Baltimore Beatdown
Cleveland Browns (1-3)
After an upset victory over the Green Bay Packers in Week 3, the Browns came back to earth last Sunday. Their offense once again could not support their defense adequately enough as they lost by 24 points to the Detroit Lions. Similar to their Week 2 performance against the Ravens, the Browns managed to hang around a bit thanks to a strong defensive showing, before they began to crumble in the second half.
The Browns will now head overseas to take on the Minnesota Vikings in London, concluding their three-game run of NFC North opponents. Cleveland is technically the home game in this matchup but given the neutral site, they won’t have their usual home-field advantage when playing in Ohio. Although, the Pittsburgh Steelers did have a raucous crowd in their favor last week against the Vikings in Ireland.
The Vikings defense, while they’re coming off a less-than-stellar performance against the Steelers, is not a favorable matchup for the Browns. Their pass rush and turnover prowess could pose problems for rookie Dillon Gabriel, who who is set to make his first career start. The Browns announced Gabriel would replace Joe Flacco at quarterback earlier this week. The only offensive silver lining for the Browns thus far has been the emergence of fellow rookie Quinshon Judkins, who has 237 rushing yards and two scores over the past three games. His workload has increased in each outing, and he saw 21 carries against the Lions.
Given their offensive struggles, the Browns will likely need to force multiple turnovers in order to have a fighting chance of winning. Carson Wentz, the Vikings’ starter, has been turnover-prone in recent years, so Myles Garrett and company could make that happen.
Baltimore Ravens (1-3)
The Ravens’ early season struggles went from bad to worse last week, as they suffered a 37-20 loss in Kansas City to the Chiefs. The game was slowly getting away from them early before they saw several key starters exit with injuries on both sides of the ball; OT Ronnie Stanley, QB Lamar Jackson, LB Roquan Smith, CB Marlon Humphrey, and CB Nate Wiggins.
The team’s defense was already absent their top three defensive lineman, and more piling injuries have now compounded. The Ravens have look lost on both sides of the ball at times recently but especially on the defensive end, where they rank as the worst in the league in numerous categories. Now, they’ll have to try to salvage their season without the services of their starting quarterback and several other starters in Week 5.
With Cooper Rush under center, the Ravens will face a top-ranked Houston Texans’ defense featuring a talented pass-rush and stingy secondary. The same offensive success the Ravens experienced in Weeks 1-3 will be hard to come by. They’ll need a big performance from Derrick Henry on the ground.
Despite their strong defense, the Texans are just 1-3 themselves. It wasn’t until last week against the Tennessee Titans that they found some offensive...
