It wasn’t artistic, but when you’ve won two games since the beginning of the 2016 season, beggars can’t be choosers.
When Greg Joseph’s line drive kick went through the uprights with under ten seconds remaining in overtime, it elevated the Cleveland Browns to a .500 record after five weeks of the NFL season, with a 12-9 win over Baltimore in overtime.
It was the third game (out of five) for the Browns that four quarters wasn’t enough to decide the game.
The Browns scored the game’s only touchdown in this defensive battle, a 19 yard touchdown pass from Baker Mayfield to Rashard Higgins late in the second quarter, which gave Cleveland a 6-3 lead after Joseph missed the extra point.
Baltimore took the lead after intercepting a Mayfield throw in Browns’ territory, besides that the Browns’ defense, rapidly becoming the strength of this team, allowed just two other field goals, and forced two more turnovers, to give them 15 on the season, topping last year’s squad’s total for the entire season of 13.
Denzel Ward’s interception at the goal line stopped a certain Baltimore score, and is there anyone out there who still thinks GM John Dorsey made a mistake by taking the former Buckeye standout at that spot?
Ward is quickly becoming a player that other quarterbacks avoid.
The other first round pick, the first overall pick, is also acquitting himself nicely too.
Baker Mayfield completed 25 of 43 passes for 342 yards, and directed the game winning drive that began with a reverse to WR Rod Streater, which lost 11 yards and put the team at 2nd and 21 from their own five.
From there, the rookie scrambled for 13 yards to get out of the shadow of their own goal line, and then on 3rd and 8, avoided a sack, and hit rookie Derrick Willies for 43 yards to move into Baltimore territory.
Then, a player who seems to get lost in the shuffle, Duke Johnson, took over, carrying three times for 24 yards to put the ball in position for Joseph.
Joe Flacco threw for 298 yards, but it took him 56 attempts to accumulate those yards, and he was also sacked twice, once by Jamie Collins, and the other on a combination of Myles Garrett and Trevon Coley.
But they didn’t allow the Ravens any big plays, keeping WR John Brown in control, with only 4 catches for 58 yards.
It seems last week’s secondary issues may have been due to Terrance Mitchell leaving the game with an injury, because today, with E.J. Gaines starting, the defensive backfield provided the same type of play as they have all year, save for the Oakland game.
The linebackers all had big days, with Collins getting 12 tackles, Christian Kirksey also had 12, and Joe Schobert forced a fumble.
The officiating was a factor again, as Baltimore didn’t pick up their first penalty until late in the fourth quarter. In a sport where many of the penalties can be considered arbitrary, for one team to have 10 penalties (the Browns) and the other to have none is very, very strange.
It appears the zebra missed a pass interference call against Jarvis Landry by ruling the pass uncatchable (of course it is, Landry was tackled) and they should have call intentional grounding later in OT on Flacco.
To be fair, the roughing the passer call against Mayfield in the extra session, shouldn’t have been called either.
With the Chargers coming in next week, the Browns have survived a tough early schedule (Steelers, Saints, Ravens) with a 2-2-1 record.
And they seem to keep getting better each and every week.
JD
Cleveland Sports Perspective 