The Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens both lost their first game of the 2025 season. Week 2 was designed to right one franchise and give the winner a division victory.
The Ravens were celebrating their 30-year history, which, oddly enough, is against the very city Baltimore stole their franchise. The Browns wanted nothing better than to spoil the party with a much-needed win.
RELATED: RAVENS 30-YEAR ANNIVERSARY HAS BROWNS FANS, MEDIA UPSET
In the end, Baltimore took Cleveland to the woodshed in
a 41-17 beatdown. So who played well for the Browns? Who didn’t?
BROWNIES
Defense stopping the run – The Ravens RB Derrick Henry is an absolute beast. We all know this. But the Browns stymied the big running back in the first half to the tune of five carries for five yards. He could not run up the middle whatsoever as he was gang tackled by rookie DT Mason Graham and a tandem of veterans Shelby Harris and Maliek Collins. Henry finished the game with 11 carries for 23 yards. No, not a misprint. With Baltimore inside the six-yard line on two separate drives in the third quarter with a first-and-goal, it would be natural to just hand Henry the ball as many times as it took. However, he only had one carry for one yard.
DE Myles Garrett – The talented first ballot Hall of Famer had a great game and was relentless for most of the contest. He was able to grab QB Lamar Jackson as fellow defender Cameron Thomas helped finish off the sack. On the very next play, he nailed RB Justice Hill for a one-yard loss. In the second quarter, WR Zay Flowers caught a short pass in the flats as Garrett ran him down from behind. In Quarter 3 with the Ravens starting on a first-and-goal from the one, after two unsuccessful plays, Jackson dropped back and Garrett beat LT Ronnie Stanley badly for another sack. Finished with five tackles with two QB hits and 1.5 sacks.
Defensive stop – The Ravens had a first down at the one-yard line early in the third quarter after a long catch by WR DeAndre Hopkins. Should be run, run, run, right? Jackson threw a bad ball on first down, then a false start penalty placed the ball on the six. On second down, a nice throw to TE Mark Andrews just wasn’t cradled and fell incomplete instead. Now third-and-goal, Garrett sacked Jackson, which then became three points instead of six. Three plays later for the Browns, the Flacco interception placed the ball on Cleveland’s five with a first-and-goal – again. First down: RB Derrick Henry for one yard with a tackle by LB Jerome Baker. On second, Jackson ran for two yards as S Ronnie Hickman came up and made the tackle. The third down play fell incomplete. Instead of kicking another three, Baltimore went for it and scored on a touchdown pass. Still, two drives with a first-and-goal, and seven straight stops.
Head coach Kevin Stefanski’s red flag – Good for the coach to make this decision. It turned out that TE Harold Fannin had indeed made the catch, which set the Browns up for a short distance to go for it on fourth down that resulted in an 18-yard touchdown instead of three points. Very heads up.
LB Devin Bush – Man on a mission in this game. He stuffed Henry on a one-yard gain early in Quarter 1 and later in the next quarter with a two-yard gain. In the third quarter, Flowers took a short pass and seemed to have some daylight as Bush took the angle and took him down instead. On the Ravens first-and-goal, it was Bush who bumped TE Mitchell-Paden on a possible TD catch. On Baltimore’s next possession with yet another goal line appearance, Bush rocked TE Mark Andrews who had the catch, and then didn’t in the end zone. His sack in the third quarter was a stunt for a nine-yard loss. Led all Cleveland defenders with eight tackles, one sack, one tackle for loss, two batted passes and one QB hit.
FROWNIES
Third down efficiency – No team can sustain drives that go 3-10 in the first half, and 6-18 for the game.
CB Cam Mitchell – Bad day for Mitchell, as he basically ran beside whoever he was covering and giving way too much distance. Jackson completed passes all day against Mitchell including the goal line toss to WR Devontez Walker in the back of the end zone. Mitchell took Walker straight from the line of scrimmage, then just followed him without any pressure or contesting the throw. He did punch out the ball away from Henry in the second quarter that did not result in a turnover. Had one tackle with zero batted balls.
