Baltimore Ravens at Cleveland Browns - 03Nov2013

#browns - #nfl

Ravens at Browns. 4:25 p.m. kickoff. With the clock change last night, the second half, at least, will be a night game.

Double-header day on CBS. The early game on our local channel is the San Diego Chargers at the Potato Redskins, which is in overtime. Hopefully, the channel/NFL switches over to the Ravens-Browns game in a couple minutes. It's rare for an NFL game to go into OT, and it happens right before a Browns game. Amazing. Only two minutes to kickoff. Redskins got the opening kickoff, and they have driven to inside the Chargers 5 yard line.

Unbelievable. The local CBS channel has not switched to the Browns game. We don't care about Chargers-Redskins. Frigging overtime game.

Listening to the game on AM 850, WKNR.

Browns got the opening kickoff. Returned it 22 yards.

Good. Potato Skins scored a TD, and the game is over right now. I guess the other team does not get a chance to go on offense. That must be only if the first team scores a field goal. Whatever. Just switch games. The frigging channel is showing replays of the Skins TD.

Browns opening series, 3rd and 11. Short pass gains 3. Bad start. 3-and-out for the Browns.

Now the CBS channel is advertising. Why no game?

Ravens had a 27-yard punt return, and apparently start with good field position. Yep. Ravens start at Browns 49.

Inc pass. 5-yard gain on 2nd down. 3rd and 5. Bad down for the Browns defense this season. Pass inc. Ravens punting.

Before the punt, Browns only had 10 players on the field, so they called timeout. It's game number 9. That should not happen.

CBS channel is still advertising. Something is up. Either it's not a double-header on CBS, or the Browns game is not sold out. I cannot believe the latter.

Finally!!! At 4:32 p.m. the stupid-ass channel switches to the Browns game. Morons.

Punt goes into the end zone.

3 yard gain on first down. Then inc pass but penalty. Jeesh. Finally the refs make a call. Unsure what the discussion was about. Pass interference on the Ravens. The announcers called that two minutes ago. Browns now at own 34.

Pass compl to Little who makes a fine catch and a better run after the catch. He was double-covered. Tight opening, but Campbell completed the pass.

Browns start at Ravens 34. Gray runs wildcat. Gains only 1 yard.

Play action pass complete to a wide open Gordon

It's first and goal for the Browns at the Ravens 6 yard line. Ravens call timeout. Two fine pass plays on this drive.

McGahee runs up the middle for only 1 yard.

Crap. Play action roll out to the right and nobody open. Campbell tosses it away. Settling for a field goal here would be weak.

Pass compl to left sideline to Obj, and he's knocked out of bounds at the one yard line. Of course, the crowd wants to go for it. And the coach agrees. That was a good defensive play on Obj to be stopped short of goal line.

4th and goal at the 1. Browns call timeout. Only 1 TO left in the half.

I suppose the Browns coaching staff will stew on this decision and choose to take the FG. If so, the FG would be shorter than a PAT. I think the ball is placed at the 2.5 yard line for PATs.

Browns are going for it. Solid one yard line.

Ravens rush just about everyone. Campbell throws while going backwards. Pass compl to Bess at the goal line, and he gets into the end zone. Fine play by Campbell and Bess. Another Browns receiver was nearby with a defender. Bess was covered. He made a fine catch. And both Ravens hit Bess who held onto the ball. Big time play by both Campbell and Bess. Nice.

8:24 left in the first. 7-0 Cle.

Kickoff. Touchback. First play, pass compl. 9 yard gain. Then a run with Rice gains 5.

Ravens running a no huddle offense.

Run with Rice only gains a yard or so. Still no huddle. 2nd and 8. Pass compl gains 10. Ravens 1st and 10 at own 46.

Pitch left to Rice. Ward undercuts Rice. Nice defensive play. Rice lost 2 yards. 2nd 12 at own 46.

Pass inc. Slightly behind receiver. Nearly intercepted. Prob should have been intercepted. 3rd and 12.

Boneheads. Browns had 12 men on defense. Before the snap. Refs blow the whistle. 5 yard penalty. 3rd and 7. Why blow the whistle before the snap. Can't allow a player to run off field.

Flacco moves up in the pocket near line of scrimmage. Pass compl. Tackled at the Browns 28. 23 yard gain.

Rice runs for 4 yards. Ravens definitely trying to run on Cleveland who plays well against the run.

Ravens run no huddle, but it's not a hurry up.

Inc pass. 3rd and 6 at Browns 24.

Flacco is sacked! 10 yard loss. 4th and 16.

Ravens kicker nails a 51 yard FG. Score is 7-3. 3:38 left in 1st.

Touchback on kickoff. And of course, more advertising. Pricks.

1st and 10 at own 20, handoff to McGahee up the middle for a couple.

