Wet conditions and muddy surface in Cleveland in December? No problem for the Baltimore Ravens— they’re mudders, apparently…
“We got slaughtered,” Browns defensive lineman Scott Paxson said of Baltimore’s ground game led by the 204-yard effort of Ray Rice. “They kicked our butt up front.”
The Browns knew it was going to be a long afternoon when Ray Rice gashed them for 30 yards on his first play of the game. They didn’t know it was going to be this humiliating or embarrassing.
By the end of the first quarter, he had 75 yards. By the end of the half, 107. By the end of the game, a career-high 204. By then, the Browns were soggy, beaten up and red in the face.
Rice became the first player to rush for 200 yards against the Browns since Pittsburgh’s Willie Parker gained 223 on Dec. 7, 2006. The team’s 290 rushing yards were the most against the Browns since they surrendered 303 vs. the Steelers that day.
“They just flat out whupped us up front,” said linebacker D’Qwell Jackson. “It wasn’t anything special. The front line, the defensive line, the linebackers, we didn’t get it done. They embarrassed us.”
Rice opened the scoring with a 6-yard TD run at the start of the second quarter and then stuck the dagger in with a 67-yard blast to the Browns’ 6 just after Cleveland had pulled to within 10-3 in the third quarter. That set up a Ricky Williams TD that increased the Ravens’ lead to 17-3.
“I missed that tackle,” said safety Mike Adams, who played with a shoulder injury. “I could’ve made that tackle, coming down wide open. I want to see where my angle was.”
The defense stopped Rice for no gain on fourth and 1 on the Ravens’ first drive. Chris Gocong and Phil Taylor got credit, but Jackson looked to be there, too. But the floodgates re-opened on the next drive when Rice pumped out runs of seven, 14 and 10 yards on the first three plays. He wound up with 48 on that drive alone, including the 6-yard score.
“It was a slap in the face today,” said Jackson. “A lot of guys put a lot of time into it and to give up that many yards — Ray is an extremely talented back and they have a good team. They came to play tonight and we had no answer for it.
“It wasn’t complicated runs, but we just couldn’t get off blocks and we weren’t making enough plays. I just want the guys to know that this is not acceptable at all.”
The Ravens’ dominance spoiled spirited efforts on the parts of rookie Jabaal Sheard and Paxson. Sheard had strip-sack for the third game and a tackle for a loss, and Paxson forced and recovered a fumble, but it was reversed.
“I’ve just got to find a way to make better plays,” Sheard said. “I missed a few plays out there.”
Said Paxson: “We knew coming in that Ray Rice was their stud. We knew that not only did he run the ball out of the backfield, but he was a check-down guy, a screen guy. We did know that, but we couldn’t stop it.”
That’s because Rice hit the rewind button at halftime.
“I knew I was over 100 yards at halftime,” he said. “Coach [Wilbert] Montgomery said ‘you know what, let’s start all over.’ So when I came back out, I had a carry for nine or 10 yards. I came back to the sideline and he said ‘you got ten yards’, meaning that we started all over again because it was a new half.
“Once he knew I was getting closer to that 200-yard mark, he did let me know when I needed like four yards. I was like ‘I need to get these four yards before it eats me alive.'”
When the game was briefly close in the third quarter, Rice knew another big play was needed.
“We had to make a play then and there,” he said. “Then we were up by two scores. That’s the difference. That was the turning point in the game.”
This big win on the road puts the Ravens at 9-3 and a tiebreaker ahead of the Steelers, who also won Sunday and are at 9-3.
The Ravens’ offensive line deserves all the credit for the huge ground game effort which set the tone for the day. The O-line has never had a more dominating performance. QB Joe Flacco rarely had to put the ball in the air. You will not often see an NFL game like this that was so…well, “grounded”…
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