Baltimore Beatdown
The opening weekend of the regular season saw an even split in the AFC North. It was a Week 1 full of close results in the division. Two teams, the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens, each lost by one point, while the Pittsburgh Steelers won by two points and the Cincinnati Bengals won by one point.
In Week 2, the Ravens and Browns will face off in the second divisional contest of the year and the latter’s second straight AFC North opponent. Meanwhile, the Bengals will take on another conference foe and the Steelers will play host to an NFC West squad.
The Ravens grasped defeat from the jaws of victory in Week 1, blowing a 15-point lead against the Buffalo Bills late in the fourth quarter. Baltimore dominated offensively for most of the game and kept the Bills at bay before watching a 40-25 advantage evaporate in the final few minutes of play. The Ravens went three-and-out twice with a crucial lost fumble in-between, a span in which the Bills scored 16 consecutive points.
Prior to this, the Ravens put up nearly 500 total yards of offense led by dynamic performances from Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry, and Zay Flowers. Unfortunately, now the Ravens will have to pivot off a crushing defeat and aim to bounce back in a now-crucial matchup against the Browns. The Ravens have a significant talent advantage in this matchup which shows in the fact that they’re favored by 10+ points.
However, divisional games can always get wacky and the Browns know the Ravens well. Their starting quarterback especially knows the Ravens well, as Joe Flacco was the team’s longtime starter for many years. This will be Flacco’s first time back in Baltimore as a member of an opposing team, so emotions will be high.
For the Ravens to have a better defensive performance in Week 2, they’ll need to limit any explosive passing plays and key in on Jerry Jeudy and David Njoku. Causing more disruption rushing the passer and forcing turnovers are areas for improvement from last week, too. Offensively, limiting the game-wrecking ability of Myles Garrett, as per usual when facing the Browns, is the main priority.
Like the Ravens, the Browns had a very good chance to win last week. They came up just short of an upset over the Bengals thanks to costly miscues. The Browns more than held their own overall, though, and especially played well defensively. They limited an explosive Bengals’ offense to less than 10 total net yards in the second half of the game.
Their defense will need to be up to a tall task once again against the Ravens, whose offense is similarly dynamic and potent. Cleveland has actually won four of the past seven matchups with the Ravens, including a 29-24 upset at home last season. They haven’t been as good in Baltimore, though, where they’ve won just once since 2020.
The recipe for a Browns’ upset on...
