The Baltimore Ravens travel to Cleveland on Sunday for an AFC North matchup with the Browns for the second time in three weeks. These two teams met on November 28th in Baltimore, with the Ravens pulling out a 16-10 win. This last week, between matchups, however was much different for these two teams. The Browns had their bye week which helped Nick Chubb, Baker Mayfield and the rest of the team get healthier for their final playoff push. On the other side the Baltimore Ravens traveled to AFC North rival, Pittsburgh, and played a very physical game in which they lost on a failed two-point conversion. The loss in the standings hurt the Ravens, but possibly the bigger loss out of that game was losing Pro Bowl cornerback Marlon Humphrey for the season due to a torn pec.
As these two teams head into Sunday’s matchup the Baltimore Ravens are atop the AFC North at 8-4. The Cleveland Browns are currently in fourth place at 6-6, but could pull within one game of Baltimore with a win with four weeks to play.
Can the Ravens Offense Get Back On Track?
The Ravens may want to consider themselves lucky to be 2-2 in their last 4 games after a 6-2 start to the season. In their last 4 games the Ravens are averaging 13.7 points on offense, which includes 16 against the Browns last time out. In their first 8 games this offense averaged 27.5 points per game. The biggest difference? The play of QB Lamar Jackson. In the last three games started by Jackson, he 3 passing touchdowns with 6 interceptions. The Browns defense was responsible for 4 of those interceptions two weeks ago. If the Ravens want to make a playoff run this season, Lamar Jackson must play like he did the first half of the season.
Can Baker Mayfield Take Advantage of Ravens Depleted Secondary?
As if the Ravens injuries in 2021 couldn’t get worse, it did last week losing their number one corner back Marlon Humphrey for the season. Now, QB Baker Mayfield will have a great opportunity to have one of his best statistical games of the season throwing the ball. The Browns offense is as healthy as they have been all year coming off their bye week. The Ravens defense will be out to stop running backs Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt, so this game will fall on the shoulders of Baker Mayfield. He has not played well this season thus far, but the Browns will need him to in their final 5 games.
Final Thoughts
The entire AFC will be watching this matchup as it has big playoff implications for their conference. With the Browns coming off their bye week and hosting this game, they should have a slight edge in this AFC North showdown. However, they will need to slow down Lamar Jackson once again. Jackson is 5-2 against the Browns in his career and hopes to improve that to 6-2 after Sunday. In the end, this should be another close game between these two teams and be another hard fought win for whoever comes out on top.
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