ExtremeRavens Posted 6 hours ago Posted 6 hours ago Baltimore learned its lesson and closed out a double-digit lead, this one a 41-17 win over the Cleveland Browns. It marked the first time the Ravens scored 40-plus points in back-to-back games since December 2020. A few unexpected heroes made the difference. Here are five things we learned from the game: Wide receivers can turn any target into a touchdown The pass lofted high, then careened down into Devontez Walker’s waiting arms. The second-year wide receiver gained a beat on his defender with plenty of room to spare in the back left corner of the end zone for his second touchdown on as many targets. Coupled with his lone catch in 2024, Sunday stacked this wonky stat line: three career catches, three career touchdowns. Talk about efficiency. The advice trickling down from veterans DeAndre Hopkins and Tylan Wallace was simple in that the fifth receiver buried down the depth chart needs to take advantage of the opportunities when they’re presented — an NFL truism, easier said than done. Hopkins and Wallace practiced what they preached, arguing for the thesis about the malleability of Baltimore’s offense. Hopkins caught both of his targets for 64 yards. The first was initially ruled a touchdown, then called back when officials noticed his knee touched down at the half-yard line. His second, a touchdown (for real this time), required some sneaky maneuvering to slip under the defender and make the catch. Wallace was similarly efficient, with two catches on as many targets and a touchdown. Sunday’s beatdown against Cleveland actualized all the offseason chatter about an offense bearing a surplus of playmakers. And it tempered egotistical concerns. “Anybody could spark us to just start moving the ball,” said Zay Flowers, who paced the Ravens with 75 yards on seven catches. “I feel like everybody in our receiver room has something that we need.” What unfolded in the home opener was a reminder that Flowers is still the top option. But the depth chart runs deep with guys who can contribute on any given Sunday — the separating factor in games like this one, when the usual suspects aren’t producing. Baltimore couldn’t get its run game going all afternoon. Derrick Henry’s 23 rushing yards were his fewest as a Raven. Rashod Bateman and Mark Andrews, the second- and third-most lucrative pass catchers from 2024, combined for three catches and 17 yards. At the break, the Ravens had only four first downs on 81 total yards. Harbaugh called the win “a grind,” as the offense struggled to find a groove in the first two quarters. Lamar Jackson widened his scope in the second half. It paid off with three more touchdown passes to two guys who can get lost in the shuffle of that group and a 13-year veteran who refuses to be labeled as “washed.” “Lamar just trusts in his players, guys who are going out there and making plays,” Hopkins said. “Just being able to scramble and not get a sack but create plays that aren’t on script, that’s what he’s been doing his whole career.” Wide receiver Tylan Wallace rolls at the feet of Browns safety Ronnie Hickman after catching a touchdown in the Ravens' 41-17 win on Sunday. (Karl Merton Ferron/Staff) They were serious about holding defenders accountable Marlon Humphrey wasn’t kidding. These Ravens, as he said, won’t be “repeat offenders.” That is to say, their high-ceiling projections won’t be squandered by giving a long leash to any player not executing at the level they expect. Not like they did for 10 weeks last year when Baltimore owned the worst statistical secondary in football and refused to make changes. This would be different, Humphrey argued. They wouldn’t “protect this guy or protect that guy.” Sunday’s most glaring example was the decision to make Jaire Alexander a healthy scratch. The veteran cornerback struggled in Week 1, notably during the waning minutes of Buffalo’s 15-point comeback over the final four minutes: burnt twice and flagged for a consequential pass interference. Harbaugh said this week that he’s “healthy enough,” despite missing the lion’s share of training camp with a knee injury, but “we have to get him right.” Orr doubled down: “There’s no doubt in our mind that he’s going to be ready to go when it’s time.” The messaging didn’t change after the decision to scratch him worked out. “Jaire Alexander is going to play great football for us this year,” Harbaugh