CLEVELAND — Fresh off their bye week and looking to put the memory of a 43-13 loss in Houston from two weeks ago behind them, the Ravens put their nine-game winning against the Cleveland Browns on the line Sunday afternoon.
Baltimore hasn’t suffered consecutive losses since October 2009 and the Ravens are 4-0 in games coming off their bye week in the John Harbaugh era. At 2-6, the Browns look to be the ideal opponent for the Ravens to right their road struggles, but Cleveland has won two straight home games and two of its last three overall.
The Ravens will be without starting defensive end Pernell McPhee, who was ruled out on Friday with knee and thigh injuries. The second-year defensive lineman will be replaced by Arthur Jones in the starting lineup.
Pro Bowl defensive tackle Haloti Ngata is active and will play against the Browns, but he is expected to be limited after missing two days of practice this week while continuing to nurse knee and shoulder injuries. In the Week 7 loss at Houston, Ngata was limited to just 48 of the Ravens’ 80 defensive snaps.
Offensive lineman Jah Reid is active for the first time this season, so it will be interesting to see if the Ravens try to work him into the offensive line rotation — most likely at left guard — especially coming off a bye week in which coach John Harbaugh anticipated taking a look at some of the team’s younger linemen.
For Cleveland, starting defensive tackle Ahtyba Rubin is out and will be replaced by veteran Phil Taylor, who was activated from the physically unable to perform list on Friday. Deep-threat rookie Josh Gordon will start at wide receiver over veteran Mohamed Massaquoi.
The Ravens are wearing white jerseys with black pants while Cleveland wears its brown jerseys with white pants.
Here are the inactives for Sunday afternoon:
BALTIMORE
DE Pernell McPhee
CB Asa Jackson
RB Bobby Rainey
OL Ramon Harewood
WR Deonte Thompson
TE Billy Bajema
DT Bryan Hall
CLEVELAND
DB Dimitri Patterson
RB Brandon Jackson
DB Tashaun Gipson
FB Owen Marecic
DL Ahtyba Rubin
OL Jarrod Shaw
WR Josh Cooper
Follow WNST on Twitter as Nestor Aparicio and I bring live updates and analysis from Cleveland Browns Stadium throughout the afternoon as the Ravens try to improve to 6-2 atop the AFC North.
Luke Jones
Luke Jones is the Ravens and Orioles beat reporter for WNST BaltimorePositive.com and is a PFWA member. His mind is consumed with useless sports knowledge, pro wrestling promos, and movie quotes, but he often forgets where he put his phone. Luke's favorite sports memories include being one of the thousands of kids who waited for Cal Ripken's autograph after Orioles games in the summer of 1995, attending the Super Bowl XXXV victory parade with his dad in the pouring rain, and watching the Terps advance to the Final Four at the Carrier Dome in 2002. Follow him on social media @BaltimoreLuke or email him at Luke@wnst.net.
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