BALTIMORE — The Ravens have preached and preached about the need to finish games. They said so after their first big blown lead this season, against Miami, then again after the second, against Buffalo, and then again after last week’s loss at the New York Giants. In all three of those games, the Ravens squandered second-half leads of at least 10 points.
The Ravens again opened a 10-point second-half lead against Cleveland on Oct. 23, only to see the Browns crawl back to within three points, and when Justice Hill lost a fumble at the Cleveland 16-yard line with 3:12 left, a familiar, ominous feeling hovered over M&T Bank Stadium.
But eight plays later, Ravens linebacker Malik Harrison blocked a 60-yard field goal attempt by Browns kicker Cade York with 1:59 left, and that allowed the Ravens to finish off a 23-20 win.
The blocked kick came after two critical penalties against the Browns (2-5): On third down from the Ravens’ 34-yard line, Amari Cooper caught a go-ahead touchdown pass down the right sideline but was called for pass interference after he pushed off Marcus Peters to gain separation. Then facing fourth down from the Ravens’ 37, the Browns lined up for a 55-yard field goal and tried to draw the Ravens offside, but instead they were flagged for a false start, pushing the potential tying kick back to the 60.
The Ravens pressured up the middle, and York’s low kick caught Harrison in the helmet and bounced harmlessly downfield, well short of the uprights.
“You all know we come out rolling and we just die in the fourth quarter,” linebacker Justin Houston said. “But to stay in the game, continue to make plays all around, I think that’s big for everybody’s confidence in the locker room, coaches included.”
The Ravens (4-3) have had all sorts of trouble holding leads this year, but no trouble getting them; they had outscored the opposition 34-3 in the first quarter across their first six games.
But in this game, they found themselves quickly trailing after the Browns effortlessly marched 75 yards in 11 plays on the opening drive, with Nick Chubb (16 carries, 91 yards) scoring on a 2-yard run.
The Ravens’ offense was held to two field goals in its first three drives but took the lead for good when Gus Edwards, in his season debut, slashed off left tackle untouched for a 7-yard touchdown and 13-10 lead late in the first half.
Here are five quick impressions of the win, which came on a day when more than 50 members of the Ravens’ 2012 Super Bowl team were on hand and recognized in a 10th anniversary tribute:
1. Gus Edwards quickly showed what the Ravens have been missing.
With J.K. Dobbins out for the next month at least — he has been placed on injured reserve and is headed for arthroscopic knee surgery — the return of Edwards came just in time.
Edwards was activated from the Reserve/PUP list on Oct. 22, and the Ravens wasted no time in getting him involved. Facing a Browns run defense that entered the game ranked No. 24, allowing 131.5 rushing yards a game, Edwards carried on the Ravens’ first three offensive plays, totaling 19 yards. He showed no ill effects from the 2021 preseason injury that sidelined him for more than a year; he said after the game that he had torn his ACL, MCL and hamstring.
Edwards finished with 16 carries for 66 yards, and his downhill style was on full display in a gameplan that was clearly designed to attack the Browns’ vulnerable run defense. The Ravens ran the ball on 44 of their 63 offensive snaps.
Edwards slashed untouched off left tackle for a 7-yard touchdown run and a 13-10 lead with 1:57 left in the first half, and then using his 238-pound frame, he plowed into the end zone from 1 yard out on fourth-and-goal for a 20-10 lead with 7:39 left in the third quarter. It called to mind several failed short-yardage opportunities this year, and how much the Ravens have missed Edwards in those situations.
Head coach John Harbaugh called Edwards “unique. He’s his own kind of guy. Every back has a different style, and Gus’ style is very valuable to us.”
Harbaugh confirmed after the game that Dobbins had some scar tissue in his surgically repaired knee that is limiting his range of motion, so he will have surgery and the Ravens hope to have him back late in the season.
But the return of Edwards, complementing a running back group that includes Kenyan Drake, Justice Hill and Mike Davis, is a huge development for the offense.
2. The Ravens’ special teams unit is more than just Justin Tucker.
Mention “Ravens special teams” and kicker Justin Tucker immediately comes to mind, but the Ravens’ lesser-appreciated aspects of special teams had much to do with this win.
Early in the second quarter, the breadth of Baltimore’s special teams was on display. On fourth down from the Ravens’ 25, rookie punter Jordan Stout crushed a 69-yard punt that flipped field position, pinning the Browns inside their 15-yard line. The Ravens’ defense then forced a quick punt, which Devin Duvernay returned for 46 yards to the Browns’ 21-yard line.
That drive bogged down, and Tucker’s second field goal, this one from 34 yards, cut the Browns’ early lead to 10-6. Tucker hit his third field goal of the game, this one from 55 yards, to give the Ravens a 23-13 lead with 11:24 left. That was the 62nd straight field-goal attempt that Tucker has made in the fourth quarter or overtime.
Still, the Ravens have shown all season that a 10-point second-half lead isn’t safe, and this win wasn’t secured until Malik Harrison produced perhaps the biggest special teams play of the day.
Head coach John Harbaugh explained that on a longer kick, the trajectory will be lower, and special teams coordinator Chris Horton “did a great job of calling a middle push rush. We’ve got great middle push guys, so we got some good push in there. I think I’ll see that on tape. Then, guys got their hands up and Malik found the ball.”
A smiling Harrison said after the game that the kick actually hit him in the helmet for the first blocked kick of his life.
For Harbaugh, who cut his NFL teeth as a special teams coach with the Philadelphia Eagles, the performance of that unit had to be especially gratifying.