said. “I kind of made the decision — he was pushing me hard — but I made the decision, ‘Let’s get completely right and in football shape.’” Alexander’s absence opened the door for Reuben Lowery’s NFL debut. He saw garbage time reps. Second-year corner T.J. Tampa Jr. was a more obvious beneficiary after not playing a single defensive snap last week. Harbaugh noted how well he practiced this week, and Tampa took home a highlight to show for it. In the fourth quarter, he swatted a fourth-down pass to Browns receiver Jerry Jeudy with a parallel-to-the-ground effort. Ravens cornerback Nate Wiggins returns the ball after intercepting a Joe Flacco pass in the third quarter of Sunday's win over the Browns. (Kenneth K. Lam/Staff) Humphrey, Nate Wiggins and Chidobe Awuzie seem to have locked up the top-three cornerback spots. Wiggins intercepted Flacco and returned it 61 yards, getting tripped up a few steps shy of the goal line. Although Humphrey, who saw an interception slip through his hands into the waiting mitts of Cedric Tillman for a fluky touchdown, suffered a groin injury that might further test their depth. The other playing time decision that took all of one game came at inside linebacker. Fourth-round rookie Teddye Buchanan got the nod over third-year pro Trenton Simpson, playing beside All-Pro Roquan Smith. Against Buffalo, Buchanan and Simpson split time pretty evenly. Simpson started. But Buchanan finished with three more defensive snaps. A week later, he was named full-time starter. Buchanan saw his reps double, clocking 60 on Sunday, according to Pro Football Focus. That’s compared with last week when the Ravens leaned more heavily on sets using six defensive backs behind Smith as the only linebacker. Decision-makers felt they could trust Buchanan, who wore the green dot in the preseason, meaning he relayed the calls from the defensive coaches. He proved them right with five total tackles. Buchanan was asked if, when he first got drafted, he might have anticipated that by his second NFL game he’d already be a starter. The rookie’s eyes wandered around the locker room. He took a moment to find the right words. “I’m not sure I would have necessarily anticipated it,” Buchanan said, “but the mindset is always to stay as ready as I can.” Jake Hummel proves to be a worthy offseason acquisition Cleveland sat at its own 45-yard line. It was fourth-and-8, early in the second quarter and Corey Bojorquez came on to punt. When the ball was snapped, Jake Hummel burst through the middle the same way a raging bull does when the fence swings open. Hummel trucked the upback and dove forward, stretching out his right hand just enough to send the football tumbling in the opposite direction. That was the first blocked punt by a Raven since Chris Moore on Nov. 6, 2016, versus Pittsburgh. Hummel’s gave Baltimore prime field position. Two plays later, Jackson floated a touchdown pass to Wallace in the back right corner of the end zone. Linebacker Jake Hummel blocks a punt by the Browns' Corey Bojorquez, setting up the Ravens' first touchdown on Sunday. (Kenneth K. Lam/Staff) Special teams is a point of pride for the Ravens — particularly Harbaugh, who famously got his start in coaching with the game’s third unit. It came as no surprise that the Ravens saw a need to invest in a veteran special teamer after a down year from that group in 2024. Enter Hummel, a veteran on a one-year deal signed on the heels of Malik Harrison and Chris Board signing elsewhere. In 2024, Hummel blocked a punt for a touchdown with the Rams. It took two weeks for him to block another as a Raven. Hummel explained postgame that in a couple of previous punt rushes, he got a similar look where he’d end up one-on-one with the furthest back protector. That opportunity presented itself again and, as Hummel said, special teams coordinator Chris Horton “gave me another chance to run a similar play and I was able to get the one-on-one and beat him.” The 26-year-old had a quiet camp. He missed a chunk of practice time, at one point for the birth of his son, Hudson, and another chunk for a left-hand injury that required minor surgery in late August. Hummel called the injury “a pain” more than a major setback. He was able to work into practice before having the surgery and return in time for Week 1. In time to be the difference-maker Baltimore signed him to be. “I’m always just trying to do whatever