Thursday Night Football Afterword: Ravens vs Browns

It is becoming harder and harder to knock Joe Flacco. Despite a valiant effort on the part of Cleveland, Flacco improved to 9-0 when facing their AFC North rival. Last night was also Baltimore’s 10^th consecutive intra-division victory, and their 13^th straight home win.

The 23-16 final score is very telling of a hard-fought game, which it was. But almost everything came through the air. Trent Richardson had just 47 rushing yards for Cleveland while Ray Rice managed 49 on 18 carries. Meanwhile, both Flacco and Brandon Weeden threw for over 300 yards.

Ultimately, it was Baltimore’s defense that preserved this win and gave the team a 3-1 record after a quarter of the season.

Late in the third quarter, Cary Williams made a great play on an our-route, picking off Weeden and taking it all the way back. It was the first time in the game the Ravens had a real cushion.

Also important was stalling the Browns when they did get the ball moving. Phil Dawson attempted, and converted, field goals of 50, 51 and 52 yards (not in that order) and became the seventh player in NFL history to convert three 50+-yard field goals in a single game.

On the final Cleveland drive of the game, Weeden led them from their own 10-yardline with just over a minute on the clock into scoring range. Two desperation attempts into the end zone by Weeden fell incomplete, but it felt oddly similar to the end of Monday Night’s game between the Packers and Seahawks. This time both attempts fell incomplete, and we didn’t have replacement officials to make any boneheaded calls to affect the outcome of the game.

So how much does this say about the Browns? I saw a meme earlier, with photos of the last four Cleveland quarterbacks, including Weeden, reading, “Same s*** different day.” I think this game may be an indication that Weeden is not the “same s***.” Richardson didn’t get many yards, but I think Cleveland was too ready to abandon the run game when the Ravens built up a lead, despite only trailing by double digits only once in the game.

The Browns have big-play potential, but the Ravens defense is good enough to contain it, as are many NFL defenses. But I think Cleveland is better than their 0-4 record; maybe not much, but a little. This is the third time since 1998 that the Browns have started 0-4. They finished 2-14 the first time and 5-11 in 2009. I think this year could be more like 2009.

The Ravens, meanwhile, are sitting atop the AFC North at 3-1. The Ravens could tie it up with a win over Jacksonville on Sunday but the Steelers will sit at 1-2 through the weekend since they have a bye week (along with the Indianapolis Colts).

Baltimore certainly seems to be in the driver’s seat of the division through four weeks.