The Ravens have won four in a row, but it took one of the ugliest games you’ll see to beat the Cleveland Browns 23-16. Let’s talk about what went well and what didn’t.
The Good
Kyle Hamilton: Right now, this is the best player on the Ravens. Nobody is doing more and playing at a higher level than Hamilton right now. He’s making a Defensive Player of the Year-level impact, play-in, play-out, while playing multiple positions on the defense. He led the team with nine tackles and had three for a loss, a sack,
and two pass breakups. Just incredible impact at all levels of the field.
Mark Andrews: What a night for the best pass catcher in Ravens history. He snagged the yards needed to take the franchise record early in the night and now just needs four catches to have the triple crown for the franchise. Then he delivered the biggest play of the entire game late in the fourth quarter, scoring the game-winning touchdown on his first career rushing touchdown, going for 35 yards.
Chidobe Awuzie: Mr. Underrated hasn’t been talked about all season because of the Jaire Alexander signing, but he’s been the second-best corner on this roster all season long. Awuize made the second-biggest play of the night, stone walling an endzone shot on third and five with perfect technique to avoid the pass interference call and break up the catch attempt. He finished the night with three big passes defended. Opposite Nate Wiggins, the other corner spot is a destination for a ton of targets (see Brandon Stephens last year). Awuzie has been far from being a liability, and this was his breakout game as a Raven.
Nate Wiggins: Wiggins nabbed his third interception of the season, taking the team lead. Wiggins has developed into one of the top corners of the league in his second year, a dependable lockdown guy the Ravens can stick on one side of the field and not worry about.
Keyon Martin: Martin did more than just a sufficient job filling in for Marlon Humphrey. He finished with a sack and a pass defensed; more importantly, he held up well in coverage. As a UDFA stepping in for a starter, it would have been an easy game plan for the Browns to look for #38 on the field every play, but Martin didn’t allow himself to get picked on.
Kyle Van Noy: A great game from the veteran leader in the edge room. Van Noy earned his second sack of the season with an impressive quick inside win against the tackle, dropping Dillon Gabriel in the backfield. Then he delivered a bone-crushing shot on Shedeur Sanders that led to the Nate Wiggins pick.
Dre’Mont Jones: Jones looked good in his first game as a Raven, and he delivered more key pressures in his second, one of which that helped seal the game on fourth down. He timed the snap so well and beat Wyatt Teller so bad to get in Shedeur Sanders’ face that Teller was asking for flags mid-play while trying to catch up. He’s yet to find that first sack in purple and black, but you can already see his impact in these first two games.
Zay Flowers: Flowers has become somewhat forgotten after the terrific start to the season he had. Offensive troubles, Jackson’s injury, and a poor offensive line have contributed to changing how this offense runs now and it’s left Flowers with a diminished role recently. Yet he continues to put up 60-plus yards every game and contribute to trying to dig this offense out of the hole they are in. Three catches for 78 yards, all three going for first downs, including a 48-yard play that set up the first touchdown of the game for the Ravens.
Derrick Henry: Henry clearly still has the juice. He showed burst despite the poor offensive line play. After only running for 23 yards at 2.1 yards a pop in the first game against the Browns this season, Henry bounced back with 103 yards on 18 carries for a 5.7 yards a carry. Henry also had his season’s longest run tonight, going for 59 yards. Now they just need to stop running him up the middle out of shotgun…
Keaton Mitchell: The interception that bounced off his hands was awful. But outside of that, Mitchell flashed in his expanded role with Justice Hill out this week. Eight total touches for 54 all-purpose yards, including a 17-yard reception. His burst flashed tonight, including in smaller moments when he managed to get back to the line or even gain a yard on plays clearly broken behind the line. The Ravens should explore using him laterally in the red zone with Henry runs not working on the goal line right now.
The Bad
Interceptions: These almost ruined this game and would have been the biggest reason the Ravens lost if they had. The first gave the Browns all the momentum in the second quarter. After muffing a punt, the Ravens defense managed to hold the Browns to just a field goal despite the field position starting in goal-to-go. The Ravens got the ball back with the game at 3-6 with a chance to take control. Instead, on the second play of the drive, the ball bounces off of Keaton Mitchell’s hands into Carson Schwesinger’s lap for a pick-six.
Then in the second half, with the Ravens down 16-10, Nate Wiggins delivered a massive play, intercepting Sanders and returning inside of the twenty. In the red zone with a chance to take a lead, on the very play, right tackle Roger Rosengarten gets absolutely bullied back into Jackson’s lap right as he’s throwing the ball. The ball instead goes off of Rosengarten’s helmet, launches into the air, and a defender comes up with it. I can’t remember the last time Lamar Jackson threw an interception that was purely his fault. His supporting cast, playmakers and offensive line, have to be better for him.
Lamar Jackson: Now that we’ve established the interceptions were not on Jackson, we can be honest with each other? He has not been playing his best ball since his return. The second half against the Dolphins was good and other than that, the offense has looked disjointed and uncomfortably out of rhythm. It’s not surprising either. Jackson clearly hasn’t been 100% since his dazzling performance in Buffalo when he took that shot by Ed Oliver. He also has played behind one of the worst offensive lines in football, constantly speeding up his clock, and making him uncomfortable.
But the Ravens’ line is what it is. They didn’t fix it in the offseason and this is what they are left with. It’s time for Lamar Jackson, with help from Todd Monken and others, to figure out how to run this offense in a way that works. Because otherwise, they’re headed for obvious one-and-done in the first round of the playoffs. If Lamar Jackson can figure out how to be his magical self once more, they may have a chance to go on a postseason run.
LaJohntay Wester: I’ve been effusive in my praise for Wester this season. He’s the best punt returner this team has had since the days of Jacoby Jones running it back. He even looked like he stepped up to take control of the kick return role, looking explosive in that job last week. He’s been a calm, steady, and most importantly, confident presence fielding punts this season. But during a windy game in Cleveland, facing a lefty punter with weird spin, that disappeared today. Backed up to his own goal line, he misjudged a punt, tried to make a diving catch for it, and gave a turnover to the Browns.
Wester was subsequently removed from the kick return unit, but kept his punt return duties. He didn’t make a mistake for the rest of the night but you could tell some of the confidence was removed from his fielding. I don’t expect this to be a long-term issue but simply just a rough night for the rookie.
The Ugly
Red zone offense: After tonight’s game, the Ravens might statistically be the worst red zone offense in the league. They converted just once in four attempts inside the 20 and the one was barely a run play, more the offensive line just picking Henry up and tossing him across the line.
The Ravens went from having an unstoppable red zone offense with Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry to being unable to convert in 2025. It’s an astonishing collapse. Somehow, they haven’t been able to run Henry up the middle on the goal line all season. It’s time to find a new game plan from the red zone and rework the tendencies. Because running Henry out of shotgun up the middle and the sprint out right are no longer working in 2025.
Offensive Line: I’m tired of talking about it. But it’s an issue every week. This single unit is wrecking any plan for the Ravens to take the next step from just grinding out wins to dominating teams as one of the best in the NFL. The guards are the biggest liabilities but all five are risks of losing on any rep. If it’s not Faalele blocking air, then it’s Rosengarten getting walked back into Jackson’s lap. If it’s not Vorhees getting manhandled, it’s Linderbaum getting beat one-on-one. Then Stanley is just trying to survive against Myles Garrett who sacked Jackson four times in the game.
It’s a soft unit that isn’t changing soon, and I have no idea how they realistically can fix it for 2026.
