Ravens Defense Flips Switch Against Browns

It was the Baltimore Ravens' defense that cost them to open their season.

Star scorers like Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry were two of he more popular names to point fingers at following the Ravens' Week 1 loss to the Buffalo Bills, but neither of them were on the field while the Bills erased a 15-point deficit in the final four minutes of game time. Their defense, for all of the hyping up that their secondary accumulated, looked helpless in the clutch.

In preparing for Baltimore's first divisional matchup of the regular season, leading edge rusher Kyle Van Noy acknowledged that the team's defense needed to nip their early struggles in the bud, uniting for a unit-wide dinner so as to ensure that the collapse won't continue haunting them. The Cleveland Browns, next up on Baltimore's docket, were certainly less imposing than the Bills were on paper, but their fearless attitudes forced the wounded Ravens to be wary of the obvious underdog.

That much-anticipated Baltimore defense showed up in the Ravens' return home, celebrating their 30-year history with a 41-17 win. The defense led the way in hassling former fan-favorite Joe Flacco, who only converted 25 of his 45 passes without many consistent available downfield reads to turn to.

The Ravens offense did enough, even with another questionable performance out of the offensive line and a quiet afternoon from Henry, but their biggest momentum-shifting plays seemed to arrive from their defense. Rising star cornerback Nate Wiggins took the wind out of the Browns' sails early in the second half with a pick that took the Ravens deep into the red zone, and linebacker Roquan Smith took it all the way with a strip-sack to help put the game out of reach.