Ravens have won 11 straight games against Cleveland. Longest active streak in the NFL. Flacco has not lost to Cleveland.

Swing pass to Whitaker. No gain or a loss of a yard.

3rd and 8. Campbell has to scramble. Gains only 1 yard. But a penalty on Ravens. Late hit on Ravens. Campbell was tackled by his legs. He was down on the ground. And another Raven play splashed onto Campbell who was already on the ground. Late hit. And Campbell got hurt.

Weeden in the game. 1st and 10. End around to Weeden. Gains about 10 yards.

Campbell got hurt by the Raven player who committed the late hit splash onto Campbell.

Handoff to McGahee. Scrap after the play. Flag now. Refs call 15 yard penalty on Little. Unsportsmanlike penalty. It was a scrap. Multiple players.

So now 2nd and 21 from own 36. Screen pass loses 2 yards.

3rd and 23. Weeden still in.

Weeden in shotgun. After the snap, someone must have missed a block because a Raven LB was on Weeden immediately who spikes ball, but no intentional grounding was called. Weeden was within the tackle box, and he did not get the pass back to line of scrimmage. Bizarre. It was major blown blocking assignment by the Browns line.

Browns punt. Faircatch. But the Ravens still called for holding. Amazing. Seems like more than 50 percent of punt returns are flagged even when no punt is returned.

Ravens start on own 9 with :05 left in the fist.

Pass inc. End of first qtr. Campbell looks okay on the sideline now. Sitting with a coat around him, talking with someone. No word on status.

Well, no surprise. Scrappy, tight, low-scoring game. 7-3 after one qtr.

Two personal foul penalties on the Browns last poss. One on each team. Instead of the Browns going 3-and-out on last poss, Ravens get flagged.

3rd and 12. Inc pass. Punt. 2 yard return. Browns start on own 46 or so.

Pass gains 7. Run gains 2. 3rd and 1 at Bal 44. McGahee run gains a couple. First down. Nice. Grind it out.

At Bal 42. 1st and 10.

Inc pass. Weeden still QBing. He started this drive.

Pass compl to Little. first down. At Bal 27.

Pass compl to Little, underneath, good run after, first down. Frigging Little called for Taunting after the play. 15 yard penalty.

Cle at Bal 27 instead of 12. Moron. 1st and 10 though.

Two 15 yard penalties on Little thus far.

Pass inc.

Campbell back in. Scrambles. Gains 7.

Pass compl to Bess who makes an amazing juke move to "brake the ankles" of a defensive back like old Metcalf for the Browns did years ago. Bess ends up running into the end zone after that move. Wow. Another TD. Great drive.

Browns lead 14-3. Great job of finishing drives, scoring TDs and not settling for FGs. Browns are doing a good job of converting on 3rd down too.

10:08 left in 2nd qtr.

Bess leads the NFL in drops at 9, but today, he's making amends. On the first TD, he made a fine grab and did a good job of holding onto the ball while taking a couple hits as sneaked into the end zone. And now on this TD, he made a major highlight move after catching pass to get into the end zone. The Raven player was so faked out, that he fell to the ground, allowing Bess to get to the outside and score. It was basically a one-on-one play.

Kickoff. Touchback. Bal starts at 1st and 10 at own 20. Handoff to Rice. Great defensive play by Taylor. Rice lost 3 yards. It will be tough to run against Cleveland.

Short pass compl. A bit of a run after. 9 yard gain. 3rd and 4. Own 26.

Flacco drops back, number 21 Owens blitzes from the Browns left side, and he sacks Flacco. Another fine defensive stand by Cleveland.

55 yard punt. 12 yard return.

Browns start on own 39. Decent field position.

Short out pass to Little gains little. Only 2 yards. 8:12 left in 2nd and ticking.

Run with McGahee up the middle, which gains nothing, and while McGahee is struggling, the ball is punched out, and the Ravens recover. That's how you let a struggling team back in the game.

Ravens start on Browns 38. Under 8 min left in 2nd.

Short pass compl to Rice gains nothing. Ravens offense looks feeble compared to Lions, Packers and even the Chiefs in the first half last week.

2nd down play gets little. Bal flagged for holding. 2nd and 20 at Cle 48.

Pass inc. Good defense by Haden. 3rd and 20. Ravens may get nothing after having fine field position.

Flacco under pressure. He moves to his left. Pass downfield. Inc around the 15 yard line, and a Bal receiver was open. Prob running to his left made it tough for the right-hander to set and pass accurately.

Ravens punt. Faircaught. Browns start on own 12. Good defense by Browns.

In this current five game stretch, I thought that if the Browns went 2-3, that would be a success because they would be 5-5 overall with a relatively easier schedule over the final 6 games. Could be 4 wins in the final 6 games. 9-7 would be possible, def 8-8.

