ExtremeRavens Posted 11 hours ago Posted 11 hours ago The Ravens needed a response after the collapse in Buffalo. They delivered it Sunday with a convincing 41-17 win over the Browns that showcased a defense on the attack and an offense that rebounded from a slow start and turned explosive when it mattered most. These five stats help explain how Baltimore evened its record (1-1) and reclaimed its early season identity. 102.648 The league has never seen a quarterback blend efficiency and explosiveness quite like Lamar Jackson. His turnover-free afternoon helped Jackson push his career passer rating to 102.648, nudging him past Aaron Rodgers for the best mark in NFL history. Jackson’s rise on the passer rating leaderboard is a testament to how he’s evolved from a dazzling scrambler into a fully formed, elite passer. While Jackson had a couple misfires earlier in the game that he’ll want back, he dug deep and picked up Baltimore’s offense to effectively secure victory No. 1. Lamar Jackson is now the NFL’s all-time leader in passer rating (102.65) after passing Aaron Rodgers today (102.60) Oh, and Lamar is the all-time QB leader in rush yards. Quite the combo. — Doug Clawson (@doug_clawson) September 15, 2025 Against a Jim Schwartz-led Browns defense built to bait mistakes, Jackson played within himself, taking what was available and finding a different set of playmakers outside of his go-to weapons. He also flashed his trademark brilliance, uncorking a scrambling heave to veteran wideout DeAndre Hopkins, who impressively tracked the football down the left sideline, just shy of the end zone. “I’ve seen it [Hopkins’] whole career,” Jackson said. “Even when I wasn’t in the league, I’ve been watching ‘D-Hop’ make spectacular catches and when he was on other teams as well. But just seeing him at camp, just building chemistry there, and I feel like everyone called him — I believe people called him ‘washed’ and stuff like that, but he’s showing otherwise.” Baltimore’s Super Bowl hopes rest on that balance of brilliance and restraint. Sunday was the latest proof that Jackson (19-for-29, 225 passing yards, four touchdowns) can adjust and still distribute the ball effectively even when the offense isn’t humming. All four of Jackson’s touchdown completions targeted a receiver more than 10 yards downfield. Since the start of the 2024 season, Jackson has thrown 32 such touchdowns, according to Next Gen Stats, which ranks first in the NFL and 10 more than the next closest quarterback (Joe Burrow, 22). 2 Following a week — actually a summer — of questions about whether the Ravens’ defense had lost its opportunistic edge, Zach Orr’s group delivered a booming response. The defense’s two takeaways, Nate Wiggins’ interception and Roquan Smith’s fumble return for a touchdown after Tavius Robinson’s strip sack, were not just the season’s first takeaways, but also momentum swings that uplifted the home sideline. Wiggins’ pick halted a promising Cleveland drive, and Smith’s touchdown cemented the result. Baltimore produced only 17 takeaways all of last season, so producing a multi-takeaway outing is the sort of statement this unit needed to make. It was a loud rebuttal to the chatter that this defense could no longer win games on its own. “At the end of the day, it’s only about the guys inside of our locker room and the guys that we’re going to war with,” said linebacker Roquan Smith, who recorded a game-high 15 tackles. “So, all the noise, honestly, I don’t really hear it, nor do I care about others’ opinions. It’s more about the guys who I’m going to war with. …[We] got that sour taste out of our mouth. Left a couple of plays out there today, but it’s just more so about being who we are for the rest of the season, not having any let ups and playing four-quarter football.” Ravens outside linebacker Tavius Robinson sacks Browns quarterback Joe Flacco and forces a fumble. Ravens linebacker Roquan Smith returned the fumble 63 yards for a touchdown, taking advantage of a Ravens pass rush that showed improvement in Week 2. (Kenneth K. Lam/Staff) 38 One week after struggling to breathe on Josh Allen, the Ravens’ pass rush roared back. Cleveland quarterbacks Joe Flacco and Dillon Gabriel were pressured on 38% of their dropbacks as Baltimore’s pass rushers were frequent visitors in the pocket. Despite playing from behind throughout, Cleveland never registered a down-field passing game. Orr mixed occasional blitzes with four-man rushes, keeping protection calls off balance and letting the secondary tighten its coverage. A couple of key adjustments to the lineup resulted in nine quarterback hits, hurried throws, forced errors and, ultimately, those two takeaways. 45 One week after getting his feet wet in Buffalo, outside linebacker Mike Green, 22, went from rookie cameo to near full-timer against Cleveland. The second-round draft pick out of Marshall logged 45 defensive snaps, almost doubling the 26 he played in his NFL debut and matching his jersey number. Green also added 21 snaps on special teams. With 2024 sack leader and veteran Kyle Van Noy sidelined for the foreseeable future with a hamstring injury, Green suddenly looks like a key piece of the Ravens’ edge rotation. He’s still chasing his first career sack, but Sunday brought his first tangible impact. Green registered his first career quarterback hit on Joe Flacco that forced an incompletion and helped stall the Browns. Ravens rookie linebacker Mike Green, shown practicing in early September, could take on an important role in the coming weeks with Kyle Van Noy injured. (Kevin Richardson/Staff) For Green, 6-foot-3 and 250 pounds, who led college football with 17 sacks last season, it marked the type of incremental step that the coaching staff and front office hoped to see. Expecting immediate dominance from a rookie is unfair, but Green does arrive in Baltimore with sack pedigree. His workload should only grow as he mixes in with main edge pieces Tavius Robinson and Odafe Oweh during a brutal early season stretch that features four playoff teams before the Week 7 bye. Consider the next month as a prime opportunity for Green to grow into a consistent difference-maker. “It’s tough knowing [Van Noy] won’t be out there with us, but he was talking to me, making sure I stay on top of my get-off,” Green told The Sun. “That was the big emphasis from him…making sure I’m getting off the ball and disrupting the quarterback.” 2.1 This was the cold splash of reality in an otherwise convincing win. Cleveland’s front seven stacked the box and repeatedly beat Baltimore’s offensive line and run blockers to the punch, holding Derrick Henry to a mere 23 rushing yards across 11 carries, finishing with a lowly 2.1 average. It was Henry’s worst outing in a Ravens uniform. Henry’s previous single-game low average as a Raven was 3.5 yards per carry in the team’s Week 1 loss to Kansas City in 2024. For a veteran tailback who has built his career on wearing down defenses, there was no late-game surge nor a series of punishing runs to close it out. The Ravens finished with just 45 total rushing yards, their lowest total in a Lamar Jackson start since 2018. “They were triggering the run right away,” coach John Harbaugh said Monday. “They were blitzing the run. It wasn’t a blitz call, but it was a blitz reaction to the run. Those guys were coming downhill immediately. That was the plan for them. They weren’t going to get beat by the run. That’s smart football. They did a great job with it.” It was a rare Sunday when the Ravens survived without their trademark power run. But for this offense to reach January at full throttle, Henry will have to turn a quiet outing like this into an exception. The Ravens showed they can adjust on a day when the run game stalled, but their ceiling still depends on Henry eventually imposing the kind of will that has defined his storied career. Have a news tip? Contact Josh Tolentino at jtolentino@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200, x.com/JCTSports and instagram.com/JCTSports. 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