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| MIA at DEN | NE at IND | NYJ at BUF | PHI at SEA | PIT at WAS | TB at KC | ||
Week 9 Game Recap: Baltimore Ravens 37, Cleveland Browns 27
What you need to know
| Baltimore Ravens |
QB Joe Flacco had a good game, showing off his arm strength and ability to protect the ball. He was solid, making good decisions and did not take any bad sacks. He found Derrick Mason and Mark Clayton for the majority of his yards, including two long touchdown passes. QB Troy Smith was rarely used and did not attempt a pass.
RB Ray Rice broke some big runs late in the game, showing great vision and speed. He did not get any goalline carries though, as those went to LeRon McClain. McClain scored one touchdown but was unable to get into the end zone on two runs from the two yard line in the fourth quarter.
WR Derrick Mason had a huge day, catching nine of the 11 balls thrown his way for 136 yards and a touchdown. Mark Clayton was also targeted 11 times, most of them downfield. Clayton only caught four of them but one of them was a 47 yard touchdown catch.
| Cleveland Browns |
QB Derek Anderson is a streaky quarterback. He looked terrible for the first three drives of the game, and then looked unstoppable until the Browns got up 27-13 then lost it and could not get anything going. He shows flashes of brilliance, but cannot sustain it. He looked like he lost confidence towards the end of the game.
RB Jamal Lewis had a tough time running against the Ravens. He only netted 49 yards on 19 carries. He seemed to force the ball up the middle, even when it looked like a bounce out would be beneficial.
WR Braylon Edwards caught four passes for 86 yards and a touchdown, but he dropped a beautiful deep pass that would have gone for a touchdown. It killed the Browns' offensive momentum and really was the turning point in the game.
What you ought to know
| QB Joe Flacco, Pass: 17 - 29 - 248 - 2 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 4 - 2 - 0 |
Flacco looked sharp out there, leading the offense to a big day. He threw the ball on 29 of Baltimore's 70 plays, showing that he is gaining confidence from the coaches. He had several very nice passes, including a 47 yard pass to Clayton that was on the money. Flacco did not force action when there was none either, remaining calm despite being pressured often by Cleveland.
| QB Troy Smith, Rush: 1 - 1 - 0 |
Smith was used a couple of times on option plays but did not attempt to throw the ball. Whenever he came in the entire offense looked confused as he did not have a headset in his helmet.
| RB Ray Rice, Rush: 21 - 154 - 0, Rec: 3 - 22 - 0 (4 targets) |
Rice stated off slowly against the Browns, but he broke out in the second half and ended up with an impressive 154 yards rushing. He had a 60 yard run that looked like he should have scored but was knocked out at the two yard line, which resulted in a field goal.
| RB LeRon McClain, Rush: 14 - 34 - 1, Rec: 1 - 3 - 0 (1 targets) |
McClain was the goal line and short yardage back once again. He successfully got in for one touchdown, but failed to get in late in the fourth quarter from the two yard line on two attempts. While he did not get into the end zone on that series, he did show the ability to run over people and push the pile on other carries.
| RB Lorenzo Neal, Rush: 1 - 2 - 0 (2 targets) |
Neal was the fullback for the Ravens and saw a little action out of the backfield, but nothing significant.
| RB Willis McGahee |
Early reports were that McGahee would start and then share time with McClain and Rice but McGahee did not see any playing time against the Browns
| WR Derrick Mason, Rec: 9 - 136 - 1 (11 targets) |
Mason had an amazing game, catching nine of the 11 balls thrown his way. He managed to break one of the shorter passes for a 28 yard touchdown, his longest reception of the day. He hauled in everything Joe Flacco threw his way and it was an impressive showing.
| WR Mark Clayton, Rec: 4 - 87 - 1 (11 targets) |
Clayton saw 11 targets, the most he has seen this year. Most of them were downfield against fairly good coverage, but he did beat the secondary for a 47 yard touchdown reception early in the game. He was very involved in the passing game and seemed to have the confidence of Joe Flacco.
