The Winners and Losers from Week 8 vs. Cleveland Browns
The Baltimore Ravens blowout the Denver Broncos in a monstrous 41-10 win.
Below is my MVP (guess who), winners and losers for Sunday’s game.
MVP: Lamar Jackson
Jackson delivered another MVP performance on Sunday, carving up the highly-ranked Broncos defense for 280 yards and three touchdowns on 16-of-19 passing. His passing was crisp, efficient and repeatedly hit his targets with passes in-stride and perfect placement. From the Zay Flowers receptions to the Justice Hill wheel-route catch, he was brilliant. Another game he has as many touchdown throws as incompletions. MV3 incoming.
Winners
Derrick Henry: Death, Taxes and Henry getting into the end zone with the Ravens. He now has a nine-game scoring streak and has 11 touchdowns on the season.
Zay Flowers: The playmaking ability of Flowers was on full display. The Broncos’ defense was trying their best to slow down the rushing attack and gave opportunity for the Ravens’ receivers to execute. Flowers did that and more with five receptions for 127 yards and two touchdowns, including a 53-yard touchdown just before the end of the first half.
Tavius Robinson: The Ravens’ pass rushers weren’t at all consistent in this contest but Robinson made a number of plays. He finished with two sacks, four quarterback hits, a tackle for loss and pass breakup. An impressive outing for Robinson, who got the nod over David Ojabo for a second straight game.
Ar’Darius Washington: The Ravens’ secondary was rightfully crushed after their repeated drops against the Cleveland Browns last week. But on the first opportunity, Washington made the catch on a Bo Nix’s first throw that was tipped by the receiver.
Ravens Defense: This was a desperate “get-right” game for the defense after their poor performance all season and they did their duty. In the first half they forced three turnovers with Washington’s interception and two turnover on downs. It took a grinding 11-play drive and a desperate trick play for the Broncos to get into the end zone and make it a game. But that didn’t last for long. The Ravens’ defense allowed 10 first half points and zero in the second half. They had two goal line stands against the Broncos and forced two more turnover on downs.
Tylan Wallace: Covered a punt inside the 2-yard line, ripped off a 21-yard punt return and executed. No complaints there.
Jordan Stout: Excellent punt, good holds and even had a 73-yard punt (that was whistled back due to offsetting penalties).
John Harbaugh: Successful challenge, good timeout usage to get them a minute left to score a touchdown before the end of the first half, and there was no clunky play that bit the team in the butt. This was an excellent coaching display.
Losers
None. No, really. The only things I could put here are ticky-tack complaints. The Ravens’ offense obliterated. The defense consistently held their own. Special teams executed consistently. Coaching was on point. A drop here, a bad rep there and a miscommunication is not enough for me to critique. This was an all-around Baltimore Beatdown.