BALTIMORE — Asked to express what he was thinking after the 33-31 loss to Cleveland, Ravens defensive tackle Justin Madubuike had to be honest.
Less than five minutes into Sunday’s game, Kyle Hamilton’s interception return for a touchdown and a 39-yard touchdown run by Keaton Mitchell had staked Baltimore to a 14-0 lead with some fans having not even settled into their seats at M&T Bank Stadium. Yes, the red-hot Ravens appeared on their way to another blowout win similar to their recent home beatdowns of Detroit and Seattle.
Instead, a contest the Ravens led the entire way — which included a 14-point advantage in the fourth quarter — was lost on Dustin Hopkins’ 40-yard field goal as time expired, putting them back in a position in which they’ve found themselves far too often over the last few years.
Losing a game they should have won.
“When Kyle had that pick on the second play and Mitchell ran in for a touchdown, nobody thought that [the Browns] were going to win the game, and that’s what happened,” Madubuike said. “It’s definitely just shocking, frustrating, but it’s the NFL. You have to bring your best game forward every Sunday, and we didn’t do that today.
“We’re going to get better. That’s what we’re going to do. That’s one thing I know.”
The Ravens were getting better, putting the memory of those early-season losses to Indianapolis and Pittsburgh — as well as five other defeats in which they held a two-score lead last year — in the rearview mirror. With a four-game winning streak and the best point differential in the NFL, Baltimore was drawing more and more comparisons to the dominant 2019 team that went 14-2 to earn the AFC’s top seed.
But on Sunday, that team that seemingly refuses to be great resurfaced. You’d probably feel better about their 7-3 record if the Ravens would simply lose in more conventional ways, but they instead snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in unforgettable fashion.
The Ravens really should be better than 7-3, but they’re not, which is what makes one reluctant to fully embrace them as one of the top Super Bowl contenders. One had hoped over the last month that they’d finally outgrown this disturbing part of their identity that dates back a few years now, but that proved too good to be true.
While offensive hiccups have been there at various times this season, Sunday marked the first time that a defense shaping up to be Baltimore’s best since the days of Ray Lewis and Ed Reed truly let down as the Browns ran for 178 yards — much of that coming after missed tackles — and Deshaun Watson shook off an ankle injury to go 14-for-14 passing in the second half and escape the pocket multiple times. From the moment the Ravens couldn’t fall on the fumble created by Odafe Oweh’s strip-sack with under three minutes to go, they were cooked on defense as Cleveland pushed them around a few more times to move into game-winning field-goal range.
Of course, the offense did little after Lamar Jackson’s 40-yard touchdown pass to Odell Beckham Jr. to open the third quarter, which gave the Ravens a 24-9 lead. Even the short Gus Edwards touchdown run that followed ex-Raven James Proche’s muffed punt to begin the final period came after multiple penalties, an end-zone interception negated by a defensive holding call, and a knee injury to left tackle Ronnie Stanley. Throw in some bad luck with a batted Jackson pass being picked off by Browns cornerback Greg Newsome for a 34-yard touchdown with 8:16 to go, and Baltimore was all but bracing for an upset loss in the closing minutes.
The Ravens led for more than 59 minutes on Sunday, but they couldn’t finish.
Not Jackson. Not the defense. No one.
“We did not play well enough. We did not play the kind of winning football that we need to play to win a game like that,” head coach John Harbaugh said. “Different situations, — all three phases and the coaching staff — so we have to put it behind us. It’s a long season in the NFL.”
A long season that’s capable of turning quickly.
It was a difficult day on the scoreboard and in the injury department as cornerback Marlon Humphrey also exited in the third quarter with what Baltimore called an ankle injury. Harbaugh didn’t provide an update on either Stanley or Humphrey following the game, but the Ravens now face the prospects of being without either as they quickly turn the page to host rival Cincinnati in another critical AFC North tilt on Thursday night.
As frustrating and ugly as Sunday’s defeat was, the Ravens would still be in excellent shape with a win over the Bengals, who fell to 5-4 with their loss to upstart Houston in Week 10. A victory on Thursday would put Baltimore two games ahead of Cincinnati in the loss column and give Harbaugh’s team the season sweep — and tiebreaker — over the two-time defending AFC North champions. An 8-3 mark would maintain sole possession of first place over Cleveland and Pittsburgh as the Ravens would then enter a 23-day stretch in which they’ll play just one game — a Nov. 26 trip to Los Angeles to face the Chargers.
A loss? That would create a much different feeling as the AFC North would get even tighter and the Ravens would ponder their missed opportunities and challenging schedule in December and early January.
Maybe the Ravens were getting ahead of themselves after looking like the NFL’s best team over the last month, but Sunday brought them crashing back to earth in all-too-familiar fashion.
“Even if it gets close at the end, it’s about doing our job, not making mistakes, and playing the best football that we can because we’re a hard team to beat,” tight end Mark Andrews said. “We were still in this. But we had plenty of chances to win this game — even [with] all the things that went wrong.”
