Who: Baltimore Ravens (12-2) at Cleveland Browns (6-8)
Where: FirstEnergy Stadium
When: Sunday, Dec. 22, 1 p.m. EST
The Ravens take their 10-game winning streak to Cleveland this week to face the last team that managed to beat them.
Since that Week 4 game — a 40-25 Browns win that wasn’t as close as the final score — the teams have trended in opposite directions. The Ravens have won 10 in a row and wrapped up their second consecutive AFC North title. The Browns lost their next four games, and they enter this game with just barely a breath of a playoff hope. The Browns are loaded with talent, which made them a popular preseason Super Bowl pick, but they have lacked consistency if not drama.
As the Ravens look to avenge that Week 4 loss and clinch the AFC’s No. 1 overall seeding for the first time in team history, here are three key matchups to watch:
Ravens CB Marlon Humphrey vs. Browns WR Odell Beckham Jr. or WR Jarvis Landry
When these teams met in Week 4, Humphrey and Beckham locked horns most of the day, with Humphrey getting the better of the matchup in a physical battle that led to a fourth-quarter scuffle.
Humphrey held Beckham to no catches through three quarters — the first time in Beckham’s career that happened — and the All-Pro finished with two catches for 20 yards, his lowest total of the season. It was one of several outstanding games this season by Humphrey, who this week earned his first Pro Bowl nod.
Humphrey leads the Ravens with 58 tackles, 13 passes defensed and three fumble recoveries.
While Humphrey was shutting down Beckham, however, Landry torched Ravens slot defenders to the tune of eight catches for 167 yards, his highest total of the season. Landy has 74 catches for 1,018 yards and five touchdowns.
Since the arrival of Marcus Peters, Humphrey has been playing primarily in the slot, so he could be matched up with Landry this time around. Of course, that would put the task of defending Beckham on Peters and Jimmy Smith — who missed the Week 4 meeting between these teams with a knee injury.
Ravens LB Josh Bynes or S/LB Chuck Clark vs. Browns RB Nick Chubb
Chubb ran over and around the Ravens all day in Week 4, with 20 carries for 165 yards and three touchdowns. His 88-yard touchdown run in that game is not only the longest of the season against the Ravens, it’s the longest run ever by a Ravens opponent.
Run-stuffing defensive tackle Brandon Williams missed that game with a knee injury, but the Ravens’ struggles in the run game ran deeper than that. Bynes and L.J. Fort were signed within the next two days, and head coach John Harbaugh at the time specifically mentioned their ability to play the run.
Clark has evolved into a key member of the Ravens’ defense, wearing the headset helmet and directing things from a hybrid safety/linebacker role. Despite starting just 10 games, he ranks second on the team with 56 tackles.
Bynes, Clark, Patrick Onwuasor and the the Ravens’ outside linebackers will be challenged to keep Chubb in check. It won’t be easy; Chubb leads the league in rushing with 1,408 yards, and now he’s got a potent sidekick in Kareem Hunt, who missed the first meeting between these teams while serving an eight-game suspension for a violation of the league’s personal-conduct policy.
“We’ll have to play a lot better than we did in that game, obviously, to hold them down,” Harbaugh said.
Ravens RB Mark Ingram vs. Browns LB Joe Schobert
Ingram needs just 37 yards for the third 1,000-yard season of his career, and the Ravens would love to get the lead and lean heavily on the run against a Browns team that ranks 27th in the league in run defense and allows 4.93 yards a carry, the fourth-highest total in the league.
Ingram finished with 12 carries for 71 yards in the Week 4 matchup and lost a fumble, one of a season-high three turnovers by the Ravens.
Schobert leads the Browns in tackles with 116 and also leads in interceptions with four, so he could be a factor in the passing game as well, covering Ingram or one of the Ravens’ tight ends.
The Browns gave up 226 rushing yards during their Week 15 loss at Arizona, and that doesn’t bode well against a Ravens running attack that is on a record pace; the Ravens average 202.1 rushing yards a game, and since the NFL went to a 16-game season in 1978, no team has averaged 200 rushing yards for an entire season.
PREDICTION
The Ravens team in Cleveland will look significantly different than the one that faces the Browns in Week 4, especially on defense. The Ravens’ defense could start as many as five players who missed that game, including defensive lineman Brandon Williams, linebacker Josh Bynes and cornerbacks Jimmy Smith and Marcus Peters.
To their credit, the Browns stymied the Ravens the last time, generating the first two interceptions of Lamar Jackson’s season and holding the Ravens to 10 points through three quarters.
But this Ravens offense is playing with enormous confidence now, and they can make a weak run defense pay dearly. Plus, the ferociously competitive Jackson knows well that he lost to the Browns in Week 4. That will provide plenty of motivation, as will the chance to secure the AFC’s No. 1 playoff seeding. Ravens 33, Browns 24.
Photo Credit: Kenya Allen/PressBox