Baltimore Ravens defeat Cleveland Browns 23-20 after controversial end to game

The Cleveland Browns were in position to rally against the Baltimore Ravens, but penalties — warranted or not — bit them. With the score 23-20 late, K Cade York’s 61-yard field goal was blocked, allowing the Ravens to hold on for the win. Let’s get to the full recap below.

Cleveland got the ball first and put together one of their most impressive drives of the season. After a 5-yard run by RB Nick Chubb, QB Jacoby Brissett completed a screen pass to Chubb for 14 yards, quick passes to TE Harrison Bryant and TE David Njoku for 14 and 22 yards, respectively. A few short pickups set up a 4th-and-1 at the 9 yard line, and this week, Brissett’s sneak was converted to move the chains. Two plays later, Chubb punched it in the end zone from 2 yards out to give the Browns a 7-0 lead.

Baltimore’s first possession saw them marching down the field with relative ease too. It started with returning RB Gus Edwards was mowing forward for 4, 3, and 12 yards, and later seeing QB Lamar Jackson hitting WR Devin Duvernay up the right sideline for 31 yards. On a 3rd-and-3, though, Jackson tried to roll to his left on a moving pocket, but ended up throwing the ball away. K Justin Tucker came on for a 32-yard field goal to make it a 7-3 game.

Brissett ran a playaction fake to begin the Browns’ next drive, and he found WR Amari Cooper deep for a 55-yard gain, the team’s longest play of the season. A few plays later, on 3rd-and-5 from the 15 yard line, the Ravens got quick pressure off the edge to sack Brissett for a loss of 8 yards. That forced K Cade York to come on for a 41-yard field goal, which he connected on to make it a 10-3 game with 0:18 left in the opening quarter.

The Browns’ defense got pressure on the final two plays of the quarter, including a 7-yard sack by DE Myles Garrett to set up a 3rd-and-17 to begin the second quarter. On third down, Jackson was nearly sacked again, but escaped for a 7 yards run. Head coach Kevin Stefanski challenged the play to see if Jackson had been down on the attempted sack, but the ruling on the field stood. What transpired next was a string of negative plays for Cleveland: the punter got off a 69-yard punt that had WR Donovan Peoples-Jones sprinting backwards to field it in air, and for some reason, he fielded it at the 5 yard line, eventually getting out to the 9 yard line on the return.

The Ravens’ defense blew up the draw to RB Kareem Hunt on back-to-back plays, meaning their third down play had to be run all the way back at the 1 yard line. Hunt gave them some breathing room to punt, but then P Corey Bojorquez’ 59 yard punt was returned 46 yards by Duvernay to the 21 yard line. Fortunately, the defense held Baltimore to a three-and-out again after Jackson’s third down screen pass was knocked away. Tucker came on for a 34-yard field goal to tighten the lead to 10-6.

Cleveland’s next drive stalled again after a holding penalty was called on LT Jedrick Wills, wiping away a first-down completion to TE Pharaoh Brown. After going three-and-out, Bojorquez boomed a 76-yard punt; unfortunately, the ball’s final bounce was right on the goal line for a touchback, as opposed to being downed at the 1 yard line.

It looked like the defense might force a three-and-out, but on third down, Jackson found WR Rashod Bateman for a 26-yard gain after having time to throw. Later in the drive, on 3rd-and-2 near midfield, Jackson took off up the middle for 10 yards and a first down. The drive continued with more runs, and then on the first play after the two-minute warning, Edwards went untouched for a 7-yard touchdown run to give the Ravens their first lead of the game at 13-10 with 1:57 remaining in the first half.

RB D’Ernest Johnson returned the kickoff out to the 22 yard line, but a holding penalty was called, starting the drive at the 12 yard line. Brissett got completions to Njoku for 18 and 8 yards, and then to Cooper for 8 yards, to quickly get the ball close to midfield. On 2nd-and-2, his screen pass to Hunt was off target and incomplete. On third down, a pass interference penalty was called on Baltimore, putting the ball near the Ravens’ 40 yard line. Brissett was sacked on back-to-back plays, and on third down, a dumpoff to hunt got the ball to the 46-yard line. It was too long for York to try a kick, so Bojorquez came on to pin the Ravens back and send the game to halftime.

