Baltimore Beatdown Staff Reactions to the Ravens’ loss to the Cleveland Browns
The Baltimore Ravens, an offensive juggernaut over the past five weeks, suffer a painful loss to the Cleveland Browns, 29-24. Below are the reactions from the Beatdown staff.
Drops on offense. Drops on defense. Third down defense allows a conversion on eight of 15 plays. Ravens’ third-down offense converts on just two of 10 attempts. Truly the way the game unfolded as the offense could not convert and the defense failed to get off the field. No excuses for the defense being down a few players. The plays were literally in their hands to be made.
A lot of criticism will be hammered on safety Kyle Hamilton for dropping the game-winning interception. But Hamilton was the reason the defense ever got off the field in the first half, and generated the lone turnover for the defense which gave the Ravens life.
Offensively, drops were abundant. Bateman dropped a 3rd & 14 conversion that hit him directly in the facemask. Nelson Agholor dropped a key third down conversion, too. All of the plays were there to be made. They lacked the execution. They beat themselves, which is what we’ve said this season. The only team to beat Baltimore appears to be Baltimore.
This had all the makings of a loss. The Browns’ defense is good. The offense was no longer being held back by some of the worst quarterback play in history. The Ravens’ defense couldn’t generate pressure and as a result, they find themselves 5-3 on the season and looking to regroup yet again. — Kyle Phoenix
A hard-nosed, defensive AFC North first half gave way to an explosive second half with both offenses finding their rhythms. It’s never a good sign when the wide receivers and defensive backs combine for at least six drops, each one a major opportunity for the Ravens to swing the game back in their favor. Instead, they let the Browns hang around all game, with a shorthanded defensive line and secondary forcing Zach Orr to resort to heavy blitzing as the game progressed. — Nikhil Mehta
The Ravens literally let this game slip through their hands with inexcusable drops on both sides of the ball on plays that were immediately followed by a punt or disaster. On a day when their secondary was depleted at outside cornerback, their lone starter left standing gave up too many plays. The pressure was non-existent against an offensive line that had given up the most sacks and quarterback hits in the league by a mile. Jameis Winston gave the defense numerous opportunities to come up with game-shifting and sealing interceptions and the safeties failed to capitalize on any of them with the most crucial being the lollipop that All Pro Kyle Hamilton dropped on what was the game-winning drive. Offensively Lamar Jackson didn’t have his most efficient day with a handful of missed throws but he was let down time after time by his wide receivers who let accurate passes bounce off their hands and chest on several crucial third downs. Special teams weren’t exempt from blame as Justin Tucker missed a 50-yarder wide left and undrafted rookie running back Chris Collier was over-aggressive as a returner on several occasions where he failed to make it to the 30-yard line. There were a few instances where holds called on his teammates during those returns backed the offense up even more. This was a total team loss, there’s no way around it and there’s no reason it should’ve happened. Neither coordinator was in their bag as both made multiple head-scratching play calls that led to plays either not being made on offense or being given up on defense. — Joshua Reed
I don’t even know. Lamar Jackson made some special plays but wasn’t consistent enough the whole. Every single wide receiver had a critical drop at one moment. The defense barely got pressure on Winston. Multiple defensive backs dropped interceptions. I don’t know. Mystifying. Shouldn’t have happened. Todd Monken got too cute at times. Zach Orr’s defense continues to look lost at times while not making the plays when they are there. Multiple injuries happened today.
Division games are hard. Division games on the road are harder. Division games on the road with a brand new quarterback and a new play caller while missing your top two corners are even harder. But there’s simply no excuse for a “Super Bowl caliber-team”. Just ridiculous.
This will be way-overanalyzed. Zach Orr’s head will probably be called for. People will question the cute play calling from Monken. But if Kyle Hamilton catches that interception, it’s game. That simple. If receivers and backs had caught balls, it wouldn’t have been close. — Zach Canter
The Ravens certainly deserved to lose this game. The number of drops and missed opportunities made the ending more clear as the game went on. For as well as he played, Kyle Hamilton dropped the game winning interception which led to a Browns touchdown on the next play. Lamar Jackson wasn’t particularly sharp early in the game as the Ravens were on the lucky end of a few dropped interceptions. This game was eerily similar to the Steelers game roughly a year ago with the sheer number of drops on both sides of the ball. Nothing is given in the AFC North, and today once again proved that. — Stephen Bopst