The Ravens failed in another valiant comeback effort, 24-22 in Cleveland, but the bigger story is that Lamar Jackson was carted off in the second quarter.
Derek Arnold
Credit to the Ravens for not quitting. But the slow start was again awful and predictable, as was this:
Shocking the Ravens offense has zero plan for zero blitz
Sun rose today as well
— Dan Orlovsky (@danorlovsky7) December 12, 2021
The offense was doing nothing before Lamar was forced out to indicate that this game would have ended any differently had he not been injured. He looked like the same shell-shocked indecisive QB who’s seeing ghosts that he has for weeks.
Tyler Huntley played well, but the fumbles ended up being killer (as did the terrible, terrible officiating, of course). He got Rashod Bateman involved in a way that Jackson never does, putting it up and letting the young WR try to make plays – which he did.
After the successful onside kick, both Huntley and Roman completely soiled the bed. Throwing deep on first down made no sense. Taking a sack on second was inexcusable. Having a route short of the sticks – then throwing to that route – and not anticipating the blitz was just more of the same, and a fitting way to lose.
Kevin McNelis
The one injury that we couldn’t afford to have happen… happened. While Huntley put up a valiant fight, it was too little, too late, as it so often has been when the Ravens have lost close games this year. It’s ALMOST like if the Ravens ran hurry-up more often, they might have some success.
Sorry, that’s just me seething. The Browns were the better team today, but that’s not saying much when the Ravens are fielding their practice squad in the secondary. It’s nice to know that they still have some fight to them, but the end of the season feels like it might be a mercy at this point, however it comes.
Darin McCann
Enjoy the numbness now. It’s going to sting when you get your feelings back.
Seemingly dead and buried at halftime, and then again another half dozen times, the Ravens managed to miss another big two-point conversion, recover an onside kick and make us talk to ourselves over a gut-wrenching failed fourth-down attempt.
Long sentence, right? Just felt kind of appropriate for what we just saw.
This team continues to confound. At least they’re consistent.
Chad Racine
Incredible that the Ravens made it a close game at the end. When Clark got the onside kick I thought they were going to do it. Then when Huntley got sacked it felt like the game was over.
Losing Lamar is a bigger deal than losing the game. However Tyler Huntley should give us a reason to have some faith. The division is slipping away with only four games left.
Taylor Lyons
Considering Cleveland had three weeks to prepare for this game and Lamar Jackson’s early injury, it’s a miracle this was as close as it was. Tyler Huntley was playing with house money and almost won it all. Great game from Rashod Bateman and Mark Andrews and I thought the defense played well for a unit missing a bunch of starters. The offensive line is still a glaring weakness.
All things considered, the Browns were supposed to win this game. They did, but the Ravens sure put up a hell of a fight.
Rob Shields
A game that looked like it was going to be a blow out almost became one of the most improbable wins in franchise history.
The Ravens lost their best defensive player in Calais Campbell and their MVP in Lamar Jackson and still almost managed to win this game. First of all, we don’t talk enough about it but special teams gives the Ravens such an advantage every week. I really thought after getting the onsides kick that the Ravens were going to pull it off.
Huntley’s two fumbles were costly but he played well. In fact, the team played very well today. Cleveland did very little offensively despite all the injuries. They didn’t run the ball well at all and they didn’t really exploit the injuries in the secondary.
We will have to wait to see the long term prognosis on the injuries for Lamar and Campbell but today was more encouraging than discouraging. I think they are obviously in a ton of trouble but they are fighting hard and if they can get back some of these guys, they may have a chance still.
