The highest-scoring game in team history keeps playoff hopes alive.
Monday, December 14, 2020: In 2020, things have occurred that don’t seem real. It didn’t seem real that there were no professional sports played in America for roughly four months. It didn’t seem real that numerous businesses would close or that entertainment options would drastically dwindle. It didn’t seem real that only two inches of snow fell in Baltimore last winter. The most astounding reality stretch of all took place in the form of a phenomenon no one could have seen coming: approximately 300,000 people nationwide losing their lives to a deadly pandemic.
In the relatively unimportant world of the National Football League, it hasn’t seemed real that the Cleveland Browns – a perennially sad-sack outfit that has never appeared in a Super Bowl, hasn’t won a division title since 1989, and hasn’t made the playoffs since 2002 – would have a chance to post a ten-win season for the first time in 13 years. But there they were Monday night, playing a nationally-televised home game at the latest point in a season in franchise history against the visiting Baltimore Ravens, a club with high expectations that have been more battered by the COVID-19 virus than any other in sports, not to mention being sidetracked by injuries and underachieving play.
However, what the Ravens produced in Cleveland goes down in the team’s quarter-century history as one of the greatest games ever played.
A game that featured more combined points than any in Ravens history, a blown 14-point lead, nine rushing touchdowns (for only the third time in NFL history), and a clutch fourth-down pass ended in the Ravens’ 47-42 win in front of 11,974 fans.
“Hectic. My emotions are all over the place right now,” tight end Mark Andrews said. “It was just so much fun. It was a team win all around.”
Head coach John Harbaugh agreed. “I love these guys,” he said. “They have the heart of lions, they really do. For our guys to make those plays at the end when it mattered most says so much about who they are. It’s going to be a game that goes down in history. In the end, I was doing a little bit of praying.”
As a result of Cleveland’s win, Baltimore remained in eighth place in the AFC, one slot below the seven-team playoff field; Miami has a better conference record. (The current AFC playoff picture can be found at the bottom of this article.)
The 89 points by the Ravens and Browns marked only the third time the Ravens had been involved in a game with 80 or more combined points. It broke the Baltimore club record, which was 85 in a 2003 Ravens’ overtime home win over Seattle, 44-41. The Ravens and New England Patriots combined for 84 in a 1996 game at Memorial Stadium that the Patriots won, 46-38.
Combined with the Ravens’ Week One 38-6 blowout of the Browns at home, it marks the 13th time in 22 years Baltimore has swept Cleveland (9-4). The teams had split in each of the past two seasons.
Many things could be written or said about this game, not the least significant of which is that the Ravens surpassed 100 rushing yards for a 36th straight game, the league’s longest such streak since Pittsburgh had a similar run from 1974-77. But perhaps the most referenced occurrence will be the absence of quarterback Lamar Jackson, who missed part of the second half with cramps, necessitating backup Trace McSorley’s insertion into the game. Once that happened, a 34-20 Ravens lead turned into a 35-34 Browns advantage, as the two teams volleyed back and forth with four touchdowns in a five-possession sequence.
A pair of Cleveland 12-play drives got it back into the game as the vaunted Ravens secondary got dinged up with another Jimmy Smith groin injury and Marcus Peters’ ailment after he fell down trying to cover what turned out to be a touchdown pass. That left the Ravens with just three healthy corners, no starting quarterback, and a defense that tired towards the game’s end. But the story’s true climax was yet to come.
Jackson, whose 124 yards on nine carries – he and Gus Edwards ran for two scores each – set a “Monday Night Football” single-game quarterback rushing record and returned to the field after the two-minute warning which McSorley seemed to incur a knee injury. It was fourth-and-6 at the Browns’ 44-yard line.
Jackson (11-for-17, 163 yards, touchdown, four sacks, 115.6 rating) then reared back and found Marquise Brown, who had dropped three earlier passes. Running down the middle of the field, Brown had gotten behind the defense, used an official as a pick, and scampered in for the go-ahead score with 1:51 to go. A two-point conversion made it 42-35.
“It’s 4th-and-6, and you see our leader come back on the field,” Andrews said. “We were all just ecstatic. People were making plays left and right.”
But Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield (28-for-47, 343 yards, two touchdowns, interception, 87.5 rating), who have now lost four of his five career starts against Baltimore, brought his team back against the battered Ravens defense and found Kareem Hunt from 22 yards out with just over a minute remaining to tie the score.
Andrews (78 yards, five catches), who had missed the last two games while on the COVID list, caught three passes to set up Justin Tucker’s game-winning 55-yard field goal with two seconds to go. Tucker’s 16th career buzzer-beater was first since December 1, 2019, at home against San Francisco.
The Browns’ frantic last-second kick return ended in a safety, accounting for the night’s final points.
The Ravens’ running attack was fine, with 134 first-half rushing yards and 231 for the game. But many Ravens, Jackson in particular, had problems with the moist, dewy turf in Cleveland and slipped several times, necessitating a cleat change at halftime.
Luck seemed to be on the Browns’ side as well, as the hosts recovered three early fumbles before the Ravens could pounce on them. It was up to Baltimore to make plays how they know-how, on defense and special teams. Punter Sam Koch’s pinpoint kick pinned the Browns back at their own 13 in the third quarter, and from there, linebacker Tyus Bowser’s interception return to the 1 set up JK Dobbins’ short touchdown run that made it 34-20. It was Mayfield’s first interception in six games and 184 pass attempts.
Earlier, Marlon Humphrey forced two fumbles to bring his season total to eight, setting a new Ravens single-season record and breaking Terrell Suggs’ old mark, set in 2011.
The defense also did a relatively good job covering top receiver Jarvis Landry, who finished with 52 yards on six carries. Top running back Nick Chubb gained 82 yards on 17 carries with two touchdowns.
Cleveland deserves credit for a doggedly determined effort against a top-tier team, the kind of squad against which it has struggled this year. The Browns are still in a good position to make the playoffs, and a streak of 12 straight losing seasons will be snapped.
But for all the abnormalities 2020 has given us, all of the unreal, surreal things we have witnessed, the Ravens proved it was still they, and not the Browns, that can win games like this. It seemed like it all wasn’t real. But for the Ravens, considering their colorful history, it was normal.
With the win, two of the Ravens’ three remaining games are at home, starting with Sunday’s game against the visiting Jacksonville Jaguars, a team on a 12-game losing streak (Sunday, December 20, 1 p.m.; WJZ-TV, Channel 13; WIYY-FM).
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UPDATED AFC PLAYOFF STANDINGS
Here’s how the AFC playoff race currently stands. Teams are listed by seed, team, overall record, division record, and conference record, followed by all of their remaining regular-season opponents.
(Note: All games will be played Sunday afternoons unless otherwise noted.)
DIVISION LEADERS
y-1. Kansas City, 12-1, 4-1, 10-1, at New Orleans, Atlanta, LA Chargers
x-2. Pittsburgh, 11-2, 4-0, 8-1, at Cincinnati (Monday night), Indianapolis, at Cleveland
3. Buffalo, 10-3, 4-0, 7-2, at Denver (Saturday afternoon), at New England (Monday night), Miami
4. Tennessee, 9-4, 4-1, 7-4, Detroit, at Green Bay (Sunday night), at Houston
WILD-CARD SPOTS
5. Cleveland, 9-4, 2-3, 6-3, at NY Giants, at NY Jets, Pittsburgh
6. Indianapolis, 9-4, 2-2, 5-4, Houston, at Pittsburgh, Jacksonville
7. Miami, 8-5, 2-2, 5-4, New England, at Las Vegas (Saturday night), at Buffalo
OUTSIDE LOOKING IN: Baltimore, Las Vegas, New England
ALSO ALIVE: Denver
ELIMINATED: Houston, Los Angeles Chargers, Cincinnati, Jacksonville, New York Jets
CURRENT FIRST-ROUND MATCHUPS: Miami at Pittsburgh, Indianapolis at Buffalo, Cleveland at Tennessee
CURRENT FIRST-ROUND BYE: Kansas City
x – clinched a playoff berth
y – clinched the division title
z – clinched home-field advantage throughout AFC playoffs
NOTE: In the Divisional (second) round, the top seed will play the lowest surviving seed from Wild Card Weekend.