But Clev lost at home to Det. I though Cle would win that game. I figured Clev would lose at GB and KC, but the KC game was winnable. Cle needs to win today. Bye week next week. Then Browns play at Cincy. That will be tough. They need to win that to be 2-3 in this 5-game stretch.

3rd and 1. Pass inc. Weak. 3-and-out. 5:16 left. Bal may have good field position and time to score something before half time.

Ravens start on own 25 after a fine 54-yard punt. Something like that.

Bal, run, gains 7. 4:39 and ticking.

Pass inc. Flacco was under heavy pressure. 3rd and 3.

Flacco scrambles for first down. 4:00 and ticking. At own 40.

Run, gains nothing. At this rate, Bal won't have enough time to score. They are not hurrying. No big plays for Bal.

Flacco throws the bomb. Like a mini hail mary. Nobody open. Balloon pass. Deep down field. 2 Raven receivers and 3 Brown defenders. Ball tipped and intercepted by Haden who falls to the ground and gets up, but for some reason, refs ruled Haden down even though it appeared that no Raven touched Haden.

The Haden interception is under review. Close. Ruled int on the field. Need that definitive proof.

Refs rule int. The pass came down around the Browns 20. It was an up-for-grabs pass play. Bizarre decision by Flacco to throw that, unless he was looking for the big play.

3:06 left.

Browns run and gets first down. Now at own 34. 1st and 10.

After a no gain, 2:00 min warning. Browns only have 1 TO.

Since Toledo's wimpy decision to postpone trick-or-treat until tonight, I've turned off the front porch lights and all living room lights. The only light is the glow from the TV and my laptop.

2nd and 10, own 34. Campbell under pressure. Throws ball away. 1:55 left in 2nd. 3rd and 10.

Damn. Ravens blitz. LB sacks Campbell. Loss of 13. The LB rushed up the middle. 4th and 23. 1:10 and ticking.

Punt fielded at 26 and returned 9. Another fine punt of 54 yards. Prohibits Ravens from having good field position.

Bal starts on own 33. 1:01 left.

Flacco under pressure, runs forward, loses a yard. 0:54 left. Bal must have called TO.

Bal only had one decent drive on offense, which led to FG.

Screen pass only gains 3. 3rd and 8.

Flacco throws another bomb pass and it's complete to a wide open WR who gets tackled at Browns 18. Major breakdown by Browns secondary. The pass, however, was underthrown again by Flacco.

Bal calls TO. They have none left. :20.

Pass inc to end zone. 2nd and 10 at Cle 19. :15.

Pass complete to right sideline around the 3 yard line. He was way too open. And then he stopped abruptly and dove into the end zone.

:09 left. Wow. Bal pulled that TD drive out of their ... but that drive was aided by a collapse by the Browns secondary. Even on the TD pass, the receiver was too open. Fine catch it, but knock him out of bounds, but no defender was close enough.

So instead of going into halftime up 14-3. It's 14-10.

Bal started that last TD drive on its own 33 with 1:01 left and 2 timeouts.

Short kickoff. Fielded around 30 something. Pass compl to near midfield. Halftime. I think.

:01 left. Browns call last timeout. Browns on own 48. Hail mary pass by Campbell lands in a mass of players around 3 yard line. Incomplete.

Nice move by Browns in the final seconds to get that hail mary pass.

Bal gets opening kickoff. Start on own 20. Now at Cle 32. 1st and 10.

Nice play by Flacco. Scrambles. Compl pass. But receiver stepped out of bounds and then caught pass. Illegal touching. Would have been first down.

1st and 15 at Browns 37. Inc pass.

Pass, one-handed catch, dropped. Prob should have been caught with 2 hands. Flacco upset. 3rd and 15.

Flacco sacked. Loss of 8. Bal punting.

Bad punt. It goes into the end zone. Hah!

Cle starts on own 20.

1st series. Ravens LB 51 flagged for penalty after slamming Browns WR to ground after inc pass. What a moron. He spun around receiver and slammed him like a pro wrestling move.

2nd and 20 for Cle after offensive pass interference. At own 30.

3rd and 14. Pass compl to Gordon. Tackled immediately. 4th and 1. Own 49.

Punt. Faircaught at 14, but dropped, and Cle covers!!

Browns at Bal 11. 1st and 10. Flag. 12 men on field for defense.

The Bal punt returner dropped the punt. Then he fell on the fumble, and he lost the ball again.

1st and 5 at 6. McGahee runs for a couple.

Play action, Ravens blitz, pass comple to a wide open TE Barnidge who scores easily. 5:11 left. 21-10 Cle.

Ravens punt.

Cle starts 4th qtr with a punt. Good return. Ravens start in Browns territory.

2nd and 6 at Cle 14. Short pass compl. Short of first down though.

3rd and 1 at Cle 9. 13:24 left.

