Ryan Jones
The Ravens are incredibly lucky to escape Cleveland with a win. Unless there’s something we couldn’t hear, that taunting penalty on Terrell Pryor was an absolute gift.
Positives
Dennis Pitta is back and is a real weapon for the Ravens. If he’s able to stay healthy it’s a huge boon for the offense.
Michael Pierce is a disruptive force. He’s the latest undrafted gem and spent all day in the backfield. The D line as a whole played well.
It’s safe to say Mike Wallace was the simply in the wrong offenses the last few years. His chemistry with Flacco is obvious.
Negatives
This secondary isn’t good enough to stop good quarterbacks. Weddle played well but Lardarius Webb was a non factor. The Ravens were literally playing against a one arm quarterback.
The third down defense was dreadful, especially in the first half. If the Ravens let better teams hang around in games they’ll lose those games.
Brian Bower
The Ravens barely escape Cleveland with a win thanks in part to two free agent pick ups in Eric Weddle and Mike Wallace. While a win is a win in the NFL, their performance left a lot to be desired, particularly their run game and pass pro of Joe Flacco. The defensive front played well in pressuring McCown and forcing mistakes but the secondary was alarming. They are 2-0 on the season but could very well be 0-2, adjustments are needed and fast!
Joe Polek
I don’t know if I can even remember a time when the Ravens started off a game strong. They have been a slow starting team for as long as I can remember. The defense struggled early, but must have also been exhausted because the offense did not stay on the field for any time at all. But once again, a special teams play changed the momentum to the Ravens. The blocked extra point changed everything. From then on, the Ravens shut out the Browns. The Ravens started to move the ball and the defensive made a lot of plays. Pitta being back is helping Flacco dramatically with that security blanket. Overall, it doesn’t matter. All that matters is 2-0.
Tyler Lombardi
The game started out like a nightmare and they certainly looked like a team that still doesn’t have it all together. But then they started to look like the superior team. They turned Josh McCown into a human punching bag, pummeling the old man into the ground the whole day…until the final drive.
Then we saw the same ol’ last drive Pees defense. They were bailed out by a bad, yet understandable, call on Terrell Pryor. The official right in front of the play probably should have been able to overrule the trailing official’s decision. There was clearly no intention to taunt, but hey, at least this one worked to the Ravens’ benefit unlike all of the poor calls of last year.
Some of the early standout performances came from Sheldon Price, Lardarius Webb, and Zach Orr…and not in a good way. Webb looks far too contact-averse to be the last obstacle for a running back trying to make it into the end zone.
Some of the later standout performances came from Dennis Pitta, Mike Wallace, Eric Weddle, and C.J. Mosley. But the most exciting performance came from DT Michael Pierce. The dude was in the backfield the whole game, and he certainly has made Harbaugh and co. happy they kept him around.
It’s clear that this is a team with flaws, but 2-0 is exactly where they needs to be. Let’s keep it rolling into Jacksonville.
Adam Bonaccorsi
Could this game have been any closer?
Total Yards- CLE (387), BAL (382)
Time of Possession: CLE (29:01), BAL (30:59)
Turnovers: CLE (2), BAL (2)
Ultimately, the Ravens leave the Factory of Sadness victorious, and Cleveland.. well.. the usual.
Pitta was a boss, and proved to be HUGE for the Ravens today with a 100+ yard game, as was Mike Wallace with 2 TD’s from Flacco.
On the defensive side, it was good to see Matt Judon applying pressure, along with the rest of the defensive front keeping McCown on his heels all game. Unfortunately, the secondary decided to not follow suit, and gave up a handful of jump balls downfield, leading to the big 20-0 hole early in the game. Eric Weddle was the one bright spot back there with an exceptional pick.
Was there some luck involved? Sure. That taunting call on Pryor could have easily not been called. But on the other side, you have Chris Moore’s near TD dropped, another Moore catch down to the 1 late in the 4th called back for the offense not setting (it was close, could’ve gone either way), and there’s a quick 14 point swing there too. Luck always evens itself out… at least that’s what I’m telling myself to cope with barely beating the Browns.
Shake it off, fix the problems, and move on.
Ken McKusick
After the game filled my TV room with profanity up to 20-0, the Ravens came back gamely to beat the Browns with a strong showing on both sides of the ball. Browns fans will blame the officials for the taunting flag. Ravens fans know the initial TD call should have been OOB. However, both can agree the game could have turned on any of a number of plays.
An ugly 2-0. I’ll take it any day.
Brian McFarland
It’s rarely easy for the Ravens in Cleveland and today was no different. It looked pretty bleak in the 1st quarter, but the Ravens dug in and showed great resiliency in coming back from the early 20-0 deficit.
Getting to, and hitting, McCown repeatedly turned the game.
Any win on the road – especially in the division – is a good win. The Ravens were extremely lucky to escape Cleveland with a win, but this was just the kind of game they would have lost last year. This year, though, they held on and will happily take 2-0.
More knee jerks are coming soon…
