Baltimore, Maryland (92.3 The Fan) – The Browns leave Baltimore even on the season and atop the AFC North.
Considering how the first month has gone, they find themselves in a pretty good spot following Sunday’s 40-25 win over the Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium.
The 2-2 start is the best since 2014 when they also were .500 through four games and they won their first two road games in a season for the first time since 1994.
Cleveland’s first win in Baltimore since a 33-30 OT victory on Oct. 11, 2015 saw them rack up the most points against a divisional foe and most net yards – 530 – against any opponent since 2007.
Let’s hand out some game balls.
RB Nick Chubb – Chubb torched the Ravens for 165 yards rushing on 20 carries – an 8.3 yards per carry average – and three touchdowns. Chubb made four Ravens miss on a 14-yard TD run to go up 17-10, plowed in from two yards out for a 24-10 advantage and it was his 88-yard touchdown that all but put the game away at 30-18.
WR Jarvis Landry – Although Landry departed early with a concussion, he caught eight passes for a career high 167 yards. It was Landry’s 12th career 100-yard game and his 167 receiving yards were the most since Josh Gordon totaled 261 Dec. 1, 2013.
QB Baker Mayfield – Following a week of criticism, Mayfield finally looked like the No. 1 pick we saw the second half of last season. He was poised in the pocket completing 20 of 30 passes for 342 yards and a touchdown to extend his TD toss streak to 17 in a row to begin his career – second only to Hall of Famer Kurt Warner’s 23 straight – in NFL history.
TE Ricky Seals-Jones – Seals-Jones hauled in three passes for a career-high 82 yards, including a 9-yard touchdown to open the scoring. His 59-yard catch-and-run in the third quarter helped set up another touchdown.
S Jermaine Whitehead – Whitehead recorded an acrobatic interception over Ravens tight end Mark Andrews in the end zone, forced a Mark Ingram fumble, hit Lamar Jackson's arm causing an interception fielded by defensive tackle Devaroe Lawrence, broke up a pass and had eight tackles defensively.
LB Joe Schobert – Schobert was a tackling machine Sunday, leading the Browns with 17 tackles – two of them for a loss, a sack and QB hit.
Head coach Freddie Kitchens – After a tough week of criticism of himself, Mayfield and his team, Kitchens rallied the troops for the most complete showing to date – offensively, defensively and on special teams. The play calling was more creative and the execution vastly improved Sunday.
