AFC North: Browns, Ravens falter in Week 7
In our pregame preview for NFL Week 7, we talked about how important it would be for teams in the AFC North to manage tough matchups and stack wins this week. For the Cleveland Browns and the Baltimore Ravens, things did not go well on Sunday. Both teams lost; the Browns in another overtime game, this time to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the Ravens to the New Orleans Saints. Both games were close affairs, but neither divisional team could pull out a win. The losses will shake up the standings in an already tight division.
Another overtime, another heartbreak for Cleveland
The Browns offense got off to a very slow start on Sunday that continued into the second quarter of the game before they found a way to get back into action – thank the defense for that. Cleveland was able to force a safety against Tampa Bay early in the game and then grabbed two takeaways in the second half, rescuing the stalled offense. The offense almost couldn’t get out of their own way due to self-inflicted wounds via mistake after mistake; every offensive drive in the first half including at least one negative play – be it a loss of yards, sack, penalty or turnover.
In the second half, quarterback Baker Mayfield started to find a rhythm and the offensive line started providing holes for the rushing game. With improved play, the Browns began capitalizing on opportunities the Bucs gave them to score. After coming up short inside the red zone, Cleveland was able to score on a single pass from Mayfield to receiver Jarvis Landry thanks to a 32-yard punt return by Jabrill Peppers that set them up at the Tampa 16-yard line.
BLESS’M @God_Son80 https://t.co/nwP9aTIVGa
— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) October 21, 2018
The Buccaneers were able to put together a nine-play, 53-yard drive that was capped off by a 21-yard grab-and-run by Mike Evans. That set up a 40-yard field goal by Chandler Catanzaro that would have been the game-winner had he made it. With the miss, both teams were forced into overtime.
In their fourth game this season that has gone to overtime, the Browns felt they had the momentum. Peppers again handled the punt return duties with just 3:27 left in the overtime period. Unfortunately, Peppers would lose the ball and the Browns would watch the Bucs fall on it at the Cleveland 48-yard line. After being sacked twice, Jameis Winston was able to find Desean Jackson for a 14-yard toss-and-catch to set up Catanzaro for a nearly impossible field goal. Despite his earlier misfortunes, Catanzaro nailed the 59-yard kick for an improbable Buccaneers win.
Four turnovers created by the Browns defense just wasn’t enough this week. They held Tampa Bay to no passing touchdowns and just four-yards per carry on the ground – something that should have been a strategy that earned them the win. In the end, though, Cleveland just didn’t get on pace early enough and their slow start led to a disappointing loss.
Tucker’s field goal miss sealed Saints win
One thing that seemed improbable at M&T Bank Stadium was that Justin Tucker might miss a field goal. In fact, in 245 tries – regular season and postseason – in his career, Tucker had put the ball through the uprights 245 times. Perfection! So, on Sunday, when it was Tucker’s opportunity to kick the game-winning field goal for the Ravens over the Saints, no one was holding their breath. In fact, Ravens fans were already celebrating in the stands.
Tucker, and nearly everyone else, watched his foot solidly hit the ball to send it true only to watch it get caught in the wind and veer past the right upright. No good.
“You play long enough, you’re going to have a kick that you want back… And tonight was that night for me.” – Ravens place kicker Justin Tucker
The miss brought to an immediate end a back-and-forth showdown between a top-tier NFL offense in New Orleans and a similarly ranked defense in Baltimore. The Ravens had a ten-point lead until Drew Brees really got hot and led the Saints offense to 17 unanswered points in the fourth quarter. Joe Flacco would respond in the final two minutes of the game, completing six consecutive passes capped off by a 14-yard toss to John Brown. And then… the kick that nearly broke Twitter.
https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1054147755977859072
If Tucker had nailed the kick, the Ravens defense still would have had to hold the Saints and Brees over 24 seconds in regulation to no points. The momentum was lost and it was no guarantee they would have been able to keep Brees and company from launching a hail mary-type comeback, but they would have had odds in their favor to have done so.
“We’ve all been through football games where it looks like you’re the guy that’s in the spotlight at the end of the game,” Flacco said after the loss. “We’re a tight team here, and the first thing you think about is your brother and him dealing with it.” Flacco spoke those words like a man who’s been in that spotlight because… he has been. Plenty of times. The common theme around the locker room after the game was that the team did not do enough on either side of the ball to make sure that the Saints were nowhere close enough on the scoreboard to have made one missed field goal an issue.
