If we were to rank the most painful losses of Week 1, the losses by the Browns and Ravens would probably top the list. The Browns held the Bengals to just 141 yards of offense, but still managed to lose, because they’re the Browns. Since the NFL expanded to 17 games in 2021, teams were 19-0 when holding their opponent to 145 yards or less, but that streak is over thanks to the Browns.
I don’t necessarily trust Joe Flacco, but he outplayed Joe Burrow in Week 1 and there’s no reason to think he can’t put up decent numbers against a Ravens defense that surrendered 389 passing yards in their opener. Yes, that was against Josh Allen, but this is the same Ravens defense that gave up the second-most passing yards in the NFL last year, and it doesn’t look like they’ve fixed anything. There is no one Flacco wants to beat more than the Ravens, so I’m starting to feel like he might go off for 300 yards.
One other thing about this matchup is that it feels like a trap game for the Ravens. They opened with the Bills, and after playing the Browns this week, they’ll play the Lions in Week 3 and the Chiefs in Week 4. If you were going to overlook one team during that stretch, I’m guessing it wouldn’t be the Bills, Lions or Chiefs.
I think the Browns take this down to the wire before finding a new way to lose that’s even more painful than the way they lost last week.