BALTIMORE -- Joe Flacco was unable to spoil the Ravens’ big 30th-anniversary celebration of Art Modell moving the Browns to Baltimore in his first game here since they replaced him with Lamar Jackson in 2018.
In Sunday’s 41-17 Browns loss to the Ravens, Flacco threw a costly and ill-advised pick in the third quarter that was returned 60 yards and led to a touchdown. Then with 8:18 left in the the game, he suffered a sack-fumble-score that made it 34-10.
With 4:43 left in the game, quarterback Dillon Gabriel made his NFL debut with the Browns trailing 41-17 and wondering what hit them. He engineered a 7-play, 65-yard drive that ended with a 6-yard TD pass to rookie Dylan Sampson to produce the final margin. Gabriel went 3-for-3 on the drive for 20 yards.
The Browns also had a blocked punt that led to a TD. It was a mistake-filled beatdown by the Browns, who talked trash heading in, and ruffled the Ravens’ feathers.
It was also a horrible homecoming for Flacco (25 of 45, 199 yards, 2 sacks, 0 TDs, 1 INT, 65.0 rating), who’s now thrown three picks in two games and lost the fumble that was scooped-and-scored.
The backbreaking sack-fumble was forced by linebacker Tavius Robinson, and picked up and returned 64 yards by Roquan Smith.
Not even the return of Quinshon Judkins (10 for 61, long of 31) was enough to spark the Browns’ offense in this mess of a game.
Lamar Jackson (19 of 29, 225 yards, 4 TDs, 128.6 rating) put his final touchdown on the board with 4:43 left when he found DeAndre Hopkins for 23 yards over Cam Mitchell. The Browns went lost the turnover battle, minus-2.
The Browns also played most of the game without Denzel Ward, who suffered cramping and spent for more time in the locker room than he did on the field. That put Greg Newsome II in the No. 1 cornerback spot, and young corners Mitchell and Myles Harden Jr. overmatched by Jackson and his veteran receivers. Martin Emerson Jr. is out for the year with a ruptured Achilles.
Jackson put the game out of reach, 27-10, with a 24-yard touchdown pass to Tez Walker with 13:26 left in the game.
The Browns limp back to Cleveland at 0-2 and with three difficult NFC North games coming up next, including one against the Vikings in London.
Cedric Tillman’s amazing TD catch
Tillman made an amazing, heads-up play for an 18-yard TD catch to pull the Browns to within 20-10 with 5:02 left in the third. The score came a play after the Browns won a challenge on a Harold Fannin Jr. catch that gave them a fourth and 3 at the Ravens 18. Flacco, undaunted by his earlier pick, fired the ball to the right side of the end zone, where Marlon Humphrey dropped a near interception.
Reminiscent of Flacco’s two picks last week, including one that went off the hands of Tillman late in the loss to the Bengals, Tillman scooped up the deflected ball in the end zone for the TD.
It atoned for several drops by Tillman earlier in the game, and made it a game.
Browns hold Baltimore to FG after overturned TD, but Flacco throws a pick
The Browns defense held Baltimore to a field goal for a 13-3 lead after DeAndre Hopkins’ 42 called touchdown catch was overturned, with Grant Delpit punching the ball out of Mark Andrews’ hands in the end zone, and Myles Garrett following with an 8-yard sack on third down. The Ravens settled for a 32-yard field goal, and Jackson expressed his frustration by tossing his helmet into the air near the bench.
But his frustration quickly turned to elation after Flacco was rushed to his right and threw an ill-advised passed towards David Njoku. Nate Wiggins snatched it out of the air and rumbled 60 yards up the left sideline, where Joel Bitonio saved the touchdown with a stop at the 5.
Four plays later, with cornerback Denzel Ward back in the locker room with cramps, Devontez Walker caught a 2 yard TD pass at the right side of the end zone with Cam Mitchell in coverage. It made it 20-3 Ravens with 10:09 left int the third.
Blocked punt and TD
The Ravens blocked a punt in the second quarter, and returned it to the Browns’ 24. Two plays later, receiver Tyvan Wallace caught a 15-yard TD pass from Jackson to put the Ravens up 10-0. It was the Ravens’ first blocked punt since 2016.
Jerry Jeudy give the birds the birds
Talk about the birds! Browns receiver Jerry Jeudy pulled off a double move during pre-game introductions, giving the Ravens double middle-fingers as the Browns were about to run out of the tunnel as a team for introductions.
Jeudy, who said Wednesday that the Ravens’ secondary presented “no challenges,” felt disrespected by the fact the Browns were 11.5 point underdogs, and perhaps also by the fact the Ravens celebrated the 30th anniversary of Art Modell moving the Browns to Baltimore with Cleveland in town.
Grant Delpit’s remarks about Derrick Henry and how that went
Delpit ratcheted up the intensity for the game when he was asked Thursday how hard it is to take down big, bruising running back Derrick Henry.
