Baltimore Ravens: How do they match up against the Cleveland Browns
The Ravens Defense against the Browns offense:
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Baltimore’s defense should be equipped to stop the Browns. The Ravens have shutdown cornerbacks in Jimmy Smith and Marlon Humphrey. This means Gordon has his work cut out for him. He may not be stopped but he won’t have a monster game. The Ravens have several good corners to cover the slot which should limit the impact that Landry and Coleman have. The two keys are stopping Njoku, and playing good run defense against Carlos Hyde and rookie, Nick Chubb.
Covering the tight end is the question mark:
The Ravens struggled to stop tight ends under Dean Pees. You may recall a couple of years back the Ravens got eaten alive by then Browns’ tight end, Gary Barnidge. Njoku has more to offer than NJoku ever did. Don Martindale has to take away Njoku because with the Ravens impressive cornerback group, the tight end could be the one thing the Ravens have no answer for. Njoku only had 32 grabs in his rookie season but remember that was with a less talented offense with less talented quarterbacks.
This is where a more aggressive defense should help the Ravens. Tyrod Taylor is a good decision maker, but if the Ravens can keep him in the pocket the pass rush can do some real damage. If it’s Mayfield, an aggressive defense can force a mistakes. Mayfield is a very confident quarterback, Martindale has to have his guys bait Mayfield into turnovers. Overall the Ravens defense is well equipped to stop the Browns. Good run defense will make the Browns one-dimensional, feeding them to the Ravens pass rush and stellar secondary.