Browns, Ravens will put elite defenses on the line in AFC North showdown
BALTIMORE — The statistics say it’s a battle of defensive heavyweights Sunday in Baltimore when the Browns take on the Ravens. The participants say, well, it depends on what participant is talking.
“Yeah, ratings don’t mean anything to this game,” Browns defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz said this week. “We have to go out and perform our best and not worry about what the other side of the ball is doing or what they’re doing on defense. We have our own challenges. We have things that we need to accomplish, and worrying about comparing ourselves to somebody else is not going to fulfill any of those objectives that we have.”
Schwartz runs a defense ranked first in the league in total yards (234.8), net passing yards (145.0) and third-down conversion rate (26.0). The Browns are third in points allowed per game (17.4) and tied for sixth in rushing yards (89.8).
That’s one side of this critical AFC North battle. The Browns, despite Schwartz’s protestations otherwise, know what’s on the other side in the Ravens defense.
“If anybody tells you I’m not looking, they’re definitely looking for it,” linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah said. “I think it’s a great matchup. I mean, we look at it as a great game to go against. Every week is a great game to go against, but this is more of looking for that goal to come to refinement. Can we hold up against one of the best offenses? It’s a challenge for us and we’re looking forward to that challenge. And as the good scripture says, an honorable man that’s tested in the furnace of adversity. So be looking to be honored.”
The Ravens are second to the Browns in total defense (262.6) and net passing yards (170.7), and they’re eighth in third-down conversion rate (34.8). Meanwhile, Baltimore is the toughest defense in the league to score against, allowing an NFL-low 13.8 points per game and a 33.3% red-zone touchdown percentage.
Baltimore has shown just how good its defense can be by putting the clamps on two NFC contenders in the last three weeks. The Ravens buried the NFC North-leading Detroit Lions 38-6 on Oct. 22, then turned around and steamrolled the NFC West’s second-place team, the Seattle Seahawks, 37-3 last week.
“Honestly, I care more about the win,” Ravens linebacker Roquan Smith told Baltimore reporters this week. “As long as we win — I said it weeks prior — we can be the not-so-best defense or the best defense. As long as we’re winning, that’s all that matters to me, and that’s what matters to most of the guys in the locker room. You play the game to be the best at the end of the day, but I’m not focused on that. I’m more concerned about the Ravens winning.”
To that end, the Ravens already have made the initial statement. Back in Week 4, Baltimore walked into Cleveland and wreaked havoc on the Browns in a 28-3 Ravens win.
The story of that game, both shortand long-term, was quarterback Deshaun Watson’s shoulder injury. That was the first game he missed with the injury, being ruled out hours before kickoff to be replaced by rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson.
Baltimore’s defense made life miserable for the rookie. The Ravens intercepted Thompson-Robinson three times, sacked him four other times and held him to 121 passing yards.
“I really haven’t thought about it through that lens,” Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald said this week. “It’s really the same process as usual where you’re going off of what we went into the first game, how we felt like the first game went, and then obviously the four games since then and how they’ve evolved and how you anticipate them kind of responding. It’s always kind of an anticipatory thing going into a second division game. So, that’s the way we’re kind of approaching it.”
Watson finally returned for a full game for the first time since September last Sunday in a win over the Arizona Cardinals, throwing for 219 yards and two touchdowns.
The defense, meanwhile, limited the Cardinals to just 58 total yards, the third-fewest allowed in Browns history. It became just the fifth defense in the Super Bowl era to limit two of its first eight opponents to 100 or fewer yards, having held the Tennessee Titans to 94 yards in a Week 3 win.
The next week, Lamar Jackson and the Ravens came to Cleveland and removed any veil of dominance from the Browns defense. Baltimore totaled 296 yards, scored on all four red-zone trips and Jackson ran for two touchdowns and threw two touchdown passes to tight end Mark Andrews.
“We just got to execute better,” linebacker Anthony Walker Jr. said. “Whether it’s corrections or just being, like I said, fundamentally sound and doing what we do better. That’s just what it has to be. We got to do a much better job this game than we did the first game.”
Individual matchup of the game: Cleveland Browns RT TBD vs. Baltimore Ravens OLB Jadeveon Clowney
The question going into the first meeting between the teams centered around Watson’s health. This time, it’s the health of the Browns offensive tackles. Yes, tackles. Left tackle Jedrick Wills Jr. is on injured reserve with a knee injury. Dawand Jones, meanwhile, is battling shoulder and knee injuries that ruled him out. That leaves the cupboard pretty bare at tackle, especially after swing tackle James Hudson III. It could be Geron Christian, it could be Leroy Watson IV, it could be someone off the practice squad. Whoever is at right tackle will have the pleasure of trying to keep former Browns edge rusher Jadeveon Clowney from making life miserable for Watson, his friend and former teammate. Clowney has two tackles and a tackle for loss going against Jones in the first meeting. For the season he has 3.5 sacks, tied for third on the Ravens behind defensive end Justin Madubuike (7.5) and outside linebacker Kyle Van Noy (5.0).
Position group matchup of the game: Cleveland Browns linebackers vs. Baltimore Ravens quarterback
This is just a way to say the Browns linebackers against one Lamar Demeatrice Jackson Jr., a human cheat code with the ball. Everyone who’s faced the Ravens quarterback since he came into the league is well aware of that fact. The fact he may be having his best season yet — remember, we’re talking about a former NFL MVP — only adds to the danger he presents. Really, at this point in Jackson’s career, especially considering his history against the Browns, no more explanation is necessary.
Coaching matchup of the game: Cleveland Browns offensive line coach Bill Callahan vs. Baltimore Ravens defensive line coach Anthony Weaver
This is an extension of the individual matchup portion. The only difference is that Clowney and Van Noy aren’t under the guidance of Weaver, who was a Browns assistant coach under Mike Pettine in 2014-15. However, Weaver does have one of the best young defensive linemen in Justin Madubuike, who is tied for ninth in the league in sacks. The Ravens defensive line as a whole is aggressive and is key to giving their ultratalented linebackers space to make plays.
The Browns offensive line, meanwhile, is going to be without both startings tackles. They still have All-Pro/Pro Bowl level interior linemen in guards Joel Bitonio and Wyatt Teller, and center Ethan Pocic is top-half of the NFL caliber. How Callahan negotiates through the tackle issue will likely determine how much offensive success the Browns have.