The defense came through in a major way to begin the second half. CB Martin Emerson sacked Jackson for a loss of 7 yards on first down, LB Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah knocked a pass away on second down, and DT Taven Bryan sacked Jackson for a loss of 12 yards on third down. Punting from the 6 yard line, the Ravens’ punter still boomed a 62-yard punt, and Peoples-Jones’ 8-yard return meant the Browns would begin their first drive from their own 40 yard line.

Unfortunately, the offense had a far worse response. The Ravens brought the heat on first down, and Brissett was sacked for a loss of 5 yards. On third down, Brissett was winding up to throw when DE Calais Campbell knocked the ball out of his hand, and Baltimore recovered at the 25 yard line. Baltimore capitalized, although it took a 4th-and-goal attempt from the 1 yard line to get in. Edwards punched it in half-way through the third quarter to extend the Ravens’ lead to 20-10.

The Browns finally put together a drive for the first time since the opening quarter, starting with a couple of runs by Chubb. A pass interference penalty on Baltimore pushed the ball to past midfield. Near the red zone, Brissett’s third down pass needed six, but was short of the sticks. On 4th-and-3 from the 19 yard line, Stefanski sent York in to kick a 37-yard field goal, trimming the Ravens’ lead to 20-13 with 2:40 left in the third quarter. The Ravens marched to their own 42 yard line heading into the final quarter of play.

Just shy of midfield, the Ravens faced a 4th-and-1. They motioned TE Mark Andrews under center at quarterback, and he took the snap and pitched it to Jackson for a quarterback sweep run, which he converted for a first down. The defense came up with a stop from there, but Tucker still came on and easily eat a 55-yard field goal right down the middle to make it a 23-13 game with 11:24 remaining in the game.

Now down two tight ends to injury (Njoku and Brown), Cleveland started with runs of 10, 12, and 12 yards by Brissett and Chubb to get into Baltimore territory. That was followed by a 11-yard pass to Cooper, a 22-yard run by Chubb, and a 6-yard run by Hunt down to the 2 yard line. On 2nd-and-goal from the 2 yard line, Hunt ran it in for a touchdown, making it a 23-20 game with 9:00 left in the game.

Baltimore mostly just started running the ball, and making matters worse, they were taking the full three downs every time to convert a first down to maximize the amount of time taken off the clock. A run by Jackson on 3rd-and-2 to the 23 yard line forced the Browns to take their first timeout with 3:24 remaining. The defense finally stopped a run for a loss, making it 2nd-and-11. On second down, Hill had an opening and burst forward, but Owusu-Koramoah forced a fumble that was recovered by DE Isaiah Thomas! The Browns recovered at the 16 yard line with 3:12 remaining in the game and one timeout.

After a 5-yard run by Chubb on second down, Brissett uncorked a 37-yard pass down the right sideline to Peoples-Jones!

From there, a string of unfortunate events happened for the Browns. Brissett threw a pass deep to Cooper for what looked to be a touchdown, but he was flagged for offensive pass interference for extending his arm against CB Marcus Peters. Then, when Cleveland sent York on for a 56-yard field goal attempt on 4th-and-5, the Ravens jumped offsides — but the officials huddled and ended up calling a false start on the Browns, even though the replay showed no such thing. Now, York had to try from 61 yards, and his kick was blocked, giving the Ravens the ball at midfield with 1:59 remaining.

The Ravens ran the ball and punted, with Cleveland getting the ball at the 20 yard line with 0:16 left. They could do nothing with it, losing their fourth straight game and falling to 2-5.

Next up, the Browns take on the Cincinnati Bengals on Halloween night.

Quick Hitters

• QB Jacoby Brissett: 22-of-27 for 258 yards. 3 rushes, 18 yards. 1 fumble lost.
• RB Nick Chubb: 16 carries, 91 yards, 1 TD. 2 catches, 16 yards.
• RB Kareem Hunt: 5 carries, 4 yards, 1 TD. 1 catch, 4 yards.
• WR Amari Cooper: 3 catches, 74 yards.
• DE Myles Garrett: 4 tackles, 1 sack.
• The Browns out-gained the Ravens 336 yards to 254 yards.
• The Ravens won the time of possession 34:04 to 25:56.