The Ravens are looking to make it four in a row when they face the Browns in Cleveland Sunday, and the Big Bad Morning Show would love to see a repeat of the 41-17 win in Week 2 at M&T Bank Stadium – with, perhaps, one improvement.”
“You do have to do a better job running the football, but I don't think it was all on Baltimore; I think sometimes you gotta give your opponent some credit,” Rob Long said on Friday’s show. “Jeremy, when you score 40 points against your team and one part of your office isn't working, you know what you say to the coach? Good coaching, you took what they gave you. And I think in this situation instead of forcing the run, the Ravens took what the Browns gave them.”
“The big storyline this past week is the Ravens took what the Vikings gave them – so are you worried about the offense because it didn't look all that great?” Conn responded. “I would sit here and say this: what is wrong with taking what the defense gives you? I’m not saying you fall into it, you're this great running team and all of a sudden every look is a passing look so you go, okay, we're gonna throw the football down. But if they’re giving you underneath stuff on first down, why wouldn't you take a chunk on first to make second and third more manageable? I have no problem with doing that.”
And the Ravens don’t have to look far to see a QB who made a living doing that in the past – he’s one state away and in the same division.
“Aaron Rodgers made a living out of throwing the ball to wide receivers off the line of scrimmage when DBs were too far off them,” Jeremy said. “Like, ‘hey, here's the play, oh, no, we’re changing it; I'm winking at Davante Adams, here comes a screen pass that's gonna go for nine yards.’ I got no issues with that at all, and typically what's happened with the Browns is their defense is outrageously good but their offense can't do squat, so they just get left out there and they're given short fields to defend.”
And, yeah, taking what you’re given is, for Ed Long, maybe the best thing the Ravens can do Sunday.
“They only got 45 yards rushing first game; they won big, but only had 45 yards on the ground, and the offensive line is playing poorly right now,” Long said. “The Browns are one of the best rush defenses in the NFL, they give up less than 100 yards a game, so I don't see this going that well for the offense as far as a rushing attack. Derrick will get his, I hope, but it was not a good game on the ground for anybody. So I think this game will be closer than people think.”
Still, Ed has a satisfying prediction:
“The Ravens will come out on top. They're a better team and they need it.”