Advancing to 3-1, the Ravens are atop the AFC North, with the Steelers next up.
Sunday, October 1, 2023: A long time ago, legendary rock band Guns N’ Roses released a double album entitled Use Your Illusion. Cleveland Browns fans have been doing that for a quarter-century. In recent seasons, they have lived with the illusion that constantly changing quarterbacks, head coaches, and general managers would lead to an AFC North Division crown and Super Bowl honors.
But the Browns are still one of four teams that have never played in a Super Bowl. Plus, since their 1999 expansion rebirth, they have never won either the AFC Central (1999-2001) or the AFC North (2002-present).
The injury-riddled Baltimore Ravens have had their own problems in the 2023 season’s early going, but they did what teams with winning cultures do: take advantage of teams that don’t have one. The Ravens made that happen Sunday with a brutally efficient 28-3 pounding of the host Browns in front of 67,919 disappointed fans.
The Ravens upped their lifetime record over the Browns to a lopsided 36-13 by way of beating Cleveland (2-2) at least once in 23 of 25 seasons since its return to the league. The Browns, who make their annual visit to Baltimore in Week Ten (November 12) in what will be the teams’ 50th-lifetime clash, have only managed to sweep the Ravens in 2001 and 2007. All that being said, the Ravens had come up short in three of their last five trips to the Lake Erie shore, with Lamar Jackson’s 2021 season-ending injury at Cleveland playing a part in that particular defeat.
Going into Sunday’s meeting, the numbers dictated that the Ravens would have another rough afternoon. Cleveland boasted the league’s second-ranked run defense and the number-one unit in three-and-outs, total defense, pass defense, points allowed (a paltry 10.7 per game), third-down, and red-zone stoppage. What also had helped is that the Browns’ defense had spent less time on the field than any in the league, thanks to Cleveland’s top-ranked time-of-possession offense, which posted a 36-minute-per-game rate over the season’s first three weeks. Cleveland also had not allowed a touchdown in its two previous home games this year
But on this day, the Browns’ defense would get worn out in 80-degree heat due to the Ravens’ ball-control game. The Ravens had outscored outscored opponents in the first quarter, 21-0, and right on cue, the Ravens struck early. Backup corner Brandon Stephens ran back an Arthur Maulet deflection 51 yards. The interception, Cleveland’s eighth giveaway of the year (third-most in the NFL), set up Lamar Jackson’s ten-yard quarterback-draw touchdown off a faked jet sweep for the game’s first points nine minutes into the game. Jackson has now won seven of nine career starts against the Browns.
Speaking of the defense, a pass rush that has been a constant question mark in recent years again had to do without young pass-rush draftees David Ojabo, placed on injured reserve, and Odafe Oweh. But the veteran pair of former Browns standout Ja’DaVeon Clowney (team-high 13 pressures before Sunday) and the recently-signed Kyle Van Noy, a two-time Super Bowl winner with New England, proved more than capable by forcing more than a few futile scrambles and huge losses. Inside pressure from Patrick Queen and Roquan Smith also proved helpful.
Van Noy forced a rushed third-down incompletion on the Browns’ first series, and he would later knock down a third-down pass to prevent Cleveland from capitalizing on a Justice Hill fumble. All of that came at the expense of Browns rookie quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson, a fifth-round pick from UCLA playing in his first NFL game in relief of injured signal-caller DeShaun Watson (shoulder).
Watson’s absence was costly, as the Ravens are now 23-7 against rookie quarterbacks under head coach John Harbaugh, with 37 interceptions and 85 sacks. The Ravens had three pickoffs and three sacks Sunday. The Ravens also have the longest active sack streak in the league, having recorded at least one sack in 25 straight games.
Baltimore wouldn’t feel sorry for the Browns missing Watson, as the visitors still had seven starters missing, including wideouts Odell Beckham, Jr. and Rashod Bateman. However, two key returnees were running back/returner Justice Hill and center Tyler Linderbaum. The latter is part of a patchwork offensive line that is still missing left tackle Ronnie Stanley but one that had allowed only seven sacks through three games.
That offensive line was tasked with working against defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz (a former Maryland and Ravens assistant) and Browns pass-rush ace Myles Garrett, who came into the game with 4.5 sacks. However, three of them had come last week against Tennessee. Garrett got an early sack, and the Ravens were held to three-and-outs in four first-quarter drives.
The quarter ended with a 7-3 Ravens lead and both teams having gained just 73 yards between them. But the Ravens started to get a better offensive rhythm in the second period. One solid drive ended with the Hill fumble, but Mark Andrews gained 36 on a catch-and-run before Hill’s 15-yard jaunt, and Melvin Gordon’s 22-yard run set up Jackson’s two-yard touchdown off a fake to Gus Edwards. The eight-play, 93-yard drive gave the Ravens a 14-3 bulge with 4:18 to go before the half.
The lead would get bigger, even though Garrett got a second sack at the start of a ten-play, 74-yard drive. But a scrambling Jackson found Zay Flowers for 43 yards on second-and-29 to put the ball on the Browns’ 11. From there, Andrews outleaped his coverage for a seven-yard scoring grab with 11 seconds left before the break. That second-quarter blitzkrieg left the Ravens with a 249-70 yardage edge and a 13-4 first-down advantage. The Browns ran for ten first-half yards without standout rusher Nick Chubb.
The two teams started just as slowly in the second half as they did in the first, gaining only 28 total yards in the third period. Backup free safety Geno Stone highlighted the fourth quarter with his second interception of the year, running it back to the Browns’ 38. Fullback Patrick Ricard rumbled for a first down with a catch before Andrews helped out a scrambling Jackson by converting an 18-yard toss for his second score of the day. Andrews led the team with five catches for 80 yards.
That would be Jackson’s last action of the game, as he was removed with just over four minutes to go after completing 15 of 19 for 187 yards and his first-ever game with two rushing and two passing scores. Despite three sacks, he played to a gaudy 142.8 rating before Tyler Huntley replaced him.
Thanks to a quirky schedule, Baltimore (3-1) now has two legs up on the rest of the AFC North, winning two road games going into the early completion of its away division schedule. That will come next Sunday at 1p. in Pittsburgh.
