BEREA, Ohio — The Browns-Ravens matchup already feels as dramatic as the leadup.
Both teams have been handed some bulletin board material for the Week 2 matchup as they each look for their first wins of 2025.
That material is what highlights several of the key storylines heading into this division matchup.
As of Friday afternoon, the Ravens are 12.5-point favorites in the game.
Here are several of the key storylines going into the game, as well as predictions for each.
The trash talk
It was only four words, but Jerry Jeudy and Grant Delpit handed the Ravens some bulletin board material this week.
On Wednesday, Jeudy was asked what challenges the Ravens secondary presents the Browns receivers.
“No challenges,” he said, and turned his head for the next question.
Then on Thursday, Delpit was asked how hard Ravens RB Derrick Henry (6-3, 252) is to bring down.
“Not hard,” he said.
On Thursday, Henry was asked about Delpit’s comments after they went viral.
“Yeah, I saw that,” Henry told reporters in Baltimore on Thursday. “His coach had a quote. He had a quote. We’ll see on Sunday.”
While it’s unclear what Henry meant by “his coach” as Kevin Stefanski and Browns DC Jim Schwartz praised the Ravens’ back in the leadup to this game, Baltimore coach John Harbaugh didn’t have much to say about the noise on Friday.
“No, I didn’t,” Harbaugh told Ravens reporters when asked if it’s something he would bring up in meetings. “It’s not something we talked about.”
Prediction: Henry hasn’t really wrecked the Browns in any individual game, but last year in the season finale, a throwaway game with the Browns already eliminated, he did run for two TDs and 138 yards on 20 carries.
Other than that, the most yardage he’s put up against Cleveland was 84 in the 2019 matchup between these two teams.
Myles Garrett also talked on Friday about Cleveland needing to back up what Delpit said.
“We got to go out there and prove it,” Garrett said. “Talk is cheap. I mean, he’s a hell of a player. He’s a Hall of Fame talent, but we got to go out there and have our guys back. So, we’re going to support him in the best way we can and that’s by slowing him down and stopping the run game and nullifying their best talents as best as we can.”
The Browns struggled against the run in the first half against the Bengals last week, but rebounded.
The only prediction I have on this one is that it will be a battle — and maybe the battle of the afternoon.
As for the pass defense — the Ravens are ranked 16th in the NFL after allowing Josh Allen to throw for 394 yards.
The most important thing for Flacco in his return to Baltimore will be taking care of the football.
Cleveland Browns QB Joe Flacco in the pocket vs. the Cincinnati Bengals (2025)
Cleveland Browns quarterback Joe Flacco is returning to Baltimore for the first time in his career. AP Photo/Kirk Irwin
The 30th anniversary celebration
Here is where the Browns were gifted some bulletin board material on a silver platter.
With this game being the home opener, the Ravens are celebrating their 30th season since Art Modell moved the Browns to Baltimore.
The move has sparked outrage on social media among Browns fans, many of whom lived through the experience of their beloved team leaving Cleveland and being gone for three seasons, before returning as an expansion team in 1999.
“I mean, I want to go down there and play spoiler, that’s about it,” Garrett said on Friday.
Prediction: Stefanski is an expert at teaching his players the history of this league and this organization.
I think as the celebration is going, it will get Browns players even more revved up — on top of being 12.5-point underdogs and no one giving them a chance, and on top of them wanting to get a win for Flacco in his first time returning to Baltimore since 2018.
Even if they don’t win, I think they will put up more of a fight than most are expecting.
The Browns’ run game
Will the Browns have any semblance of a coherent run game on Sunday?
So much will depend on whether Quinshon Judkins (questionable) plays, and how effective he can be after just returning to the team a week ago.
Judkins has stayed in shape while he was unsigned and away from the team following his July 12 domestic violence arrest — prosecutors declined to formally charge him, but Judkins and the Browns will still await a ruling from the NFL on whether he will face any discipline under the Personal Conduct Policy.
Without him in a Week 1, 17-16 loss to the Bengals, the Browns managed only 49 rushing yards on 24 carries as a team.
Prediction: If Judkins plays, the rushing numbers will be better.
But if not? Expect more of the same against a strong Baltimore defensive front.
The Browns’ best bet if they struggle on the ground will be to get fellow rookie RB Dylan Sampson going in the pass game again like they did last week as he caught all eight of his targets for 64 yards.
My pick
While I think the Browns have plenty of motivation for this game, but think the Ravens’ offense is too explosive for me to pick against it right now. I’m going Baltimore, 24-22.
That being said, strange things happen in this rivalry all the time. It wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if we’re talking about a Browns victory on Sunday evening.
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