Power running up middle gains 2. First and goal at 7.

Pass compl for TD. Ravens will go for 2.

Man, this game "feels" like the Browns have a big lead. That Bal score right before halftime was big.

2 point conversion is ruled good. Check replay. Receiver bobbled pass as he went out bounds. Maybe not. He bobbled it initially, but he snagged it well. Good.

Cle leads 21-18 with 12:09 left in 4th.

That good punt return helped that drive.

Ravens have found ways to make enough plays to keep this game close. Should have known that this game would not get out of hand.

3rd and 10 for Cle on own 20, Campbell pass over middle caught by Little at Cle 39. Nice run after catch to Bal 34!!! Wow. Big play on 3rd and 10. Little a bit injured on that play.

No gain. Still on Bal 34. Pass inc.

Pass inc. Ball a bit behind Gordon. 4th and 10.

FG attempt. 52 yarder. No, it's a fake. Pooch kick. Unfortunately, ball rolls into end zone a little out of reach of Browns player. Nice try, but ball bounded a couple feet ahead of Browns player. Touchback.

Bal, own 20, 10:49 left.

Good tackle on 2nd down by Mingo. 3rd and 6.

Flacco sacked!!! Flag down. Prob on Bal.

Holding on Ward of Cleveland!!! He covered a TE or a WR and held, I guess. Huge penalty. Instead of 4th and about 15, it's first and 10 at Bal 29.

Inc pass. Run gains 6. 3rd and 4 at 35. 9:20 left.

Pass compl near marker. Good tackle. Browns defender rode Bal player out of bounds. Prob a yard short. Nice play by Cle defender.

But refs are measuring. About a foot short. Looked like a good spot. Damn generous forward progress crap.

Will Bal snap or try to draw defense?

Flacco runs QB sneak. Stopped short but of course, he's helped by RB and an OT. NFL never flags a team for aiding a runner. It's a rule. Flacco was pushed and pulled by other Raven players across first down marker.

First and 10.

Now 3rd and 3 for Bal. 7:00 and ticking. At own 47.

Flacco under pressure, runs forward, tackled, loss of 1.

Bal punts. Weak punt. 25 yard punt out of bounds. What was that? Maybe punter got chewed out for punting into the end zone and this time he tried to hit it out of bounds and fouled up.

Cle starts on own 29. Man. Bal had line of scrimmage on own 46 when punting. Another special teams blunder by Bal. Ravens punter has failed at least twice to pin Cle back inside own 10 yard line. And Bal fumbled a punt deep in own territory.

First play, pass inc. No ints now.

6:41 left. Bal may only get one more chance.

McGahee runs for 7!! Nice. 3rd and 3. 6:00 and ticking. Own 36.

Campbell drops back, decides to run. First down on own 48. Nice.

Pass compl to Whitaker. Gains 8. Good drive. At Bal 44.

McGahee runs for a couple. 3rd and 1. 4:00 and ticking.

Cle calls TO. 3:58 left.

Run gains nothing. 4th and 1 at Bal 42. Big stop by Bal.

Browns call TO. 3:12 left.

Cle is going for it!!!

Campbell, under pressure, rolls right, near sideline, throws pass, low, caught on the ground by Bess, first down!!!! What a play by Cle, Campbell, Bess, and a gutsy call by head coach Chud.

If that play had failed, giving Bal good starting position at own 42, ...

But forget all that. First down at Bal 40. Barely got the first down, but another fine play by Bess. Big time catch.

Browns gain 3. 2nd and 7. Nice pass and catch. First down!!!

1st and 10 at Bal 20. Run loses a couple. 2 min warning. Bal only has one TO left.

2nd and 13. 2:00 left. Cle at Bal 23. Score 21-18.

Campbell, passing, under pressure, scrambles left, flips pass out to Obj, first down!! Bal flagged for personal foul. Horse collar tackle.

1st and goal at 5!!!

Run, nothing. Bal calls final TO. Impressive drive by Cle to kill clock. Need TD to ice it.

McGahee gains little. Would have been a good time for Campbell to fake handoff, roll out, and then either run or throw to TE.

At 4. 3rd and goal. McGahee run gains little.

4th and goal around 3 or 4. Clock running.

Cle calls TO with :17 left.

Browns lineup for FG. Good! Whew.

Cle started this drive on its own 29 with 6:41 left. That's a game-icing drive. Very impressive, esp the 4th down call and play.

:14 left.

Kickoff touchback.

0:14 left. Bal starts in own 20.

Pass gains 14. :07 left.

Pass compl, tackled at Cle 48. GAME OVER!!!

Nice win by Browns. 24-18.

Cleveland record is now 4-5, good enough for 2nd place behind 6-3 Cincy who had an ugly loss to Miami on Thursday.

Cleveland, next week is an off-week, and then they play at Cincy.