Baltimore vs. Cleveland
Ravens Put Poor Defensive Performance Behind Them in 14-6 Win Over Cleveland After Raising Super Bowl Banner
After giving up 49 points in a season-opening loss to Denver last week, the Baltimore defense responded by not allowing Cleveland to score a touchdown and sacked Brandon Weeden five times in a 14-6 win for their 11th straight victory over the Browns.
The day started on a high note, as the Ravens’ Super Bowl XLIII banner was raised before the game, sending the crowd at M&T Bank Stadium into a frenzy, but the Ravens’ offense was flat in the first half, as Baltimore trailed 6-0 at halftime.
Fortunately for the home team, the defense kept Baltimore in it before the offense was able to break through a couple of times in the second half.
“We overcame some adversity, overcame some trials, and we found a way to win the game,” head coach John Harbaugh said after the game. “We did a much better job tackling Trent [Richardson] … and the pass rush cranked it up pretty good with sacks and with quite a bit of pressure.”
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Joe Flacco was 22-for-33 for 211 yards and a touchdown, but it was a great day for the quarterback before the game even started, as his wife, Dana, gave birth to their second child about an hour before the game.
“Anytime you have a child, it's one of your best days,” Flacco said. The game didn't go exactly how we wanted it to, but that's how we've won football games around here. Sometimes you have to do it in an ugly way.”
Flacco was fortunate to have his stat line look as good as it did, as he was just 2-for-6 for nine yards in the first half.
Running back Ray Rice was banged up, leaving early in the fourth quarter with a hip flexor strain. Prior to his exit, he ran 13 times for 36 yards and lost a fumble. Bernard Pierce carried the ball 19 times for 57 yards and the go-ahead touchdown.
For his part, Harbaugh didn’t seem overly concerned that his star running back would miss a lot of time with the injury.
“I don’t have the ‘scary gauge’ on me right now. We’re confident and optimistic right now; we’ll have to see tomorrow how he responds to [treatment],” Harbaugh said.
Torrey Smith led Baltimore with seven catches for 85 yards, and rookie Marlon Brown had four grabs for 45 yards and a touchdown in the fourth quarter.
The defense, however, owned the day, and they needed a confidence-boosting performance after Peyton Manning threw for seven touchdowns on them 10 days ago. Baltimore took their aggression out on Weeden, who left the game with an injured wrist after being sacked for the fifth time.
Daryl Smith had 1.5 sacks while Terrell Suggs, Elvis Dumervil, and Arthur Jones each added one. Arthur Brown had a half sack as well.
“After that game against Denver, we wanted to come back today and really show what we could do,” tackle Haloti Ngata said.
It was looking to be an uphill battle for the Browns in this one, as Cleveland was coming in to play the defending Super Bowl champions and haven’t won against the Ravens in 10-straight games. The 11th win in a row is the longest current streak over one opponent in the NFL. In fact, John Harbaugh has never lost to the Browns in his tenure as head coach. New Browns coach Rob Chudzinski is now 0-1.
“We just have to keep grinding,” Chudzinski said. “We have to keep working at it. The plays are there, the things are there. We're just off a little bit.”
In other injury notes, Ravens defensive lineman Chris Canty left with a groin injury, and cornerback Chykie Brown suffered a knee strain. More information on both is expected after MRIs on Monday.
GAME RECAP
The Ravens took the opening kick and drove to Cleveland’s 32-yard line, but Justin Tucker missed a 50-yard field goal at the end of the drive. On the Browns’ first play from scrimmage, Weeden connected with Jordan Cameron for 53 yards to get a 1st and goal from the 7-yard line. But the Ravens defense held, and Cleveland had to settle for a 21-yard field goal from former Raven Billy Cundiff to but Cleveland ahead, 3-0.
The teams then punted a total of eight times until there was 1:10 left in the half. But Tucker missed a 44-yarder, and Weeden led Cleveland to the 33-yard line of Baltimore, which is where Cundiff connected from 51-yards out to make the score 6-0 at halftime.
Baltimore forced a Browns punt to begin the second half, and the Ravens made some adjustments in the locker room and were more successful right away. Flacco engineered a 12-play, 80-yard drive that ended with Pierce ran up the middle for a 5-yard touchdown to put Baltimore on top, 7-6.
After two punts and also stopping Cleveland on fourth down, the Ravens started a drive with 12:17 left in the fourth quarter that also led to points. Passes to Brandon Stokley for 16 yards and Marlon Brown for 18 yards put the Ravens into scoring position, and Flacco connected with Brown for a 5-yard touchdown pass to make it 14-6.
Harbaugh elected to kick the extra point on that touchdown and keep it a one-possession game, and his faith in his defense paid off. After each team punted, Jason Campbell came into the game at quarterback for the Browns, and his pass to Cameron on 4th and 10 wasn’t enough, as the Browns only gained six yards, handing the ball back to the ravens with three minutes left on the clock. After Pierce ran for the first down on 3rd and 4, Flacco was able to kneel out the clock and preserve the 14-6 win.
UP NEXT
The Ravens remain home next week and face the Houston Texans, who are off to a hot start this season. After a Monday night win at San Diego to start the season, the Texans pulled out an overtime win over Tennessee today to improve to 2-0. Matt Schaub is averaging 320 passing yards in his first two games.