CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The more things change, the more they stay the same, at least in openers or in games featuring a new head coach making their debut for the Browns.
Reigning NFL MVP Lamar Jackson carved the Browns’ defense up for 320 combined yards and threw 3 touchdowns as the Ravens brushed away the Browns with ease, 38-6.
“Sometimes a wakeup call is pretty good for everybody – a nice punch in the mouth, and that is how we should take it,” quarterback Baker Mayfield said. “We should not dwell on it, realize that we just got beat today, they played better than us, look at it, get better, move on and go play the Bengals. That is all we can do.”
Mayfield and the offense looked to still be in the ‘getting to know you’ stage Sunday in Baltimore.
The 2018 No. 1 pick completed 21 of 39 passes for 189 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
“That is the good thing about having a short week,” Mayfield said. “We don’t have to dwell on it.”
Mayfield and the Browns will welcome Joe Burrow and the Bengals, who lost a 16-13 heartbreaker to the Chargers in Cincinnati, to FirstEnergy Stadium Thursday night.
Offensively, the Browns struggled to find any sort of rhythm, and when they did, the roof caved in.
“We are always going to be met with adversity,” receiver Jarvis Landry, who led the team with 5 catches for 61 yards, said. “It is the game that we play. We just have to find ways to overcome them.”
Statistically, the Browns only got blown out on the scoreboard.
Cleveland ran 10 more offensive plays, had just 3 fewer first downs, out-rushed Baltimore by 21 yards, were out-gained by just 71 yards and held a 4 second time-of-possession advantage.
Jackson made it look easy against Joe Woods' defense.
Ravens rookie running back and former Buckeye J.K. Dobbins ran for two scores and tight end Mark Andrews caught a pair of TDs from Jackson.
The Ravens were 6-11 on third down, the Browns 3-12.
“We put the defense in some awful spots,” Stefanski said. “We have a lot to clean up and we have to clean it up quickly.”
Three turnovers – Mayfield’s interception, Jamie Gillan’s fumble on the fake punt try and Nick Chubb’s fumble – along with 8 penalties proved costly and gave the Ravens extra opportunities they didn’t need.
“Have to take care of the ball, I know that,” Mayfield said. “We were still in that game. I thought we shot ourselves in the foot, but a great team like the Ravens is going to capitalize on all of your mistakes. We saw that in person today.”
Stefanski preached no excuses throughout camp where the rust was very visible offensively, but they looked like a team that didn’t get much work in leading up to the game.
“It is hard to say we did anything well,” Stefanski said. “We only scored six points, and that is not good enough in the National Football League. I would just say we have to get right back on it. We have to find out what happened, why it went wrong and get some solutions here because we have a game coming Thursday night.”
