Ravens Coach Explains Bizarre Fourth-Down Call

An early mistake by the Baltimore Ravens set the tone for the rest of the game.

Oct 27, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Browns safety Grant Delpit (9) tackles Baltimore Ravens running back Derrick Henry (22) during the first quarter at Huntington Bank Field. Mandatory Credit: Scott Galvin-Imagn Images / Scott Galvin-Imagn Images

There were several head-scratching moments in the Baltimore Ravens' 29-24 loss to the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, but perhaps the most confusing of all came right out of the gate.

Baltimore moved the ball well on a solid opening drive, but faced a 4th-and-1 at the Cleveland 7. The Ravens decided to go for it rather than settling for an early field goal, but bizarrely called a direct snap to running back Derrick Henry with no one else in the back field. The decision blew up in their face, as the Browns swarmed Henry in the backfield for a 3-yard loss and a turnover on downs.

That play call understandably raised many eyebrows, both among fans and analysts. After the game, head coach John Harbaugh attempted to explain the rationale behind it.

"The 'Wildcat' off-tackle play – we just didn't do a good enough job with it," Harbaugh said. "It is what it is as a call. You look back, [and] you wish you hadn't called that. You wish it maybe it would've been better as a play, but that's football – that happens. We understand that, so you keep fighting; you have them backed up, and you keep fighting."

Even though the play call itself was very questionable, Harbaugh stands by the decision to go for it early on. After all, jumping out to an early lead would've completely changed the dynamic of the game.

"We were going to go for it [on anything from] one [or] one-and-a-half [yards] – anything inside of two," Harbaugh said. "Early in the game, that was our metric the whole time. We were planning on doing that. That was what we were doing.

"The thing that you have to understand is that's a long gain right there. You don't exactly think you're going to probably get it in on one [chance] right there. I don't know what the odds would be.... That's kind of the point there – you don't really expect to gain one short ... so we were trying to work through that plus there was a penalty before that."

Ultimately, it didn't work out for the Ravens, and it set the tone for the rest of the game. After a comedy of errors throughout the day, they must learn from this and avoid making the same mistakes again.

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