In Week 2 of the 2025 NFL season, the Baltimore Ravens will play their home opener against the Cleveland Browns. For many, they'll look at this game as the best in the AFC North, facing a team expected to finish last in the division, and think nothing of it.
To an extent, they'd be right. Nobody expects much from the Browns at all this year, and the Ravens are trying to make it to February and play in Super Bowl 60. Baltimore will also play in a lot more crucial regular-season games than this one. Still, this matchup is intriguing because it offers an early chance to see how the Ravens handle divisional expectations.
Ravens Home Opener Is A Lot More Interesting Than At First Glance
Firstly, the Browns named their starting quarterback for the season.... or Week 1? It's a confusing situation. Regardless, Cleveland's signal-caller will be former Baltimore franchise quarterback Joe Flacco. Flacco, who was signed off the couch in 2023 and helped take Cleveland to only their third playoff berth since returning to the league in 1999, was brought in this offseason to compete for the starting quarterback job. Flacco won the starting job over veteran Kenny Pickett, and 2025 rookies Dillion Gabriel and Sheduer Sanders.
Week 2 will be a homecoming for Flacco, as that game will be his first time playing in Charm City since Baltimore traded him after the 2018 season. It is a place where he called home for 11 seasons, winning numerous games at The Bank, including two home playoff games. When he made his debut in Week 1 of the 2008 season, The Bank chanted his name after he scored his first NFL touchdown—a 38-yard run. It was a moment where Ravens fans finally felt they had found their first franchise quarterback after 12 years of searching.
Including the postseason, Flacco won 106 games overall as the Ravens' quarterback from 2008 to 2018, with 10 playoff wins, and led the Ravens to their second Super Bowl championship in 2012, one of the best postseason performances by a quarterback in NFL history. Lamar Jackson took over as the team's starting quarterback in 2018 after Flacco suffered a hip injury, and the 40-year-old was traded to the Denver Broncos in the offseason.
Flacco left the Ravens as the franchise's all-time leader in numerous passing statistics. Records that Jackson will surely hold soon. Eight years have passed since Flacco last wore a Ravens uniform, while he will now be suiting up for the division rival Browns again. Week 2 should be a day when, before the game, Ravens fans give their former number five his flowers for his accomplishments as a Raven. Flacco's homecoming isn't the only storyline of this Week 2 game either.
On the same day that Cleveland announced Flacco as their starting quarterback, Baltimore announced some of their festivities to celebrate the franchise's 30th season. On December 7, against the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Ravens will celebrate the 25th anniversary of their 2000 Super Bowl team. The Ravens will also have a 30th season day where they will celebrate the history of Ravens football. The date? September 7. Their Week 2 home opener against the Browns.
Cleveland fans and media immediately took note of this, as, of course, once upon a time, the Ravens were the old Cleveland Browns before owner Art Modell moved the team to Baltimore to become the Ravens after the 1995 season, much like Baltimore lost the Colts to Indianapolis in the middle of the night in 1984. Five years after the Browns' departure, Cleveland watched as the Ravens won the Super Bowl and became one of the NFL's best-run and winningest organizations.
Cleveland got the Browns back in 1999. Since then, they've been one of the most dysfunctional teams in the NFL and have gone through a long list of quarterbacks. This includes both Ravens Super Bowl quarterbacks: Flacco (2013) and Trent Dilfer (2001). The Browns have only made the playoffs three times: 2023 with Flacco, 2020 with Baker Mayfield, and 2002 with a combination of Tim Couch and Kelly Holcomb. In contrast to the Ravens' success, the Browns are 141-278-1 with one playoff win since 1999.
Again, while many fans and NFL media outside Baltimore and Cleveland might not think much of a game between an AFC powerhouse and a rebuilding team, there's a lot in this matchup. The Ravens celebrating 30 years of the franchise against the team they once were, adds a layer of bitterness. Plus, their former franchise quarterback is playing for that division rival, making his return, and you've got a Week 2 matchup that more than meets the eye with storylines.