Knee-Jerk Reactions: Ravens 41 Browns 17

The Ravens knocked off the Cleveland Browns, 41-17 in Week 2.

RSR staff react to the win here.

Derek Arnold

The Ravens avoided a repeat of 2024 when they started 0-2 by handling their business at home against the Browns. The game was closer than the final score indicated, with the Ravens leading just 20-10 after three quarters. You don’t want to complain too much after a 41-17 win, but if we’re honest with ourselves, the offense was disappointing for most of the game, with Derrick Henry unable to get untracked at all, not to mention putting the ball on the ground again. Lamar Jackson and the WR corps bailed them out with four touchdowns, including beauties to Tez Walker and another great catch by DeAndre Hopkins.

Defensively, it was great to see Roquan Smith flying all over the field early, and the pass rush had a much better day against a bad OL and an immobile QB. You expected it, but we still needed to see it.

It would have been nice if the Jags had held on in Cincy, but Pittsburgh losing at home to Seattle was a nice surprise.

I don’t know what to expect from this team against Detroit and Kansas City, but I know I want to see 42 back out there.

Jason Woolbert

The Ravens did what they had to do in this game, and that’s win one of the three most important games on the schedule – a home division game.  It’s far from time to really celebrate, but their feet are back on the ground.

The offense struggled a lot against what looks like a very good Browns defense, except for an unexpected unit – the WRs.  All the WRs participated from Zay Flowers working all day to Tez Walker, who caught two TDs.  Tylan Wallace had a TD.  D-Hop had two big catches and a TD.  They made Lamar Jackson look better than he was today.  It is so refreshing to see an actual good NFL WR room from top to bottom.

What really won this game though was the defense and special teams.  There were a few gaffes – a kickoff out of bounds, yet another dropped INT turned into a TD – but for the most part they dominated those two phases of the game.  Jake Hummel was brought in for his special teams play and he earned his paycheck with a blocked punt.  Roquan Smith had a great game, with a number of TFL and a fumble return for a TD – incredibly, the first the Ravens defense produced since 2020!  Nate Wiggins also rebounded with good coverage and a pick.

Now it’s time for Detroit, who is in the midst of hanging a 50-burger on Chicago.  Then it’s Kansas City on the road.  They needed this win because the schedule won’t get easier.

Chris Schisler

That second half was exactly what the Ravens needed. The Ravens have scored 81 points in two weeks. They dropped 41 points on the Browns after seemingly being asleep in the first half. The defense got the job done. Roquan Smith scored on a fumble six, Nate Wiggins had a flashy pick. There’s not a ton to complain about. The Ravens needed to tighten things up after halftime. They did. Life is good. Pittsburgh losing also is a nice cherry on top!

Jared Pinder

Certainly a weird win. If you look at the score you would think this was a blowout; however, the Ravens were pretty bad on offense through the first quarter, however they locked in after that. Derrick Henry was not good at all today, but Lamar and Hopkins helped ice this game. The defense was excellent and we got a much needed game from them. Nate Wiggins is turning into a superstar, and the pass rush got pressure on Joe all day.

Also shoutout to the special teams unit who were terrific today.

The Ravens needed this one man, and I wouldn’t read to much into the offense struggling in the first half, but this team needs to get Likely and Ricard back.

Nikhil Mehta

The Ravens excelled in all three phrases against the Browns on Sunday afternoon with highlight plays from young players and veterans alike. It was particularly encouraging to see a vintage performance from Roquan Smith capped off by a 64-yard fumble return touchdown. Despite a slow start and a rough sequence at the goal line, the offense recovered with four passing touchdowns from Lamar Jackson. The Browns did an excellent job of slowing down Derrick Henry and the Ravens’ tight ends were quiet for a second straight game, but that left plenty of exploitable matchups against Cleveland’s secondary. Other than a Marlon Humphrey dropped interception-turned-touchdown, the defense dominated the Browns offense from start to finish with plenty of pressure on Joe Flacco, including one from Roquan Smith that led to a Nate Wiggins interception. And on special teams, Jake Hummel blocked a punt while Jordan Stout turned in one of the best games of his career to consistently win the field position battle.

The Ravens should be happy with a complete game against a division rival, but this Browns team is hardly disguising their intent to tank this year. The defense should be especially satisfied with their performance after letting the Bills gash them last week. But this is exactly what Baltimore should be doing against Cleveland anyway. They did so with some spectacular plays in a sure confidence-builder moving forward, but the next few games will be a much bigger challenge.

Kevin McNelis

An uninspired and uninspiring first-half offense gave way to a team performance in the second half that, thankfully, was a lot better all around. Props to Zach Orr’s unit, which looked much more comfortable this week as they played a less challenging opponent (winning the turnover battle helps you control games, who knew?). Seeing Tez Walker get rewarded for his hard work was awesome.

A few things are still glaringly evident. First, they’ve got to figure out the guard situation in a hurry, because it seemed like that contributed to Derrick Henry’s lack of success on the day. Mark Andrews either has to be schemed into better positions, or the coaching staff needs to figure out what his role is now, because he’s starting this season in a concerningly similar fashion to the way he started last season. Finally, they’re missing Pat Ricard BADLY, and until he comes back, they’ve got to figure out who they can lean on to make this offense run the way we’re used to.

I hate critiquing a win where they put up 40+ points for the second straight week, but it’s clear that they’re still chasing 100% of what they can do.

Rob Shields

Very odd game today.  The Ravens end up with a blowout win but it doesn’t feel that way at all.  In what has to be one of the worst running game totals under Harbaugh, the Ravens willed their way to a big win thanks to some excellent special teams play and the defense selling up

The team was doing nothing and then Jake Hummel blocked a punt.  That allowed the Ravens to get a TD and get some breathing room.  Stout punted very well and Tyler Loop made all of his kicks.  However, Loop continues to struggle with kickoffs.

But overall, even with the 41 points, the Ravens offense was far from spectacular. They couldn’t rush the ball. The o-line was mediocre and both tackles had shaky games.  Some of this had to do with the talent the Browns have upfront.  They are a legit defense and will give a lot of teams trouble this year.

And if you had Walker and Wallace parlayed to score TDs, congratulations because you won big today!

The defense forced a few turnovers and turned them into big plays. Yes, the browns had over 300 yards of offense but some of that was in garbage time and they had that fluke TD, where Humphrey should have just knocked it down but overall, the defense played very well today and was never really threatened.

Good win but still a lot to work on.  The good news is that you know the offense will be fine.

Chad Racine

This is the defense we were expecting and hoping for last week. The Browns never really presented any real threat offensively the entire game. With two turnovers and one score, the defensive helped the offense along today.

It’s not like the offense struggled but they didn’t have the hot start or run game they had last week.  Devontez Walker and DeAndre Hopkins looked pretty exceptional for wide receivers 3a and 3b. Hopkins just looks like a ball magnet no matter how much he’s covered.

Next week will be a big game against Detroit after they put up 52 points today.

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