Baltimore vs. Cleveland
Cleveland Browns' Offense Breaks Out in 40-25 Loss for the Baltimore Ravens
After the first three games of the season, the highly touted Cleveland Browns offense didn't look like it would live up to the hype, but it broke out in a big way in a 40-25 win over the Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium in Week 4, sending both teams to the .500 mark and a tie for first place in the AFC North.
Following a narrow loss at Kansas City, the Ravens (2-2) defense was unable to rebound, allowing 342 yards to Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield and also gave up a 165-yard, three-touchdown performance to Nick Chubb.
"The Browns just did a good job; it's as simple as that," head coach John Harbaugh said when asked about the team's sudden defensive problems. "When you have a gap control or a responsibility on a run play, you have to be there. When you have a coverage responsibility, you have to do it. We're not disciplined right now in that sense."
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Often times when we discuss a Ravens loss, it's the offense not keeping up with the defense. But the offense wasn't much of an issue today, outside of two Lamar Jackson interceptions. Jackson threw for 247 yards and three touchdowns while adding 66 yards on the ground. Mark Ingram II ran for 71 yards, and Willie Snead IV, Miles Boykin, and Mark Andrews all caught touchdown passes.
Jackson said after the game that the Browns followed the Chiefs' game plan of taking away the big pass, and now it's up to him and the rest of the offense to adjust in a league that's constantly making adjustments against emerging offenses and defenses.
"But we still have to execute whichever play we get, whatever we're doing, [and] get down field," Jackson told reporters after the game. "We're not relying on our defense to guard that stop. Our defense gets motivated by us. If we're not scoring points, I would be down, too, if I were on defense."
The big story was a Browns offense that showed promise toward the end of last season and went out and got wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. to add to a solid group that already had Mayfield, Chubb, and Jarvis Landry. But Cleveland (2-2) started with two losses at home in their first three games and Mayfield struggling with more interceptions (five) than touchdown passes (three) under new head coach Freddie Kitchens, who replaced interim coach Gregg Williams despite Williams having some success in going 5-3 after Hue Jackson was fired midseason.
"We know how good we can be. That's the frustrating part about how we started," Mayfield said. "We just need to do our job, and that's what guys did this week."
The Browns got yards in bunches, with Mayfield connecting with Landry for 65 yards and Ricky Seals-Jones for a 59-yard completion, and Chubb had an 88-yard touchdown run as part of a 17-0 scoring run in the fourth quarter.
"It goes back to last week and when big plays happen, you see guys get tentative," defensive lineman Michael Pierce explained at the podium after the game. "[The Browns] have a great collection of talent. We knew they were going to make some big plays, but I think somebody has to come through and make a big play. Everyone needs to be where they are supposed to be to rally."
"We just didn't play well; we just didn't execute," echoed safety Tony Jefferson. "We have to do better if we want to be who we say we are."
One bright spot on the day was the team inducting longtime head coach Brian Billick into the team's Ring of Honor. Billick, who led Baltimore to a Super Bowl title in 2000 and amassed an 85-67 record in nine seasons, had his name added to the façade of the upper deck at M&T Bank Stadium during a halftime ceremony.
GAME RECAP
After each team forced the other to punt, the Browns opened the scoring in the first quarter with a nine-yard Mayfield touchdown pass to Seals-Jones to make it 7-0 Cleveland.
The score remained the same into the second quarter until the Ravens converted a Marcus Canady interception into points when Jackson found Boykin in the end zone from nine yards out to tie the game just inside the two-minute warning. The Browns did a nice job marching from their own 13-yard line to inside the Ravens' 10, but they had to settle for a short field goal from Austin Seibert to give the Browns a 10-7 edge at halftime.
Justin Tucker booted a 41-yarder to start the third quarter to tie the game, but this is when the Browns offense started to rack up the big plays. Mayfield hit Seals-Jones for 59 yards, leading to a 14-yard touchdown run from Chubb on the very next play to give Cleveland a 17-10 lead.
Baltimore was steadily driving on their next possession, but Ingram fumbled at the Cleveland 32, and that ended up being a costly turnover as Chubb capped a long drive with a two-yard score to make it 24-10 after three quarters.
The Ravens were able to make it a one-possession game after Andrews caught an eight-yard pass from Jackson. Baltimore elected to go for the two-point conversion after a Myles Garrett penalty put the ball at the 1-yard line, and they succeeded with an Ingram run to make it 24-18.
Cleveland ran off the next 16 points, however, to open up the game at 40-18. Snead IV scored on a big 50-yard connection from Jackson in the final minute of the game to bring the final score to 40-25.
UP NEXT
The Ravens line up for a huge game next week, taking on the rival Pittsburgh Steelers, who are an uncharacteristic 0-3 heading into a Monday-night date with Cincinnati tomorrow and playing without quarterback Ben Roethlisberger likely for the rest of the season.
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