I can to help the team win,” Hummel said. A smile broke across his face, “I’m happy to block as many punts as I can. I’m just going to try to affect every game that I’m in.” It was a vintage Roquan Smith performance Walker was standing off to the sideline when he noticed a pile in the pocket. Outside linebacker Tavius Robinson strip-sacked Joe Flacco, squirting the ball loose. Roquan Smith came flying into frame. He bent down to pick up the ball and took off. “I feel like it took me back to my high school days playing running back,” Smith said. Walker did a double take. “I looked up, like, that’s Ro?” he laughed. “I’m thinking that’s a safety or a corner. He was moving on that. That’s one of the fastest I’ve seen him move out there.” Smith downplayed his participation on the play, “I just had to do a little sprint for about 15, 20 yards.” He really sold himself short. Smith carried that ball 63 yards upstream for his first career scoop-and-score touchdown. That was the icing on the cake of what might have been his best individual performance as a Raven. Smith finished with 15 total tackles. His three tackles for loss tied a career high, and he reached that mark before halftime. Smith got his hands on the quarterback twice and logged his first fumble recovery since Week 10 of last year. “‘Ro’ makes all the difference on our defense and our team as a leader, so yes, all the credit in the world to him,” Buchanan said. “He has done an amazing job leading this team. From everything he does — his effort, his leadership — I can’t say enough good things about him.” “Man, he is our leader right there,” Robinson added. “Since I got here, with the way he practices, I’m not surprised that he has games like that. That’s someone who, when I’m on the field with him, I’m trying to play up to his standard, every time.” Baltimore didn’t forget how to close out wins Smith rewatched the Buffalo loss twice on the bus ride after the game. He ran the tape again on the plane ride home. The entire Ravens defense relived that loss again on Tuesday. After that, he said, “the game was flushed.” To say the Ravens one-flushed the Buffalo loss would be a logical fallacy. Even if that game lingered a little longer than other losses might, what happened in Buffalo seeped into a week’s worth of preparation. It remained a talking point even after the final whistle Sunday afternoon. Most importantly, it served as a reminder to not let that happen again a week later. Ravens outside linebacker Tavius Robinson drives Browns quarterback Joe Flacco to the turf. Flacco fumbled, leading to a Baltimore recovery and touchdown in the fourth quarter Sunday. (Karl Merton Ferron/Staff) “That is what was nagging us since the Buffalo game, just not finishing in the fourth quarter,” Nnamdi Madubuike said. “But we showed today that we can.” The Ravens were in a not dissimilar situation a week ago. A double-digit lead going into the fourth quarter. ESPN Analytics projected a 90-plus-percent chance of victory. Both sides of the ball were sluggish in some ways, dominant in others. There was even a tipped pass touchdown for the other team. Baltimore wasn’t going to let this one loose from its stranglehold. The Ravens had the advantage and, in the way they didn’t against the Bills, closed the door on any shot at a comeback. It was midway through the fourth quarter, the Browns well into field goal range, when Robinson shed a block and strip-sacked Flacco from behind. The ball jarred loose, dribbling a few yards out into open space. Smith scooped it up and kicked 63 yards for a touchdown that extended the Ravens’ lead from 17 to 24. The Ravens didn’t let Cleveland cruise upfield like Buffalo did. They hunkered down defensively. The Browns passed midfield, but Tampa broke up a fourth-down attempt that gifted the ball back to Baltimore’s offense. As if the Bills loss was still looming large in their minds, the Ravens kept pressing. Jackson flung a 23-yard pass to Hopkins, the death knell for any shot at another miraculous fourth-quarter comeback. “Like I said last week, we should have kept it going, but this week that’s what we did,” Jackson said. “We got the job done, and shout out to all phases. Everyone played their part.” Have a news tip? Contact Sam Cohn at scohn@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/samdcohn. View the full article Quote
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