Not many Cleveland Browns fans were expecting a win this week, but we were still hoping for a fun game and Flacco Fever living strong. Instead, we got a combination of more mistakes on offense and special teams, with Baltimore capitalizing on all of them and coming away with a 41-17 win. Let’s get to the full game recap.
1st Quarter – Browns vs. Ravens
The Browns received the opening kickoff, putting QB Joe Flacco on the field in Baltimore for the first time since 2018. He started with quick passes to TE David Njoku and TE Harold
Fannin for gains of 6 and 12 yards. After that, though, the drive quickly soured. The first handoff to RB Quinshon Judkins was stuffed for a loss of 2 yards, and then a screen pass to RB Dylan Sampson was blown up for a loss of 3 yards. That was followed by a false start, so on 3rd-and-20, Flacco just checked it down to set up a punt. P Corey Bojorquez got off a nice one, as the Ravens fair caught the ball at the 11 yard line.
The Ravens tried running the ball twice in a row, setting up a 3rd-and-7. QB Lamar Jackson found his slot receiver on the underneath crossing route to get enough for the first down. A few plays later, DT Mason Graham stuffed RB Derrick Henry for a loss on a run, setting up 3rd-and-7. Jackson lofted one downfield for WR Zay Flowers, but it was out of reach as Baltimore sent their punt unit out. Their punt landed out of bounds at the 18 yard line.
Judkins began the next drive with a gain of 4 yards on the ground, but the next two throws from Flacco were incomplete, leading to a punt. This time, Bojorquez’ punt was returned 23 yards to the Browns’ 49 yard line, into Cleveland territory, as S Rayshawn Jenkins made a shoestring tackle to stop further damage. Cleveland’s defense did a good job holding Baltimore to a 43-yard field goal, as they continued to stuff Henry. Baltimore took a 3-0 lead with 3:06 remaining in the opening quarter.
With WR DeAndre Carter being evaluated for a concussion, the Ravens kicked the ball short of the landing zone, which gave the Browns the ball at the 40 yard line. The drive started with a late throw to Judkins in the flat, and it was stuffed for a loss of 4 yards. The Ravens kept bringing the heat on second down, leading to a 3rd-and-14 situation. Flacco airmailed the ball out of bounds, leading to another quick punt, down to the 22 yard line.
The defense, led by DE Myles Garrett and DE Cameron Thomas, combined to sack Jackson on the first play for a loss of 10 yards.
On second down, Garrett immediately beat his man and stuffed a run for a loss of a yard. On 3rd-and-21, Garrett wanted the hat trick, but jumped offsides, making it 3rd-and-16. They forced a punt leading into the second quarter.
2nd Quarter – Browns vs. Ravens
The Browns opened the second quarter with the ground game, as Judkins got the first three carries to move the chains for a first down. A few plays like, LB Roquan Smith brought the blitz and blew through Sampson to disrupt a pass, setting up 3rd-and-8. Pressure came again on third down, forcing Flacco to roll and throw the ball away. The protection issues then extended to the punt unit, as Bojorquez’ punt was blocked, and then he came limping up after the play. Baltimore recovered at the Browns’ 24 yard line.
Henry got the first touch and steamed forward for 9 yards. CB Cameron Mitchell punced the ball loose, but Baltimore recovered. On the next play, off of a playaction fake, WR Tylan Wallace got free and was open for the touchdown, giving Baltimore a 10-0 lead. Of note, CB Denzel Ward was in the blue medical tent prior to the drive starting.
With nothing working offensively, the Browns needed a spark, down 10-0. He tried to begin the drive by zipping a pass to WR Cedric Tillman, but he couldn’t hang on with tight coverage. A short pass to Fannin then made it 3rd-and-7, and Flacco went through his progressions quick and found WR Jerry Jeudy up the left sideline for 26 yards and a big first down, into Baltimore territory.