He responded with two words that quickly went viral: “Not hard.”
The two fightin’ words quickly made their way to Henry, who said “We’ll see on Sunday.”
The Browns vowed to back up their safety, with Myles Garrett saying talk is cheap but that they’d do everything they could to slow Henry.
The Browns also showed their support by making Grant Delpit a game day captain.
In the first half, it worked like a charm. Henry rushed five times for 5 yards, and was dropped for losses twice. Garrett set the tone by stopping him after a 1 yard gain on Baltimore’s opening play, and then Mason Graham dropped him for a 4 yard loss later in the drive to force the Ravens to punt from their 27.
Isaiah McGuire got in on the TFL party by stopping Henry for a 2 yard loss, which helped the defense hold Baltimore to a field goal for a 3-0 lead after they had started the drive near midfield.
Quinshon Judkins makes his NFL debut
Judkins made his NFL debut Sunday against the No. 1 run defense from last season. In the first half, he carried the ball six times for 20 yards with a long gain if 7.
The Browns’ No. 36 overall pick out of Ohio State, Judkins sat out last week’s 17-16 loss to the Bengals while fourth-round pick Dylan Sampson and Jerome Ford carried the load.
But the Browns struggled in run-blocking last week, averaging only 2.0 yards per game.
Judkins (6-0, 221) signed his contract a day before the opener, and wasn’t ready for action that game. On Wednesday, he was summoned to the league office to be interviewed under their Personal Conduct Policy regarding his domestic battery arrest, for which he wasn’t criminally charged.
The league didn’t make a ruling on his case that day, which paved the way for him to play on Sunday.
At Ohio State last season, Judkins led the team with 1,060 rushing yards and 16 TDs, 14 rushing and two receiving. The Browns expect him to form a fearsome one-two-combo in the backfield with Sampson, who will provide the quick changeup and excellent hands.
Kicker Andre Szmyt
Szmyt, who boomed kicks of 60 and 56 in pre-game warmups, stepped up and nailed his 38-yard field goal attempt with 29 seconds left in the half to pull the Browns to within 10-3.
Szmyt had sailed an extra point and a potential 36-yard gamewinning field goal wide right in last week’s 17-16 loss to the Bengals, but the Browns opted to stick with him and not bring in other kickers. They watched him excel throughout the offseason and preseason, and believed he’d rebound from his shaky start.
Flacco in pre-game
Flacco came out about 10 minutes earlier than usual for early pre-game warmups, and reconnected with old teammates.
He got hugs from longtime friends such as former Ravens Todd Heap, Torrey Smith and Dennis Pitta, with Pitta wearing a Flacco Elite t-shirt.
Flacco, who played 11 seasons here, led the Ravens to the playoffs six times, with three AFC Championship Games, one Super Bowl victory and one Super Bowl MVP. He was traded to the Broncos after the 2018 season, and hadn’t been back until Sunday.
In addition to all of the former teammates so happy to see him, he had more than 30 family members and friends driving down from New Jersey for the game.
But Joe Cool promised to keep his emotions in check.
“Even if I’m not, you’re not going to know,” Flacco said. “I’ve been criticized my whole career for not being able to show any emotions, so I think that’s the last thing you have to worry about with me.”
Flacco also hoped to be fueled by the Ravens’ huge 30-year celebration Sunday of Art Modell moving the Browns to Baltimore. They said they had the celebration planned since March, but didn’t announce in their press release that it would take place during their opener. Once they discovered they were hosting the Browns in their opener, they chose not to change the date of the gala.
Jack Conklin inactive for the game
Browns All-Pro right tackle Jack Conklin tested out his injured right elbow before the game, and it wasn’t ready for duty.
In a somewhat surprising pre-game development, Conklin was ruled inactive because of the elbow, and was replaced by veteran Cornelius Lucas.
It was a big blow for the Browns, because Conklin is one of the best tackles in the game. He was limited on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and was listed as questionable.
Conklin, who left last week’s 17-16 loss to the Bengals after he got poked in the eye in the second quarter, was doing much better with that injury, but suffered the elbow injury Wednesday during practice.
During pre-game warmups, he tested the elbow in front of offensive line coach Mike Bloomgren and some members of the training staff. He went through about 10-15 minutes of drills wearing a brace and a wrap on the elbow, but looked to be in pain when he took the apparatus off after the session, and walked into the locker room flexing his fingers.
It didn’t look good, and Flacco was forced to play with a new blocker on that side. At least Lucas, who suffered an ankle during camp, got some live reps last week against the Bengals to warm up for this start. A 12th-year pro, Lucas. has started 55 of his 131 career games.
Dawand Jones in and out
Jones was replaced by KT Leveston with 3:06 left in the first quarter and the Browns went three-and-out on that drive. It means they had two backup tackles in Leveston and Cornelius Lucas, who subbed for right tackle Jack Conklin, who was ruled out with a right elbow injury. Jone was back a drive later, but left the game again in the fourth quarter.
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