AP

Apart from the opportunity that the Browns will have to knock the team that used to be the Browns out of the playoffs, Cleveland quarterback Baker Mayfield is close to matching, and breaking, an NFL record.

With three touchdown passes against the Bengals in Cleveland’s sold-out regular-season home finale, Mayfield pulled his total for the season to 24. With two more on Sunday in Baltimore, Mayfield will match the single-season rookie record of 26, held both by Peyton Manning and Russell Wilson. A third touchdown pass will give Mayfield the record to himself.

Sunday’s win saw Mayfield complete 27 of 37 throws for 284 yards, no picks, and a passer rating of 121.9.

He’s gotten to 24 despite not playing until a Week Three injury to Tyrod Taylor opened the door for the first overall pick in the draft. The fact that Mayfield wasn’t the Week One starter could be one of the reasons for Mayfield’s decision to stare down former Browns coach Hue Jackson and then to say, essentially, “Flick? Flick who?” when asked about it after the game, suppressing all the while a grin that usually accompanies the figurative consumption of a substance that would normally inspire a much different facial expression, if consumed literally.

But Mayfield probably doesn’t care about the record. He cares about the team, and the fact that it has a chance to finish his rookie year by winning six of seven games, doubling the win total that Jackson cobbled together in 40.

Mayfield has that rare combination of extreme ability and off-the-charts confidence, along with charisma, moxie, attitude, and a dash or two of that wrong-side-of-the-bed dangerous that makes him compelling and intriguing and entertaining and one of the main reasons why we’ll see plenty of Browns games in prime time next year, and every year Mayfield plays in Cleveland.