1) Three-wide sets: Given the way that the Browns have played defense the past two Sundays, Baltimore may have the means to establish a balanced attack. Cleveland has been hemorrhaging in the secondary and on the front line; Dallas and Pittsburgh were able to make big plays in the passing game to establish early leads, and then finished off the Browns with their ground attacks.

Even though the main focus of the Ravens’ game plan will be to pound the rock, they should try to use more of an open attack in the early stages of the ballgame.

Losing Leigh Bodden in the off-season hurt Cleveland’s depth on the back end. Spreading the Browns out using a three-wide attack will force the Browns to use more nickel looks, which creates one-on-one matchup opportunities for the receivers to exploit. In addition, the backs would have more space to work with up the gut, when they rush out of a single back set.

2) Establishing an early lead: Despite early deficiencies in Cleveland’s offense, it is still a dangerous group, capable of exploding at any moment.

As such, the Ravens have to control the ball on Sunday. To control the ball and the clock, Baltimore has to get off to a quick start, just as the Cowboys and the Steelers did against the Browns. If the Ravens lag behind, the Browns could get their swagger back, and the Baltimore offense may not have the capability to keep pace.

With Flacco at quarterback, offensive coordinator Cam Cameron has an accurate downfield passer who could connect on a big strike or two early on, to give the Ravens a lead and an opportunity to sit on that lead throughout the game.

3) Preparing for the 3-4: The Baltimore offensive line sees the 3-4 look every day in practice. In fact, exactly what type of look the lineman see when they match up against the defense can be disputed.

Nonetheless, at some point, they have had to coordinate against a three-man line. The Browns run a pure 3-4 scheme. They rely on their plugs – Shaun Rogers, Shaun Smith and Corey Williams – to tie up blockers up front so the backers can split gaps.

The key to blocking this rush is to be able to identify which defender is coming and which defender is bluffing. This is no easy task, and the Browns will do everything they can to confuse young Flacco. It will be up to the offensive lineman to work with Flacco to set up the right blocking adjustments to pick up the blitz.

Defense

1) Mind tricks: Just as the Browns will try to keep Flacco guessing, so too will the Ravens when it comes to defending quarterback Derek Anderson.

In two starts against the Ravens, Anderson played well. He completed an average of 59.4% of his passes, tossed three touchdown passes and converted a number of key third downs.

On Sunday, the Ravens will look to rattle Anderson with their new look pass rush. This will not be easy.

Cleveland has a very good pass-blocking unit, with intelligent blockers, capable of making the proper reads at the line-of-scrimmage. Still, it is safe to assume that there are a few looks they have yet to see on film from the Baltimore defense.

The front seven will need to stealthily disguise their pre-snap looks so that they can catch the Cleveland line and Anderson off guard after the ball is snapped.

2) Zone looks: The Ravens performed better on defense against the Browns in the second game played in 2007, as distinct from the first game. One of the primary reasons for their mild turnaround stemmed from using more zone coverage.

Staying in a zone shell will have a two-pronged effect. One, Anderson will be forced to complete passes in smaller chunks. If he is squeezed to throw the football precisely, he more likely to make a mistake or two when he forces the ball into tight spots.

Two, the zone should slow down Braylon Edwards and Kellen Winslow – Cleveland’s dominant vertical threats. Winslow and Edwards could still inflict plenty of damage against the Baltimore defense, but the key is to limit the degree of damage to smaller gains.

3) Grounding Lewis: Jamal Lewis played an inspired game against his former team in the rematch a year ago. Although Lewis is off to a slow start this season, he is still a threat. In fact, the Browns may turn to Lewis and its ground attack to churn out yards in order to slow down the pressure on Anderson.

Lewis is at his best when he hits a gap up the middle. Once he gets moving downhill, he is tough to tackle, because he keeps his feet moving and has the strength to break tackles.

Rushing the ball in-between the tackles against Baltimore is nearly an impossible task. Tackles Haloti Ngata and Justin Bannan cannot be uprooted and are tough to move laterally. The Browns may try to use counters to get Lewis going off tackle. The Baltimore linemen and outside backers will need to maintain their edge responsibilities so Lewis is forced to hesitate and chop his feet, when cutting back up the middle.