Joe Flacco's magic runs out, Browns lose 41-17 to Baltimore Ravens

On a day where the Ravens celebrated their 30th anniversary, a big piece of Baltimore football history was unable to pull his weight for the Cleveland Browns.

Super Bowl XLVII MVP Joe Flacco was dreadful in Cleveland’s 41-17 loss to the Ravens on Sunday.

He threw a costly first half interception. He almost threw an interception in the end zone, but Ravens safety Kyle Hamilton was unable to hang onto the football which popped into Cedric Tillman’s hands for a touchdown. In the fourth quarter, Flacco was sacked and lost a fumble that was recovered for a touchdown by Ravens linebacker Roquan Smith.

On the CBS Sports broadcast, Ross Tucker spent the fourth quarter speculating if Flacco could be benched next week in favor of rookie third-round pick Dillon Gabriel. Gabriel checked in late in the fourth quarter once the Ravens took a 30-point lead and threw a touchdown pass to Dylan Sampson.

Flacco, 40, was named the starting quarterback of the Browns by default after head coach Kevin Stefanski’s four-man quarterback competition fell apart this offseason. Now, Stefanski is already going to have to answer questions about his starting quarterback's job status moving forward.

Kenny Pickett injured his hamstring in the first week of training camp and was traded to the Las Vegas Raiders. Gabriel had stretches of bad practices, but looked consistently decent in the preseason. Shedeur Sanders, the most polarizing fifth-round pick in the history of football, exploded onto the scene before coming all the way back to earth in the preseason finale against the Los Angeles Rams where he was sacked five times.

The Browns defense played well in the first half of Sunday’s loss against the Ravens. But the lack of offense in the second half left Cleveland’s defensive line gassed and the secondary proceeded to get exposed.

After a week of trash talk, Cleveland’s defense did their job keeping Derrick Henry in check, tallying just 11 rushing attempts for 24 yards. Jackson opened up the offense in the air late in the game, finishing for 225 yards and four touchdowns.

The Browns have lost nine straight games dating back to last season. Offensively, they have more questions than they do answers. Similarly to Cleveland’s Week 1 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, the Browns had more total yards than the Ravens did. They still lost by more than three touchdowns.

Cleveland hosts the Green Bay Packers in Week 3. Jordan Love and Micah Parsons come to town 2-0 with impressive victories against the Detroit Lions and Washington Commanders.

The Browns are 0-2 and will have to try and exercise some of their offensive demons against one of the best teams in football.

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