Here’s what the Baltimore Sun sports staff had to say immediately after the Ravens’ 24-22 loss against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday at FirstEnergy Stadium:
Childs Walker, reporter: It’s hard to imagine how the Ravens could have suffered through a worse afternoon in Cleveland. Their offense sputtered again, and their injury-ravaged secondary did not hold up as the Browns dealt a significant blow to their playoff hopes. Bad as the result was, it was overshadowed by .
The Ravens have already lost so many key players to injury, and their stomachs had to turn as they watched their franchise quarterback leave the field on a cart. The Ravens’ offense has been broken since Week 9, and that was true even with Jackson on the field against the Browns. But his injury added a note of hopelessness to a game that was already headed in the wrong direction.
It was hard to find anything the Ravens did well in the first half as they fell behind 24-6. Two weeks after they held the Browns to 10 points, Baker Mayfield shredded them on a pair of first-half touchdown drives. They gave the Browns an unneeded hand with more than 100 yards in penalties. Jackson’s backup, Tyler Huntley, played valiantly in the second half, and the defense settled down, but the Ravens ran out of time. At 8-5, they have enough wins that they’ll be in the AFC playoff race until Week 18, but they’re in real peril with upcoming home dates against the Packers and Rams sandwiched around a trip to Cincinnati. That would be true even if Jackson is back next week.
C.J. Doon, editor: It doesn’t get much worse than this. As gutsy as backup quarterback Tyler Huntley’s performance was in helping the Ravens come back from a 24-3 deficit, Lamar Jackson’s ankle injury puts the team’s playoff chances in serious doubt. The Ravens were already nearing a breaking point after putting 22 players on injured reserve, and then they lost their star quarterback and defensive leader in Calais Campbell. Coach John Harbaugh is likely to keep this team competitive down the stretch as he did in the second half Sunday, but if Jackson is out for an extended period of time, this Ravens season is all but over. It’s hard to envision many wins against the Packers, Bengals, Rams and Steelers with a backup quarterback and a depleted roster.
Tim Schwartz, editor: Depending on where you looked, the Ravens had somewhere between a 77% and 83% chance of making the playoffs before kickoff Sunday. Those odds are significantly worse after their 24-22 loss to the Browns to fall to 8-5 and quarterback Lamar Jackson’s status for the remainder of the season very much in question. Cleveland came out and punched the Ravens in the mouth before Jackson’s second-quarter ankle injury and faced too large a deficit for backup quarterback Tyler Huntley to overcome, despite some monster throws to rookie wideout Rashod Bateman and tight end Mark Andrews in the second half. Injuries have decimated the Ravens from Day One, and it felt like a matter of time before they caught up to them in the standings. Somehow, Baltimore trailed 24-3 and still had a chance to win the game in the final two minutes after Huntley lit up the soft Browns defense and Justin Tucker’s successful onside kick.
