Baltimore Ravens: 4 Takeaways from the loss vs. Cleveland Browns

According to Pro Football Talk, Haden left the game against the Ravens in the fourth quarter and head coach Mike Pettine confirmed that Haden is in the league concussion protocol. “A lot of them are third-and-long [situations]”.

Cleveland converted 12 of 19 third-down plays, amassed 505 yards of offense and took advantage of 12 Baltimore penalties – including two in the fourth quarter when the Ravens lined up in the neutral zone. The tight end position has been fairly weak this season, and there’s not likely going to be a better free-agent option the rest of the year. Prior to the injury, Forsett ran for 121 yards on 21 carries with a touchdown. You just have to play them one at a time and a Denver Bronco team will be coming in here, you know Peyton Manning and that defense playing the way it is we’ll have our hands full. If you include Smith and outside linebacker Terrell Suggs (Achilles tendon), it seems that age has caught up with the Ravens. The key to the victory was the way that the Cleveland Browns Offense was able to adapt to a throwing game rather than relying on the run. Washington (2-3) was denied in its attempt for its first back-to-back wins in nearly a year – since Weeks 7 and 8 in 2014.

But the 1996 squad’s sieve-like tendencies continued throughout the season.

McCown has been electric in his last three starts, completing 68 percent of his passes with six passing touchdowns (two in each game), just one interception, one rushing touchdown and an average of 384 yards per game. But the defense yielded 505 yards, including a Cleveland-record 457 yards passing to Josh McCown.

OK, it might be time to finally admit that the Baltimore Ravens are not a very good team this season.

Who’s not: The Browns’ offensive line has given up 13 sacks in its past three games.

The Chiefs attempted a 66-yard field goal on the game’s final play, but the attempt by kicker Cairo Santos was well short, barely making it into the end zone.

So here we are this morning, in the punch-drunk aftermath of a surprising 33-30 overtime win in Baltimore, a place that has contributed so much to the misery of the franchise’s post-expansion existence. “We’ve got another game next week”. “But at the same time we lace ’em up every week for a reason and you look at that schedule, you’re absolutely right [about its difficulty]”.

After Sunday’s game against the Ravens, it’s hard to imagine those chants will persist.

Baltimore never before has been 1-4.

LB Elvis Dumervil (groin) was forced out of the game against the Browns and missed the entire second half.

But the Ravens are still allowing way too many of them.

“The key word you just said was ‘Everybody wrote me off, ” he said.

WOUNDED: Playing without injured receiver Steve Smith and starting tight end Crockett Gillmore, the Ravens still managed to ring up 377 yards in offense.

McCown’s career has taken him to the Arizona Cardinals, Detroit Lions, Oakland Raiders, Miami Dolphins, Carolina Panthers, the UFL’s Hartford Colonials, the San Francisco 49ers, Chicago Bears, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and now the Browns.

From there the Giants scored a Superbowl-winning touchdown.