3. The Ravens’ oft-criticized pass rush looks to be rounding into form.
The Ravens’ pass rush has disappeared for long stretches this season, but they produced a few of the game’s critical plays and should only get stronger, with injured players slated to return soon.
Browns quarterback Jacoby Brissett impressed in a losing effort, going 22-of-27 for 258 yards, but the Ravens registered a season-high five sacks, including a few that came at critical times. After the Browns had driven to the Ravens’ 40-yard line late in the first half, Justin Houston, who had missed the past three games with a groin injury, dropped Brissett on back-to-back plays, forcing a fumble on the second one that was recovered by the Browns at midfield. They were forced to punt two plays later.
In the third quarter, 6-foot-8 Calais Campbell reached a long arm in and stripped Brissett for a sack, which Odafe Oweh recovered for the Ravens at the Browns’ 25-yard line. That short drive ended with Gus Edwards’ 1-yard touchdown run and a 20-10 Ravens lead.
Rookie Kyle Hamilton recorded his first career sack on a safety blitz that stalled a Browns drive in the red zone and forced a field goal, and Patrick Queen added a sack as well.
The Ravens’ edge rush group had produced just five of the team’s 15 sacks entering this game, but Houston’s return proved to be big, and the 33-year-old is now up to 106 career sacks, fourth-most among active players.
More help is on the way, too. Tyus Bowser, who had a team-high seven sacks last season, is on the PUP list but has returned to practice and figures to be activated in the next couple of weeks. Ditto for David Ojabo, the rookie second-round draft pick who tore his Achilles at his Michigan Pro Day in March but was a pass-rushing menace for the Wolverines under current Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald.
With the Ravens getting pressure from defensive linemen such as Campbell and Justin Madubuike, with Queen producing a well-timed sack here and there — he now has 3.5 this year, 0.5 behind Houston’s team lead — and with Bowser and Ojabo returning soon, the Ravens’ pass rush could soon be what they had envisioned during training camp. That should make the entire defense better.
“I think we’re just building and growing in the right direction,” Houston said. “I always knew what we had in the locker room. It was just a matter of time [before] we showed the world what we’ve got. And I think the best is yet to come.”
4. Lamar Jackson didn’t wow anyone, but he did enough to win.
Quarterback Lamar Jackson didn’t produce any highlight-reel plays in this game, but nor did he commit any of the disastrous errors that plagued him and the Ravens late in last week’s 24-20 loss at the New York Giants.
Jackson’s numbers were modest by any measure — 9-of-16 passing for 120 yards — and he was sacked three times. But the Ravens stayed committed to a strategy that emphasized the ground game against a Browns team that has proven susceptible against the run, and Jackson ran 10 times for 59 yards.
Jackson’s most notable run came on one of the Ravens’ most creative plays. Facing fourth-and-1 from the Browns’ 49-yard line early in the fourth quarter, the Ravens lined up tight end Mark Andrews under center, with Jackson in the backfield. The Ravens ran a sneak to Andrews out of that formation earlier this year, but this time, Andrews tossed to Jackson, who raced around the left side for a gain of 11, extending a drive that resulted in Justin Tucker’s 55-yard field goal.
Jackson called the play a “dope call,” and head coach John Harbaugh said the team had been working on it for a month.
“Mark does a great job with it, and it’s well blocked,” Harbaugh said. “It’s really a great play.”
Jackson’s biggest pass play was a 31-yarder to Devin Duvernay down the right sideline early in the game. But on a day when Andrews went without a catch for just the second time in his career, Jackson nevertheless operated the offense methodically and successfully.
One of Jackson’s best plays actually was one of his incompletions: When his pass was hit at the line of scrimmage and popped dangerously into the air, Jackson leaped and batted the ball backwards and toward the ground, preventing an interception.
“Lamar did what he had to do to win the game,” Harbaugh said. “He managed the game, with the run game. He had so many good runs himself. He had some critical throws, protected the ball in the pocket against that pass rush. … You can win a game as a quarterback a lot of different ways [other] than just throwing the ball around.”
5. For all their flaws, the Ravens are in first place and positioned to make a run.
Despite three agonizing late-game collapses, the Ravens remain atop the AFC North at 4-3, they now own a 2-0 record in the division, and if they are going to build any kind of serious momentum, it will probably happen during the next six weeks.
Granted, they have a tough, quick-turnaround Thursday night game at Tampa Bay in four days, but that Tom Brady-led Buccaneers team has looked lost recently, including during a 21-3 loss to Carolina this week.
In the next five games, the Ravens face teams with a combined record of 11-24 — and have their bye sprinkled in this stretch as well. After visiting Tampa Bay (3-4), the Ravens have the mini-bye before playing at New Orleans (2-5) on “Monday Night Football” on Nov. 7. Then after their bye weekend Nov. 13, the rested Ravens host Carolina (2-5), then visit Jacksonville (2-5) and host Denver (2-5).
Then the Ravens visit Pittsburgh, beginning a closing stretch that features four AFC North opponents during the final five weeks of the season. They visit these Browns in Cleveland in Week 15, and Deshaun Watson should be playing quarterback for the Browns by then. If the Ravens play well during the next six weeks, they have a chance to put some distance between them and the Browns, and other AFC North rivals, by that point.
“I think what we’ve been going through is just growing pains,” linebacker Justin Houston said. “I prefer to go through it at the beginning of the season than the end. We all know you’ve just got to get hot at the right time. I love our team. I think we’ve got everything we need to win it. We’ve just got to continue to build and grow.”
Photo Credit: Kenya Allen/PressBox