draft evaluation. While 3-3 as a starter last year, he's 0-2 this year. He's holding the ball while waiting for big plays, and though eminently capable of those big plays, he needs to work underneath throws more effectively.

It's early in his career, and I'd still take Watson on any team. But when considering how well Denzel Ward has played, and that picking him at No. 4 in 2018 was the direct product of Houston trading up with the Browns to take Watson in 2017, it's hard to get caught up here.

Mayfield, in his own way, can provide Cleveland with what Watson would have given this franchise. Throw in Ward, and it's time to let this one go. No regrets.

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Jimmy Garoppolo was traded by New England to San Francisco last year, when many wanted the Browns to get involved. (Jose Carlos Fajardo, Bay Area News Group)

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1. JIMMY GAROPPOLO, SAN FRANCISCO

San Francisco coach Kyle Shanahan, the former Browns coordinator, is viewed as an offensive savant. Garoppolo, two games into 2018, hasn't looked like a quarterback coached by a genius.

After a scorching start to his 49ers career in 2017, when he went 5-0 as a starter following a trade from New England, Garoppolo has thrown three interceptions in two games and held the ball too long while absorbing nine sacks.

Some fans flipped out when the Patriots dealt Garoppolo without much considering the Browns as a trade partner. But a potential deal for the Browns was never just about acquiring Garoppolo, it was about paying Garoppolo.

He signed a five-year deal with the 49ers in February that made him the highest-paid player in the league. The Browns would have done the same if he was here. That's why he was never the best option for a young team.

Winning in the NFL is made demonstrably more possible when a team leans on a young quarterback on a manageable rookie contract. That's why the Browns window to win will arrive quickly - they'll want to do it before they have to pay Mayfield and Garrett, before they face the conundrum Oakland had with Carr and Mack.

Garoppolo needed to be much, much better right away for it to make sense for the Browns to trade for an older QB instead of drafting one at No. 1.

Garoppolo isn't that.

Maybe he's right for the 49ers, and maybe he'll be a star.

But Cleveland, in this process, was always going to get a quarterback.

They got a rookie, on a contract that will allow them to continue to build a playoff-caliber roster for several years, and that was always the plan.

So maybe Carr and Watson and Jimmy G would have won in Cleveland.

But Baker Mayfield will win in Cleveland. And that means no more regrets.

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3 REASONS TO APPRECIATE THE INDIANS WINNING THE DIVISION

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3. 64 out of 236

The Indians clinched the American Central a week ago, and the Boston Red Sox are on pace for 175 wins or something and it's easy to focus on playoff matchups and take for granted the Indians claiming a lousy division.

I don't think many people truly did that, but let's take one more moment to appreciate a playoff berth anyway.

The playoffs in all sports are bloated, and comparisons to the past when only two teams made the postseason aren't worth much. But playoffs make fans happy, regardless of how many teams get in. The Indians are finishing the 236th combined full season of Cleveland sports in baseball, football and basketball.

In those 236 seasons, given what we all know about smaller playoffs of the past, Cleveland has reached the playoffs 64 times now. That's 27 percent of the time. So any playoff season should be celebrated, it nothing else than for those 63 percent of Cleveland sports seasons that would have loved to extend into the postseason.

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The Indians clinched the AL Central a week ago and are in the playoffs for the third straight season. (David Maxwell, Getty Images)

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2. Seasons like 2014

The Browns ended a run of five straight playoff appearances with the 1989 season, and have since then reached the playoffs twice. The Indians and Cavs have done their best to carry the load since, but there have been Cleveland years of no playoffs.

A whole year, three teams, one city, no playoffs.

These were counted up by calendar year, and focused on the idea of a fan of all Cleveland sports teams having the opportunity to watch at least one of their teams in a playoff game between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31. So the 1989 NFL season created the 1990 playoffs, for instance.

By calendar year, since the Browns stopped making the playoffs on a regular basis, Cleveland has experienced nine years of no playoffs in the last 28.

So, on behalf of 1991, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2011, 2012 and 2014, please enjoy the fact that the Cavs played 22 playoff games in 2018, and the Indians will participate as well.



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1. One of 16

The is the third straight playoff appearance for the Indians. That makes them one of 16 teams in MLB, the NFL and the NBA to have reached the playoffs three straight times. That's 16 out of 92.

In basketball, there are nine teams: the Cavs, Toronto, Boston, Indiana, Houston, Golden State, Portland, Oklahoma City and San Antonio.

In football, there are three teams: New England, Pittsburgh and Kansas City.

In baseball, it's the Indians, the Red Sox, the Cubs and the Dodgers.

Sixteen out of 92. The Indians are among the top 17 percent of most consistently successful franchises in major American sports.

Not bad.

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3 THINGS TO CONSIDER ABOUT TREVOR BAUER

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3. The other starters carried the load without him

As Paul Hoynes wrote, Trevor Bauer gave the Indians a peek with 1 1/3 innings against Boston on Friday in his first start since taking a line drive off his ankle on Aug. 11. Bauer's status is the wild card for the Indians postseason. Getting back a Cy Young worthy starting pitcher would be priceless, but ... the Indians also might be OK without him.

While Bauer was out, Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco and Mike Clevinger combined for 22 starts. They averaged more than six innings per start with an ERA of 2.69, and 16 of the 22 were quality starts. Take away three especially rough, brief outings - two by Kluber and one by Carrasco - and the ERA in the other 19 starts was 1.92.

Yes, everyone knows the starting pitching is fantastic. But Clevinger (1.94 ERA during Bauer's absence) and Carrasco (2.53 ERA without Bauer) both dropped their ERAs by a run when the Cy Young candidate went down.

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What's the best way for Trevor Bauer to help the Indians in the postseason? (Chuck Crow, The Plain Dealer).

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2. They can't risk a short start if Bauer is off

Bauer will pitch against Tuesday against the White Sox, but the Indians may not reach 100 percent certainty on him before the playoffs begin in 11 days.

In a five-game series against the Astros, the risk of one off day by Bauer could be the difference between advancing and heading home. How much can he show Terry Francona to alleviate the fears of Bauer not being himself when they need him the most?

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1. Bauer could really help in the bullpen

That leads us to the idea of Bauer as an intriguing bullpen arm, especially one ready to back up Shane Bieber whenever he goes as a fourth starter in the postseason. With his rubber arm, Bauer could be a multiple-inning guy in multiple games. If he's off, get him out.

If he's on, he could pull the Indians through the sixth and seventh innings more than a few times on the way to the back end of the bullpen.

At least for the Division Series, it's hard to envision how the Indians could lean on him if Kluber, Carrasco and Clevinger on ready to roll. And if Bauer is the fourth starter, he might be more valuable as a bullpen option in games one through three. If the Indians are down two games to one, entering game four, could they be confident in putting the season on Bauer's ankle?

I think Bauer, who has pitched as well as anyone in the American League when healthy, will help the Indians in the playoffs.

It not might not be as a starter.

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