Dropped passes – For the second week in a row, several spot-on passes were dropped. WR Jerry Jeudy had one go right into his stomach for a drop that would have converted a first down that became a punt instead. Then, RB Jerome Ford dropped an easy throw in the flats on a screen play as his blockers were getting lined up.
LT Dawand Jones – All game, Jones could not handle defensive ends Odafe Oweh or Nnamdi Madubuike. Every time Flacco dropped back, it was either #99 or #92 putting pressure on the QB that forced him out of the pocket continually. Madubuike finally got a sack and LB Tavius Robinson came off of Jones’ inside to get the other sack for the Ravens defense. What was Madubuike’s main moves? The swim? A spin? Nothing but speed and an excellent get off that Jones could not get to in time or reach despite his long arms. Had a false start in the beginning quarter.
No run game, no offense – The Browns have a terrible rushing attack. A four-yard gain is celebrated. 115 yards all game, and most of that came in the second half when the game was already salted away and Baltimore began to sub their defensive linemen.
S Ronnie Hickman – Hickman was out of position on many passing plays. The 24-yard TD pass to Walker, Hickman left CB Myles Harden all alone instead of giving him help over the top. In the replay, Hickman is coming over much too late. Same thing happened with the Walker TD catch in the other end zone as Mitchell and Walker ran right past Hickman who was manning a middle zone instead of dragging with the receiver instead. In the third quarter, a 16-yard gain by Flowers was because Hickman bit on the run and came up, leaving the middle zone soft.
Milk Bones – Reality continues to ruin my life
8:19 – That is how much clock was left in the game with the Ravens up 34-10 and obviously the game in hand. Did Cleveland trot out either rookie Dillon Gabriel or Shedeur Sanders? Nope. What ensued instead was Flacco in yet another stalled drive that ended on their own 36-yard line, and a toss out of bounds. Baltimore then drove the short distance in three plays with just 1:34 of clock with another TD pass. How can either young QB get experience if they aren’t allowed to have eight minutes of game time to develop?
The Ravens had already begun to substitute their starting defensive players. Yes, Gabriel was inserted on the next drive, but with just 4:43 to go. The Browns could have seen both rookies in two drives. That is, if Shedeur hadn’t been one of the inactives. (As the emergency QB, Flacco and Gabriel would have both needed to get injured for Sanders to enter the game.)
QB Joe Flacco – The experienced QB threw away more balls into the turf or out of bounds than we could count. That is because he was harassed for most of the game by one Ravens defender or another. He had some very nice throws today, and then again, he should have netted two interceptions with only one counting. And that one was reminiscent of a rookie mistake, not a seasoned veteran.
Hit WR Jerry Jeudy for a key first down in the second quarter with 10:04 before the half on a third-and-seven that threaded the needle, which gained 26 yards. Did not use his tight ends as much as he should and only connected with Jeudy on half of his targets. The fumble killed any hope of the Browns getting back into the game. For the second week in a row, threw for 45 times with 25 completions for 199 yards and was sacked twice, which should probably have been double digits instead.
Unsung heroes – LG Joel Bitonio’s tackle all the way down the field on CB Nate Wiggins after the Flacco interception to prevent a certain pick six, S Rayshawn Jenkins shoe top tackle on the punt return halfway through the first quarter which saved a touchdown, P Corey Bojorquez injuring his plant foot on the blocked kick yet came back into the game to punt two more times plus was the holder on kicks, WR Cedrick Tillman being in the right place at the right time on what should have been the second pick of the game but instead added six points to the scoreboard, RT Cornelius Lucas with his first start while his man DE Broderick Washington having zero tackles and one pressure all game, and S Grant Delpit’s punch out of a sure TD catch in the third quarter.
RB Quinshon Judkins – One practice enabled the rookie to lead the Browns in rushing with 10 carries for 61 yards and a 6.1 yards per carry average.
DE Isaiah McGuire – Had more “almosts” than actual stats in this game, and seemed to be in the offensive backfield quite a bit, just not close enough.
K Andre Szmyt – A much better game, nailing his field goal attempt of 38 yards and 2-2 on PATs.
Who are your winners and losers from Week 2? Share yours below with us