A couple plays later, on 3rd-and-8, Jeudy couldn’t hang on to an open pass that would have made it a 4th-and-2, in field goal range. Instead, they decided to bring a limping Bojorquez out to punt (passing on a 56-yard field goal attempt). Bojorquez got the ball downed at the 9 yard line with his 31 yard punt. The Browns’ defense held Baltimore to a three-and-out, leading to a punt. The punt got a fortunate Ravens roll down to the 28 yard line, with 6:42 remaining in the half.
WR Isaiah Bond began the drive with the ball in his hands off of a reverse that went for 9 yards. Judkins then carried the ball for a first down. A few plays later, on 3rd-and-4, had time, but no one was open and Flacco had to throw the ball away, leading to yet another punt. Bojorquez continued to shake off his earlier injury, getting the ball coffin cornered to the 4 yard line with 3:45 to go in the half. Could the defense make a big play?
Jackson’s first pass was tipped, but no one could come down with the duck. On second down, Jackson faced pressure, but got the ball off to Flowers to make it a 3rd-and-3. The Browns stopped Baltimore on a 4th-and-inches heading into the two-minute warning.
Baltimore tried to get Cleveland to jump after the break, but took a delay of game. Bond fair caught the ball at the Ravens’ 48 yard line, giving the offense their best starting field position of the day. Just like last week, Cleveland took forever after the first play of their two-minute drill, showing no urgency to get a touchdown. Ford carried the ball on first down, and then Flacco was sacked on second down, setting up 3rd-and-13. Stunningly, Flacco found Njoku wide open up the seam for 23 yards and a first down.
A few plays later, on 3rd-and-10, Flacco got 8 yards to Njoku again, but that made it 4th-and-2. The offense stayed on the field to try to draw Baltimore offsides, but then took a timeout. K Andre Szmyt came on from 38 yards out, and he connected to make it a 10-3 game with 0:29 left in the first half.
The Ravens returned the ball to the 26 yard line with 0:24 left and having 1 timeout. Baltimore went three-and-out, and Cleveland burned a timeout with 10 seconds left. They didn’t get the block, and the half ended as the ball hit the field.
To give some perspective of the Browns’ defense again, Cleveland out-gained Baltimore 120 to 81 yards in the first half. The Ravens had 14 yards rushing, and no running attempts by Jackson. The difference really was that blocked punt.
3rd Quarter – Browns vs. Ravens
Baltimore got the ball to begin the second half, and Szmyt kicked a touchback to allow Baltimore to begin their drive at the 35 yard line. Jackson started with a big pass play to WR Zay Flowers for 19 yards, followed by a jet sweep to Flowers for 3 yards. On the next play, Jackson dropped way back in the pocket and then found WR DeAndre Hopkins for a 41 yard gain down to the 1 yard line, even with solid coverage by CB Greg Newsome.
On 1st-and-goal at the 1 yard line, Jackson’s playaction rollout pass was incomplete. On second down, a false start pushed Baltimore back to a 2nd-and-goal at the 6 yard line. On second down, TE Mark Andrews caught a pass with two steps, but S Grant Delpit punched the ball out. On third down, Garrett sacked Jackson, turning what seemed like multiple sure touchdowns into a field goal instead.
The 32 yarder from K Tyler Loop extended the Ravens lead to 13-3. Loop then made another mistake on a kickoff by booting it out of bounds, giving the Browns at the 40 yard line again. Judkins opened the Browns’ first drive with a run for 6 yards. Then, the wheels quickly came off. A quick pass to Jeudy was bobbled by the sideline, and even though it looked like he may have had it secured, the officials ruled incomplete and the Browns didn’t challenge. Then, on 3rd-and-4, Flacco rolled out and tried firing a bullet to Njoku along the boundary, but it was an errant decision and picked off by CB Nate Wiggins, who returned it all the way to the 5 yard line.
The Browns’ defense came up strong again, first stopping Henry after a gain of a yard, and then taking Jackson down on a quarterback run to the right for 2 yards. On 3rd-and-goal at the 2 yard line, Jackson’s pass was deflected and fell incomplete, with LB Devin Bush just missing the interception. They stayed out there and went for it on fourth down. This time, WR Devontez Walker beat Mitchell across the field for the touchdown, giving the Ravens a 20-3 lead with 10:09 remaining in the third quarter.
