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A RAVEN-OUS Defense Bounces Browns

Ravens top Browns 28-10 in Week #3

 

Since 2003 the Cleveland Browns are an unimpressive 8-24 against their fellow AFC North Division teams. That and poor play thus far in 2008, and I saw a loss on Sunday in Baltimore on the horizon.

I did not expect an offensive explosion from the Ravens so the 21 points generated from the offense was somewhat of a bonus. And through in a great pick 6 by Ed Reed and it was a convincing win by Baltimore.

Baltimore Ravens hats On defense they did what I thought they needed to do. Punish the Browns! And that they did. Just ask Kellen Winslow Jr. The G- Force he felt from being demolished by Ray Lewis was just another day at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. That head jarring slam also caused an interception. The Ravens had 3 interceptions on the day. Ed Reed, Chris McAlister and Samari Rolle all chipping in. This was the 8 th consecutive game that Baltimore picked off a pass. The Browns were held to 73 yards on the ground. Although had they not needed to come from behind they were having some success running the ball. But it is not a guarantee that would have continued. Browns passed for a whopping 96 yards. Leaving a total of 169 yards of total offense. Expect the Ravens to get a lot of love in the defensive rankings this week.

Managing the ball, the Ravens had some bright spots. Willis McGahee returned and contributed a nice 64 yards on 15 carries with a touchdown for good measure, and Le'Ron McClain had 66 yards on 17 carries and 2 touchdowns. Very nice tandem effort. Mixing in Ray Rice's 21 yards an 5 carries and you had nice day on the ground.

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Joe Flacco had a modest day. However it was a solid day for a rookie that is going to have peaks and valley's. His 13 for 29 and 129 yards is about what I expected. I actually had him going 9 – 17 and 136 yards so he threw the ball more than I thought they would ask him too. But with the lead they built up it appears John Harbaugh thought “ what the heck ” let him get some game time experience in seeing NFL coverages. I was hoping he wouldn't throw any INT's but he gave 2 freebies to Cleveland. The interception of the trick hand off/throw back to QB, play was not fooling anyone. Flacco needed to air that one out further toward the back of the end zone instead of making it a jump ball with Derrick Mason and two Browns defenders. All and all the Ravens had the ball for more than 37 minutes. They ended with 273 total yards.

Both teams were pretty ineffective on 3 rd downs. Cleveland though had to punt 7 times to Baltimore's 3 times.

We hope that Dawan Landry is okay after he was carted of the field. He was motionless on the field for a few minutes. In after the game reports they were reporting that he had movement in all his extremities. Hopefully his family and the football world will hear good news concerning his condition.

Well next week the Ravens head to Pittsburgh. This Monday Night Football battle should be good. If Joe Flacco thought he has seen a lot of coverages he is in for a rude awakening. So the Ravens will have to hope they can pound the ball some. But it is rare that anyone does that on a Pittsburgh defense. We will consider more about the up coming game this week.

 

 

By Andy Natalie
ProFootball-fans.com Baltimore Ravens Correspondent