Knee-Jerk Reactions: Ravens 35 Browns 10

The Ravens beat the Cleveland Browns 28-10 in Week 18. Now they await their playoff opponent, who with either be the Pittsburgh Steelers or Los Angeles Chargers.

RSR staff react to the win here.

Derek Arnold

First, the good: the defense stays locked in. They shut out the Texans (whose only points came on a safety), then allowed just a single field goal to Cleveland through three-plus quarters, and that came on the back of a ridiculous roughing-the-passer call on Travis Jones. Nate Wiggins notched his first career pick, and took it to the house. Marlon Humphrey had another great game to add to his under-the-radar DPOY resume. Rashod Bateman’s ninth TD  of the year. Odafe Oweh hits double-digit sacks. Mark Andrews scores yet again. Derrick Henry, after a tough start, wore down the Browns as he has so many teams,(130 yards in the second half) with a big exclamation mark at the end. Back-to-back AFC North champs, despite an 0-2 start!

Now, the bad: the offensive line got manhandled in the first half, and Henry had six carries for eight yards in the first 30 minutes. Yes, they were rotating guards with Pat Mekari banged up, but that wasn’t the only position getting beat. Brandon Stephens got flagged again, then gave up a TD while covering a fat tight end (and, per the ESPN broadcast, played the complete wrong leverage on the play). The entire first half, actually, looked like so many recent Ravens playoff games. The fourth-down failures, the weird play calls, the untimely penalties and head-scratching spots from the zebras…it was Ravens January football, and that isn’t a compliment. There were false starts at home, illegal shifts, delays of game, just…unacceptable, sloppy, mess.

And finally, the ugly: Zay Flowers, please be OK! The flags were back with a vengeance after a few quiet weeks.

Bottom line, this didn’t look like a team ready to make a deep playoff run. Now, we could have said the same thing about the 2012 Ravens. So, we’ll see.

Now, we sit back and await the opponent. I, for one, would pay anything for it to not be Pittsburgh (so I’ll be betting heavy on Cincy tonight).

Rob Shields

I kind of figured this would be an ugly game and that is what this was for most of the evening. The defense played excellent but the offense was very meh.

Lamar was off a little today and some drops occurred. That prevented him from setting the all time passer rating record but he still ends up with 4000+ pass yards and 800+ rushing yards, becoming the first QB to ever do that.

Also, Harbaugh said the Ravens had over 4000 passing yards and over 3000 rushing yards, which makes them the first team to ever do that.

End of the day, you got the win and now all the attention turns to Zay Flowers’ MRI tomorrow. It didn’t sound like the Ravens were overly concerned but they want to make sure.

We get a home game now and have won the division. A nice accomplishment considering where they were a few weeks ago. Now it’s time to see if this team can play smart football when it counts the most.

Nikhil Mehta

The Ravens offense looked out of sorts for much of the first half with three failed fourth down attempts, but Todd Monken went back to his bread-and-butter to tear apart the Cleveland defense in the second half. Derrick Henry’s runs from under center set up an explosive play action passing game from Lamar Jackson – sound familiar?

The defense, meanwhile, was sticky and gritty from start to finish, bookended by interceptions by perhaps the skinniest and huskiest players on the defense. Nate Wiggins set the tone with a pick-six for his first career interception and Michael Pierce dropped into zone coverage for the heaviest interception of all-time.

Some other fun moments included Kyle Van Noy’s sack and ensuing celebration after hitting yet another incentive this year and another no-look TD pass celebration by Lamar Jackson.

Still, some recurring concerns reared their heads once again. The Ravens dealt with penalties – including some soft calls – throughout the game as well as procedural issues on offense. Nothing could doom them against a Browns team that was already woeful before their spate of injuries, but the Ravens need to clean it up before their first playoff matchup next week.

Chris Schisler

I think the reality of this game was a little more annoying than we wanted it to be. Its a bitterly cold night against a division foe who may not be good but is very familiar. The game was a little underwhelming and the starters had to play more than we may have wanted. The game felt like a formality and both teams seemed eager for it to be over if we’re being honest.

The biggest takeaway I got was the energy from the defense. Three of my favorite moments were big stops. First, Nate Wiggins made a big pick six. Secondly, Marlon Humphrey knocked down a fourth down pass and Kyle Hamilton celebrated with the veteran quarterback. Thirdly, you got a big boy interception by Michael Pierce. It was a night of the defense stringing together the right energy.

Offensively it wasn’t overly smooth but it didn’t need to be. At no point did this game seem to be in danger, it certainly wasn’t a night of needing answers. Mark Andrews continues to own the Browns.

There’s not a lot to say about the game – you just have to hope Kyle Hamilton and Zay Flowers are fully good for the next game. It was harder than you wanted it to be but it was never a game in question.

Playoff time.

Jared Pinder

The Ravens have won the AFC North in back to back years in a game that the offense didn’t feel locked in. It feels like they were looking ahead to the playoffs and the execution was sloppy. Defense was awesome against backups but now comes the biggest question for this team: will they be able to make a big run towards the Super Bowl?

Kevin McNelis

As frustrating as the early offensive miscues and O-line troubles were, the Ravens didn’t get frustrated and panic, which is something that’s plagued them in tight divisional games. They took care of business on defense to keep Cleveland at bay until the offense got going in the second half, and two Derrick Henry TDs really put the nail in the coffin.

A division title, and therefore a home playoff game, is big. LA or Pittsburgh awaits, and right now, I wouldn’t want to be coming into Baltimore and trying to beat this team.

This week should have an emphasis on rest and recovery based on the number of guys who had bumps and bruises in this one, and I’m REALLY hoping Zay is ok to go next week.

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