Ravens lock up AFC’s No. 1 seed, home-field advantage with 31-15 win over Browns

Ravens lock up AFC’s No. 1 seed, home-field advantage with 31-15 win over Browns

CLEVELAND — The road to the Super Bowl will go through Baltimore.

The Baltimore Ravens locked up home-field advantage with a 31-15 win over the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, securing the No. 1 overall seed in the AFC for the first time in franchise history. Baltimore (13-2) has now won 11 consecutive games.

The Browns, meanwhile, fell to 6-9 with the loss and were officially eliminated from playoff contention.

Here are three key takeaways from Sunday’s game.

1. A rapid reversal. For 28 minutes, the Browns’ defense managed to contain quarterback Lamar Jackson and slow a Ravens offense that has been on a roll for months. Then Baltimore got the ball back just before the two-minute warning in the first half, and all of that changed. The Ravens flipped the metaphorical switch and scored twice before halftime on a pair of quick-strike drives sandwiched around a questionable decision by the Browns to throw on three consecutive plays and preserve clock time for Baltimore.The sequence proved to be back-breaking for Cleveland, but it also illustrated the challenge of facing a team like the Ravens: Opponents can keep them under wraps for the bulk of the game and still get burned. The Browns’ offense failed to capitalize on opportunities provided by the defense, including a Jackson fumble in the first quarter. And it ultimately came back to cost them.

2. Key win brings brief scare. Ravens running back Mark Ingram, a Pro Bowler who has arguably been among the most valuable offseason additions in the league, left Sunday’s game with what the team described as a calf injury. Coach John Harbaugh said after the game there were no structural issues with Ingram’s calf and described it as cramping. The Ravens’ run game kept on humming after Ingram’s departure, finishing with 243 yard, 103 of them from Jackson. Gus Edwards and Justice Hill got the rest of the carries, but the sight of Ingram limping off the field served as a scary moment for Baltimore.

3. Spotlight now on Freddie’s future. Freddie Kitchens has become as easy target for Browns fans amid a disappointing season, prompting questions about whether he could be one-and-done as the team’s head coach. And those questions certainly won’t go away after Sunday’s performance. While the expectations in Cleveland this summer might have been a bit unrealistic, Kitchens took a bit of a risk by embracing the hype and welcoming outside talk about a deep playoff run. Now, the offense has failed to jell, Baker Mayfield has shown clear signs of regression and Browns’ front office will have to decide if its seen enough growth in Year 1 under Kitchens to warrant a Year 2.

Contact Tom Schad at [email protected] or on Twitter @Tom_Schad.

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