| WR Yamon Figurs (1 targets) |
Figurs served as the third wide receiver, which was seldom used on Sunday by the Ravens.
| TE Todd Heap |
Heap stayed into block on almost every down, and the plays he did leave the backfield did not result in targets to him.
| PK Matt Stover 3 - 3 FG, 4 - 4 XP, 13 points |
Stover made all three of his field goals, but the Ravens punted on what would have been a 52 yard field goal in the first half, showing a lack of faith in his power.
| BAL Rush Defense |
The Ravens absolutely dominated the Browns' rushing attack. They allowed no runs longer than seven yards and a total of 64 yards on 23 carries.
| BAL Pass Defense |
The Ravens allowed the Browns to gain a rhythm in the middle of the game, but that was ended in the fourth quarter when Edwards dropped a would-be long touchdown catch and Terrell Suggs intercepted a screen pass and returned it for a touchdown. They put a lot of pressure on Derek Anderson and eventually forced him into a mistake.
| QB Derek Anderson, Pass: 17 - 33 - 219 - 2 TD / 1 INT, Rush: 2 - 8 - 0 |
Anderson struggled to string together catches against the Ravens. When he did, he looked amazing; however he was not able to maintain momentum throughout the game. Anderson had a really nice deep pass to Edwards but it was dropped, and it seemed like he lost confidence after that. He threw a bad interception on a broken screen play shortly after that was returned for a touchdown.
| RB Jamal Lewis, Rush: 19 - 49 - 0, Rec: 1 - 13 - 0 (1 targets) |
Lewis was unable to get anything going against Baltimore's stout rush defense. It seemed like they stacked the middle against him, but Lewis still seemed to force his runs there regardless of the lack of holes.
| RB Jason Wright, Rush: 1 - 2 - 0, Rec: 3 - 22 - 1 (4 targets) |
Wright was utilized as a change of pace back and scored on a short flat route in the red zone. He showed good vision and quickness to get to the pylon before the defense could close on him.
| RB Jerome Harrison, Rush: 1 - 5 - 0 (1 targets) |
Harrison was sparsely used on the day, but did look quick while he was out there.
| WR Braylon Edwards, Rec: 4 - 86 - 1 (9 targets) |
Edwards continued his reputation of a great playmaker with inconsistent hands. He caught four balls for 86 yards and had a nice touchdown catch to start the third quarter. Despite that, he dropped a beautiful deep pass from Derek Anderson that was right on the money that should have resulted in a touchdown. Edwards just seems to lose focus sometimes when the ball is coming to him.
| WR Syndric Steptoe, Rec: 2 - 9 - 0 (5 targets) |
Steptoe had a rough day, catching only two of the five balls thrown his way and fumbling the ball early in the game. He served as the second wide receiver in place of Donte Stallworth.
| WR Josh Cribbs |
Cribbs did not see much time on offense, but did show off his return skills, with a touchdown and several good runbacks.
| WR Steve Sanders (3 targets) |
Sanders did not catch any of the three balls thrown his way and really did not see much playing time.
| TE Kellen Winslow, Rec: 5 - 64 - 0 (9 targets) |
Winslow played a solid game catching five of the nine targets thrown his way for 64 yards. He did not receive any red zone targets, but did break up a terrible pass from Derek Anderson from being intercepted.
| PK Phil Dawson 2 - 2 FG, 3 - 3 XP, 9 points |
Dawson made both of his field goals including a booming 54 yard kick that would have been good from 60+ yards.
| CLE Rush Defense |
The Browns were stingy against the run for most of the game, but ended up wearing down and giving up a few big runs to Ray Rice. They ended up giving up 193 yards on the ground and simply lost control. They did have an impressive goalline stand from the two yard line, but overall just look exhausted against the Ravens.
| CLE Pass Defense |
The Browns had pretty good coverage against the Ravens, but failed to consistently put pressure on Joe Flacco. This ended up causing them to allow several big plays, one each to Derrick Mason and Mark Clayton.
