CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Browns suffered a 23-16 loss to the Ravens on Sunday, but that’s just what the scoreboard said.
Here are the real winners and losers from the game:
Loser: Excuses
Shedeur Sanders had yet to play a single snap and there were ongoing debates on national television about why he wasn’t playing, how he would look, if it’s a conspiracy, and so on.
Because Dillon Gabriel entered concussion protocol, we now have actual regular-season snaps from Sanders to evaluate.
Sanders was met with loud cheers from fans in Huntington Bank Field and ready to leave his mark.
Sanders didn’t play well.
Baltimore’s defense had an extra pep in its step and sacked Sanders twice, while keeping him to a four completions for 47 passing yards and one interception.
Some throws were off; Sanders retreated like someone using their player on NFL Madden. And as cliche as it is to say, looked like a rookie.
Granted, Sanders didn’t have any first-team reps in practice. And yes, the Browns were down to backup offensive tackles again Sunday.
All of this is true. But it would be hypocritical to critique Sanders any differently than we did Joe Flacco and Gabriel.
The problems in this offense have remained the same. Pass catchers were dropping passes, the offensive line couldn’t block.
Yet, we still put the blame on Flacco and Gabriel for not delivering. So we’re going to do the same with Sanders.
Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders scrambles against the Baltimore Ravens in the second half of play. Joshua Gunter, cleveland.com
The NFL is a cutthroat league. You’ve got to stay ready.
Sanders’ tendency to retreat in the pocket while searching for targets carried over from his college days, and hurt Cleveland on Sunday. Sanders recorded the third-longest time to throw (3.31 seconds) among all qualifying quarterbacks on Sunday, per Pro Football Focus.
Of his 16 pass attempts, none of them was on target, per Pro Football Reference.
That includes the interception to Nate Wiggins, which looked to be slightly overthrown before Kyle Van Noy gave him a hard hit.
Sanders still showed flashes of what he could be ahead as he led the Browns on the final drive that included the gutsy 25-yarder down the middle to Harold Fannin Jr.
But Ravens linebacker Roquan Smith, who broke up that final pass from Sanders to David Njoku, hit the nail on the head after the game.
“(Sanders is) a rookie. It’s rookie at the end of the day,” Smith said. “When you play a rookie in this league, you have to let them know they are rookies. That’s just what it is.”
The best thing Sanders can do is learn from this.
Winner: Setting the tone
It becomes comical at a certain point: Myles Garrett continues to do Myles Garrett things.
Three of his four sacks came in the first half. He made beating the offensive linemen look so swift and effortless, as though he’s trying to get this over with in time for a dinner date.
It was another clinic that further displayed that there’s levels to this.
But that isn’t enough to show how good he was.
Garrett’s average get-off — the time it takes a player to react to a snap — on Sunday was 0.60 seconds. Prior to Sunday, the previous fastest get-off by any player this season was 0.73 seconds, which was also set by Garrett.
His current total of 15 sacks is not only is the NFL’s most, but matches Baltimore’s and Jacksonville’s team sack totals, and tops Cincinnati’s (14) and San Francisco’s (12).
Garrett surpassed Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor for most consecutive seasons with 12 or more sacks (six).
And to think there are still seven games left this season.
Winner: Eyesight
Cleveland’s defense made Lamar Jackson look anything but comfortable on Sunday.
The constant pressure got to him and led to good things for the Browns: interceptions that hung in the air before falling into the hands of a defender.
Jackson’s pass for Keaton Mitchell bounced off Mitchell’s hands and landed in the hands of linebacker Devin Bush. He did a good job of keeping an eye on the ball, while staying on his feet for a 23-yard pick-six.
Later on, it was Browns defensive lineman Mike Hall Jr. positioning his hand in the path of Jackson’s pass, before Carson Schwesinger kept an eye on it and intercepted it.
Winner: Kickers
Cleveland’s Andre Szmyt and Baltimore’s Tyler Loop each drained three field goals, including one that ranged 40 or more yards, along with one or more PATs.
Szmyt accounted for 10 of Cleveland’s 16 points, while Loop had 11 of Baltimore’s 23 points.
And they did all of this while battling a wind speed of around 22 miles per hour.
Lake Erie is notorious for forcing missed kicks, but these two didn’t allow that.
Loser: Predictability
Last week, Jets head coach Aaron Glenn knew pressure was the Browns’ defensive mantra and made that a disadvantage by using misdirection to create Breece Hall’s pivotal touchdown.
This week, it was Baltimore’s turn.
A little before the two-minute mark on a fourth-and-1, the Ravens set up for what looked to be some kind of sneak with tight end Mark Andrews.
The Browns lined up in a tight defensive formation to stop what they anticipated would be Andrews sneaking for a first down behind his center.
Instead, the Ravens went with some trickery known as their “hurricane” call, and Andrews scored the eventual game-winning touchdown.
In one motion you see Jackson and Derrick Henry moving left end, with Andrews rolling right with fullback Patrick Ricard in front of him.
“Once I saw that open edge and Pat kicking out, it (was) just opening my stride and getting there,” Andrews said.
Ricard created that path by blocking Browns safety Grant Delpit.
“I almost felt like the play was dead, just because when I went out there to block (Delpit) he kind of just stood there…I don’t think he knew what was happening,” Richard said.
According to Ricard, Baltimore had just put the play in this week and practiced it a couple times.
Good call, John Harbaugh.
Loser: Capitalizing on field position
We invest so much in analyzing the quarterback while this Browns offense as a whole continues to be abominable.
It’s gotten to the point where no matter who is in the pocket, the result is the same.
Furthermore, no matter how good the defense is when it matters most, the offense doesn’t reward them.
Cleveland’s offense was placed on Baltimore’s 6-yard line after Delpit recovered a muffed punt by the Ravens’ LaJohntay Wester.
That should’ve been a gimme.
Instead, the Browns took the field goal after two Quinshon Judkins runs combined for no gain, and Gabriel tried a dangerous pass to Jerry Jeudy in tight coverage.
After Sanders’ pick late in the third quarter, linebacker Carson Schwesinger got it back with an interception of Jackson.
And the Browns finished with 2 yards gained through six plays before punting it back to Baltimore.
The Browns rank 30th in second-half points average (7.2), and 32nd in yards gained per play (4.0) after Sunday.
The offense can’t expect the defense to deliver a flawless performance every week and cover up its end of the bargain.
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