Flacco began the next drive with a 20 yard strike to Fannin, who made an acrobatic leaping grab. A few run plays moved the chains again. A few plays later, on 3rd-and-4, Flacco took off and ran for the first time, and also drew some light contact on the slide that led to a gift of a 15 yard penalty. However, replay assist then got involved and took away the penalty portion, which was the right call. Later, on 3rd-and-7, the quick hitter to Fannin was ruled incomplete by the officials, which made Stefanski sent Szmyt out for a 41-yard field goal try. Stefanski then threw the challenge flag to try to make it a 4th-and-3 instead and possibly go for it.
They did overturn the call, making it 4th-and-3. The offense went back out to go for it. Flacco threw basically a prayer toward the right side of the end zone — Baltimore had the ball in their hands for an interception, but somehow the ball deflected off of him and into the hand of WR Cedric Tillman for a touchdown (much like what the Bills did on fourth down against Baltimore last week). That kept Cleveland alive at 20-10 with 5:02 left in the third quarter.
Baltimore’s drive began with an offensive pass interference on a wide receiver screen attempt. A hold on CB Myles Harden on the next play gave them an automatic first down, though, as Baltimore marched toward midfield. That’s when LB Devin Bush struck with a sack on Jackson for a loss of 9 yards. A play later, on 3rd-and-13, Jackson evaded pressure multiple times, rolled out, and found Flowers for a 16 yard gain as he did a good job coming back to the ball.
4th Quarter – Browns vs. Ravens
Baltimore began the fourth quarter with a 2nd-and-8 at the Browns’ 32 yard line, and Jackson continued to find Flowers, this time for a 12 yard gain to the Cleveland 20 yard line. A few plays later, on 2nd-and-14, Harden got beat by a wide margin, as Jackson found Walker wide open for a 24 yard touchdown pass, with Ward’s absence continuing to be the one weakness for the defense. That made it a 27-10 game with 13:26 remaining.
The Browns tried chipping their way down the field as Baltimore was playing back a bit. On 3rd-and-6, Flacco’s pass to the right side was incomplete. They went for it on fourth down from the Ravens’ 33 yard line, and Flacco fumbled the ball as he was being sacked, which allowed Smith to return it all the way for a touchdown to extend the Ravens’ lead to 34-10.
The Browns tried to go for it on fourth down again, and turned it over on downs. With the short field, Jackson got a 23-yard touchdown pass to Hopkins with tight coverage by Harden, making it a 41-10 game.
QB Dillon Gabriel then came in with 4:43 to go. His first play was a handoff to Judkins, who broke tackles and picked up 31 yards. With the Ravens playing soft and having their second string in, Gabriel got his first NFL touchdown pass as he found Sampson in the back right corner to make it a 41-17 game.
This game obviously sucked. We saw another rather dominant defensive effort from the Browns’ defense for much of the game. You’re going to have some moments where the opposition gets a win, but too many of those moments came on short fields. The Browns allowed 34 points, but it’s crazy how few of those were by the defense.
For as good of a game that Flacco had in Week 1, it was the opposite in Week 2. I think what we saw was Flacco take advantage of those quick throws in Week 1 that Cincinnati weren’t defending, but Baltimore played things much tighter this week, and not many options were open. And then, Flacco compounded the errors by throwing basically a pick six, and also fumbling for a touchdown. Jeudy also dropped a couple more passes that led to negative effects. Cleveland does not have an identity on offense, and after this week, some should wonder if a shift to Gabriel this early is worth considering.
Quick Hitters
- QB Joe Flacco: 25-of-45 for 199 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT. 1 fumble.
- QB Dillon Gabriel: 3-of-3 for 20 yards, 1 TD.
- RB Quinshon Judkins: 10 carries, 61 yards (6.1 YPC). 3 catches, 10 yards.
- DE Myles Garrett: 1.5 sacks
Next up, the Browns are at home to take on the Packers.
