Over the past two days, Cleveland Browns players are talking tough. When Jerry Jeudy was asked what challenges the Ravens’ secondary poses on Wednesday, he replied, “No challenges.”
After the fourth quarter against the Buffalo Bills, it’s hard to blame him. The Ravens’ secondary allowed Josh Allen to throw for 251 passing yards, a passing touchdown and two rushing touchdowns in the fourth quarter,
and a total of 395 passing yards, four total touchdowns in all.
Prior to the fourth quarter, the Ravens had clamped down on the Bills. Allen had only 143 passing yards and one touchdown. The Bills’ offense struggled to consistently sustain drives. But their meltdown results in teams and players being confident to line up and win.
On Thursday, however, Browns safety Grant Delpit brought another level of confidence. He was asked how hard it is to take down Ravens running back Derrick Henry. He swiftly replied, grinning, “Not hard.”
Delpit does have a bit of a highlight hit on Henry from last season. On the fifth play of the game, Henry blew through a hole and shrugged off a tackle from linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah before being high-low tackled by cornerback Denzel Ward and Delpit. Delpit delivered a hard, unsuspecting hit over the top as Ward went low on Henry from the opposing side. Delpit celebrated after the hit with the “too small” celebration.
Both teams will enter 0-1 after their Week 1 loss. But the mood and mantra from both are diametrically opposed.
The Browns are surging with confidence. The Ravens are recalibrating and recovering from a pitiful loss that outside linebacker Kyle Van Noy admitted some had to take more than a day to get over.
“ Something that I’ve learned over my career is that there’s usually sometimes a 24-hour rule. Sometimes you need to take 48 hours or 24,” Van Noy said. “After emotional loss like that, I think it was OK to take 48.”
It’s often recommended to never give your opponents bulletin board material. But the Browns aren’t wavering from their confidence or keeping it private. It’s up to the Ravens to respond on Sunday.
