Browns Film Breakdown: How Cleveland Stunned the Ravens
Prior to Sunday the Browns were 0-59-1 in games against their division opponents where they trailed by 14-plus points. With one Dustin Hopkins 40-yard field goal, Cleveland made history in a 33-31 win over Baltimore, accomplishing that feat for the first time in franchise history.
In our latest edition of Brownie Breakdowns, Anthony Moeglin and Spencer German study the tape from Browns, Ravens to explore how Cleveland pulled off the improbable victory.
The first half featured a comedy of errors, including Deshaun Watson's pick-six to Kyle Hamilton on the second play from scrimmage. Shortly after that the Browns were already facing a 14-point deficit just under five minutes into the game. What stands out after the rough start is that the Watson and the offense started to press a little bit and often looked to use deep shots to attempt to get it all back at once. That seemed to contribute to Watson's one-for-nine start to the game.
That changed as the game wore on as the offense continued to run the football and took what the defense was giving the. A well balanced 17-play, 75-yard drive on their first possession of the second half set a tone for the late stages of the game, where Cleveland was the more physical and composed team. Not often that gets said about the Cleveland Browns.
Of course, the fourth quarter brought plenty of memorable moments: the Obo Okoronkwo aided, Greg Newsome pick-six that brought the Browns within one point of the Ravens. A tough run from Watson on the game winning drive, the 12-yard run we're calling the "Cleveland Caravan" to get into field goal range for Hopkins' game winner.
Relive the historic Browns win from an X's and O's lens in the latest episode of Brownie Breakdowns.