Baltimore goes to 8-6, remains in AFC Playoff mix.
Sometimes football is played crisply, cleanly, and beautifully. At other times the action is inconsistent, puzzling, and devoid of momentum. Both descriptions were in sight on Sunday when the Ravens traveled to Cleveland to take on the Browns.
And it might be a good idea for Ravens’ fans to expect more of the same. That’s because all three of Baltimore’s final opponents are struggling, a combined 8-31 for the year.
Give Cleveland credit, though. The Browns are playing hard, testimony to the character of this winless team. But playing hard is one thing. On this day, it was trumped by Baltimore’s deeper arsenal of talent and an opportunistic defense. Those attributes carried the day in a 27-10 win before 56,434 dispirited FirstEnergy Stadium fans.
The win, which moved the Ravens to 8-6 on the year, gave Baltimore a chance to stay in the race for the last AFC wild-card spot. Despite missing the playoffs in three of the last four seasons, the Ravens have had just one sub-.500 campaign under head coach John Harbaugh (5-11 in 2015).
The Ravens are embroiled in a playoff battle with Buffalo for the sixth and final AFC playoff seed. The Bills currently hold that spot.
The Ravens can ensure a winning season by taking one of their final two games, starting this week with a visit from the Indianapolis Colts (Sat., Dec. 23, 4:30 p.m.; WJZ-TV, NFL Network; WIYY-FM). Baltimore will finish the regular season with two straight home games for the first time in its 22-season history.
The Ravens can also get to the postseason by beating the Colts and Cincinnati and thereby leapfrogging the Bills by virtue of the fifth tiebreaker (better record against common opponents). If both Baltimore and Buffalo win out, the Ravens will have a 5-0 record in that category, The Bills will be at 4-1.
Meanwhile, Cleveland (0-14) has had only two winning seasons and snared only one playoff berth since returning to the league as a 1999 expansion team. One reason for lack of success is its ever-turning quarterback carousel. The current starter, rookie DeShone Kizer (20-for-37, 146 yards, two interceptions, two sacks, 41 rating), was victimized on Sunday by poor field position–thanks, in part, to Sam Koch’s precision punting. Koch placed several punts inside the Browns’ five-yard line, and one of them led to the play that put the game away.
It happened midway through the third quarter when Za’Darius Smith beat Browns backup LT, Spencer Drango, who has filled in for All-Pro Joe Thomas. Smith sacked Kizer in the end zone and stripped the ball from the QB’s hands. Brandon Williams fell on the pigskin for a TD and 24-10 Ravens’ lead.
It was the Ravens fifth defensive touchdown of the year. Later, CJ Mosley’s fourth-down stop of Kizer–a play that set up Tucker’s 43-yard field goal–eventually put away the pesky Browns.
The defense forced four more turnovers against Cleveland–making it nine in two games and giving the Ravens a plus-11 ratio since Week 8. Baltimore has a plus-17 ratio for the season and 33 total takeaways.
Eric Weddle notched his sixth interception of the year, one off the league lead, and Mosley’s strip of Duke Johnson boosted the Ravens’ takeaway total. However, Baltimore had trouble capitalizing on turnovers.
Following the Weddle pickoff, the Ravens drove to a first-and-goal at the Browns’ 4. Alex Collins (19 yards, 12 carries; 33 yards, five catches) was held short of the goal line on two straight plays, denying the Ravens any points.
On offense, Joe Flacco (26-for-42, season-high 288 yards, touchdown, sack, 90.2 rating) spread the ball around to 11 different targets. The Ravens befuddled the Cleveland defense with an array of offensive options that had produced 31 points per game over the last six games coming into this week. Even without wideout Jeremy Maclin, who had to leave the game in the first half with a knee injury, the Ravens were able to have many different targets touch the ball. Six players touched the ball on the team’s opening drive–a 13-play possession that ended in Tucker’s 31-yard field goal.
But make no mistake about it: winning this game didn’t come easily. The Ravens hadn’t won in Cleveland by more than a touchdown since 2012 and the Ravens led on Sunday by a mere 17-10 at the break even, despite the fact that the Browns gained zero total yards in the first quarter and didn’t seem interested in exploring many offensive options, either. They force-fed the ball constantly to running back Isaiah Crowell (72 yards, five carries) and that approach made a third-down passing game all too predictable.
Even with the Browns backed up, Crowell busted loose for a 59-yard run–a play that keyed a five-play, 96-yard drive consisting entirely of running plays against a Ravens’ defense that has risen from last place to 13th place against the rush since midseason. Cleveland capped it off with Duke Johnson’s 12-yard touchdown run.
The Browns became the first team in seven weeks to gain more than 100 yards rushing as a team against the Ravens (130 on the ground).
The goal-line stop and ensuing drive seemed to energize the less-than-capacity Cleveland crowd, but the Ravens answered with 14 unanswered points. That included an 11-play, 75-yard drive that ended with a two-yard quarterback draw that (again) put Baltimore in the lead.
The Mosley-Levine takeaway got the ball back for the Ravens. Two plays later, Flacco found veteran tight end Ben Watson streaking across the field for a 33-yard touchdown – his third-longest scoring pass of the year – and a 17-7 Ravens lead.
But the Browns came back. Recognizing the damage that Pittsburgh had done to the Ravens with their tight ends last week, Kizer found Seth DeValve for two passes for 32 yards. A 16-yard strike to Corey Coleman set up Zane Gonzalez’ 45-yard field goal as time expired before the half. That score kept the Browns within seven.
For sure, the Ravens’ offense was a bit uneven on the day, but the defense – long a Baltimore trademark – salted away a win that this team desperately needed down the stretch.
At times, it was pretty. At times it was ugly. But wins are wins, especially when they mean the best of times (a playoff spot) are still possible.
