1. At least 3 of the following 4 occur:
- In a game featuring 2 of the better defenses in football, both offensive lines protect the QB well. There will be no more than 4 total sacks and 8 total QHs.
- Brandon Williams finally sees more playing time with a career high 23+ snaps (previous high 18), up from 9 versus the Steelers.
- The Ravens have the big 3 cornerbacks active (Smith, Jackson, and Webb) at the start. Chykie Brown does not see the field for more than 3 snaps defensively.
- Jeremy Zuttah is not flagged for holding for the first time this season. – Ken McKusick
Once again, FILMSTUDY is the winner with 3/4 accurate predictions. The Ravens and Browns combined for 5 QB hits and 1 sack. Brandon Williams saw the field for 51 snaps and 45 competitive ones, and Jeremy Zuttah was not flagged for holding. The only one he missed on was Chykie Brown’s snaps. He had 6 total snaps and 4 competitive ones.
2. Here’s a surprise — a late game pass interference call hurts the Ravens as the Browns tie the game in the waning seconds, but Justin Tucker’s 49-yard field goal on the first series of overtime gives Baltimore a 23-20 win. The Ravens are helped in OT by (wait for it) a pass interference call. – Drew Forrester
The game didn’t go to OT, but there were 4 pass interference calls in the game, two for each team. The score prediction was also very close to the 23-21 outcome.
3. The Ravens surprise the North, beat Cleveland by 13+ points. Kyle Juszczyk also finally gets some big-time action. – Joe Wedra
Joe was right on one thing: Kyle Juszczyk does get some big-time action with 3 receptions for 54 yards and his first NFL TD.
4. Ravens cruise by Cleveland and their fire lake with a double digit win and crushing PK Predictions. Along the way they get a 250+ yard effort from Joe Flacco and Lorenzo Taliaferro actually runs the ball a few times on his way to a 40+ yard afternoon.
Ravens 27 Browns 17 – Tony Lombardi
Well, they didn’t crush them, but Lorenzo Taliaferro ran for 40+ yards. Much more. Taliaferro ended the day with 91 yds and a TD to go along with Joe Flacco’s 217 yds passing.
5. The Ravens haven’t really gone deep yet this season. That will change Sunday. Flacco will try to get Torrey Smith involved and will connect on at least one long pass play. After this game, Browns fans will be calling for Manziel, as the Ravens D comes to play and shuts down Brian Hoyer. But Terrance West will have at least one touchdown run for the Browns. Ravens hold on to win 24-20. – Joe Polek
Torrey Smith’s biggest play of the day was drawing a pass interference penalty that put the ball on the 5 yard line. Terrance West did score a TD on the ground, but the Ravens didn’t exactly shut down Brian Hoyer, who finished with 290 yards and a 127.1 QB rating. The final score prediction was close, though, which put this one higher up on the list.
6. The young Browns running back duo of Terrance West and Isaiah Crowell will give Baltimore’s defense more than it can handle. Cleveland will finish with more than 125 rushing yards, with West and Crowell each gaining 50+ yards on the ground. – Kyle Casey
Crowell did have a 55 yard game, but Terrance West only had 36 yards, giving the Browns a total of 91 yards on the ground.
7. Lardarius Webb’s return will greatly strengthen the defensive backfield against a Browns receiving core that, unlike last year, won’t have Josh Gordon to torment the Ravens. Conversely, Steve Smith will again wreak havoc, this time in the Browns’ defensive backfield, while Pitta and Daniels have +5 catch days. Joe Flacco will control the tempo as he did last week and keep the Browns’ offense off the field. Ravens 27 Browns 13. – Fran the Fan
Lardarius Webb’s return didn’t provide the results fans were hoping for and Browns receivers caught 19/25 passes from Hoyer. Steve Smith had another great game for over 100 yards including a clutch 32 yard reception to put the Ravens in field position to win the game. Flacco struggled early, but the Ravens ended with more possession time.
8. Johnny Manziel will again see the field for just a handful of snaps, but it will be enough time for Pernell McPhee to deliver JF his first NFL sack. McPhee and Terrell Suggs celebrate by mocking Johnny’s “money” nonsense. – Derek Arnold
Johnny Football saw the field, but it wasn’t at the QB spot, and no one came close to taking him down for a sack on his 2 snaps that included a long reception negated by a penalty. Unfortunately, no one was able to mock Johnny’s money dance.
9. The Ravens defense wins this one by giving Brian Hoyer fits as Suggs and Dumervil each record two sacks setting the offense up with outstanding field position. Wide receiver Torrey Smith hauls in two touchdown receptions as the Ravens roll at the “mistake by the lake” 31-17. – Brian Bower
Neither Suggs nor Dumervil recorded a sack. Torrey Smith recorded two TOTAL receptions. That’s close enough, right?
10. All three teams score this week: offense, defense, & special teams. – Ken Zalis
Our new Report Card writer got a third of this right at least!
11. The Ravens defense scores a safety and a touchdown, and Torrey Smith gains over 100 yards receiving. – Mike Fast
The Ravens forced no turnovers, so they didn’t come close to scoring. Torrey Smith also only gained 25 yards.
12. With all the attention being paid to Steve Smith, and Joe Haden likely shading to his side of the field, Torrey Smith goes off for his first big game of 2014. He’ll have at least 100 yards and a touchdown. – Ryan Jones
Torrey Smith finished the game with just 25 yards and no TDs, but if you include the pass interference he drew he would have been over halfway there at least.
13. The Ravens will continue to make plays on defense, sacking Brian Hoyer twice and intercepting two of his passes. After having a +3 TO ratio in their first two games, Cleveland will be in the negative column for the first time all year. – Dev Panchwagh
The Cleveland Browns went another game without a turnover and went +1 on the day in the turnover battle. Dev was close(r than everyone else with a sack-related prediction) on his sacks, though.
14. Joe Flacco throws 4 TDs, with 2 red zone throws to a reappearing Marlon Brown, as the Ravens get a statement road win in Cleveland 38-13. – Brian McFarland
Marlon Brown had 1 catch on 1 target for 15 yards, while Joe Flacco only had 1 total TD pass. Ravens came up with a win, but it fell well short of a statement win.
15. The Ravens get after Brian Hoyer and sack him 7 times and Pernell McPhee has 3 of them as the Ravens crush the Browns 27-10. – Tyler Lombardi
This prediction wasn’t even close. The Ravens finished the game with one sack by Courtney Upshaw.
16. Mike Pettine makes a case as the early favorite for AFC Coach of the Year as Browns catch the on-again/off-again Ravens off this week, 20-16. – Kurt Backert
Since he picked the wrong winner, I’m sure we can all be happy that our fantasy and historical football genius, Kurt Backert, gets the nod for worst prediction of the week!
