CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The short-handed Baltimore Ravens had all they needed Sunday to beat the Cleveland Browns – an elite head coach and their MVP QB Lamar Jackson.
Jackson and the Ravens ran all over the Browns defense in a 28-3 win to push Baltimore, who was without four starters, to 3-1 and drop Cleveland to 2-2.
Here’s our top Brownie Bites from an awful afternoon of football.
Deshaun Watson was ruled out 2.5 hours before kickoff, which was not enough time for Kevin Stefanski to go to the plan B gameplan and Dorian Thompson-Robinson looked like a rookie making his first NFL start as a result. “Obviously, he did not feel comfortable to be the player we need him to be,” head coach Kevin Stefanski said. “He’s very disappointed. He wanted to go badly, but he just did not feel that he could go.” Stefanski was sure Watson would play, and maybe he should have learned his lesson from listening to Baker Mayfield. No player is going to tap out. They all say they can go and the pregame workout proved he couldn’t. “He hadn’t thrown all week, so just felt like it was the right thing to see him today,” Stefanski said. “And again, he pushed himself, he tried. He did everything in his power to get ready, but just did not feel comfortable earlier this morning and didn’t feel like we could put him out there.”
In 2020, Stefanski was the master of perfecting the pivot during COVID. Sunday he was forced to pivot without Watson, and he failed to do so. “Coach didn't change nothing,” running back Jerome Ford said. “And I guess like we all do, coach had that faith in him. He can do whatever Deshaun can do and he'll carry us a victory. I feel the same way still. So I feel like coaches having that confidence in him.” Empty sets, deep shots down the field, gadget plays. Stefanski seemed to stick with the same gameplan and the offense at times looked like a comedy of errors with DTR trying to do too much. “Obviously, we got beat, we got outplayed, outcoached,” Stefanski said. “Disappointed in that, but we got to own it. We own it. We win together, we lose together.”
The Browns missed two players desperately Sunday – Josh Dobbs and Nick Chubb. Dobbs, who was supposed to serve as Watson’s backup, was shipped to Arizona where he is starting for the Cardinals. Chubb was lost for the season at Pittsburgh in Week 2 to a torn MCL, meniscus and ACL. The last two games the Browns run game has been non-existent. “I think not getting the run game going is frustrating for any team or anybody,” Ford, who finished with 26 yards on nine carries, said. Sunday, the Browns averaged 3.7 yards per carry as six players combined for 93 yards with 40 of those coming on a late fourth quarter run by Pierre Strong.
Don’t blame Thompson-Robinson for Sunday. That goes to the front office and Stefanski. DTR wasn’t ready to be the No. 2 QB and Stefanski did very little to put the rookie in a position to succeed when he had to be called upon. His final numbers: 19-of-35 for 121 yards with three interceptions. “I know that there were times when I forced the ball and tried to make a play,” Thompson-Robinson said. “Even though it feels like that point in the game where you kind of need to, you still have to be able to go through your process, go through your reads, and make sure that you’re getting the ball to the right guy. And on those three times, I did not, even though the last one was last play of the game.” Thompson-Robinson's first interception ended the second offensive possession when his throw was tipped by Ravens cornerback Arthur Maulet and it was picked out of the air by fellow cornerback Brandon Stephens, who returned it 52 yards to the 10 to set up a first and goal. Jackson ran it in on the first play for a 7-0 Ravens lead. The second pick came in the fourth quarter when he airmailed one deep over the head of Donovan Peoples-Jones. His third fittingly ended the game. “He battled,” Stefanski said. “Listen, I know there’s going to be plenty that he can do better. I know plenty that I can put him in a better spot. But the kid battled.”
Defensive end Myles Garrett left the stadium in a walking boot. Garrett suffered an injury to his left foot in the third quarter but does not plan to miss time after the bye. “I’ll be ready,” Garrett said. Garrett added to his sack total and has 5.5 this season but Cleveland’s top-ranked defense was no match for Jackson. “He's an elite player,” safety Rodney McLeod said. “He's one of a kind, generational player and so with him you have to be very disciplined in a lot of areas and he does put a lot of stress on the team, whether it's run game or his ability to extend plays. He did both today. That was very helpful for them to win.” By halftime Baltimore had 249 yards of offense. They finished with 296 yards while Jackson finished 15-of-19 for 187 yards with a pair of touchdowns – 7 and 19 yards to tight end Mark Andrews plus 27 yards and two TDs on nine carries. “He's a playmaker. He's able to extend plays. He's able to use his feet,” linebacker Anthony Walker, who had eight tackles and a QB hit, said. “They always have a chance to win because they have a guy like Lamar Jackson. They made more plays than us today, that's all that is. We had him a couple times or we didn't get him down.” Six Ravens combined for 131 yards rushing and Baltimore had seven plays of 15 or more yards in the win. “I think they were just the better team today,” defensive end Ogbonaya Okoronkwo said. “They were the more physical team. We didn't tackle as well as we wanted to. Hats off to them.”
The third offensive series was a comedy of errors. Harrison Bryant went under center, then pitched it back to Thompson-Robinson, who let it rip deep to Amari Cooper to draw a defensive pass interference penalty. Elijah Moore lost 20 yards on a first down carry. On second down Thompson-Robinson scrambled and pitched the ball to Bryant on the sideline but was called for an illegal forward pass. Somehow the Browns managed three points to get within 7-3 of the Ravens.
Tight end David Njoku, questionable after suffering burns in an accident at home lighting a fire pit, caught a 15-yard pass on the opening drive to convert and third-and-5. Njoku led the Browns with six catches for 46 yards. “He was adamant that he was going to make it,” Stefanski said. “That’s a scary, scary thing that happened to him. So, number one, very happy that he’s okay, and that he gutted through it.”
Dustin Hopkins drilled a 53-yard field goal to get the Browns on the board with 2:21 remaining in the first quarter. Hopkins, who entered the season with a 50% career average from 50-plus, has made all three tries from beyond 50 this season.
Hall of Famer Joe Thomas received his Hall of Fame ‘Ring of Excellence’ and was added to the Ring of Honor at halftime. The family of Hall of Famer Mac Speedie received his ring during a pregame ceremony.
Thomas was the Dawg Pound Captain/guitar smasher. Amari Cooper served as this week’s game captain for the coin toss.