The Baltimore Ravens (3-1) visited the Dawg Pound in Cleveland and went on to destroy the best defense in the nation (ahem) by beating the Browns (2-2) on their own turf by a solid 28-3 final result.
It was a game of two tales, with the first half showcasing the best version of the new Ravens offense and the second one offering the game-managing version of the squad. That said, the defense never relented and the D put its clamps on the Browns limiting Cleveland to a measly field goal throughout 60 minutes.
Here are the 10 best and 10 worst Ravens according to PFF grades on both sides of the ball.
Best 5 PFF Grades - Baltimore Ravens Defensive Studs
- S Daryl Worley - 89.1
- OLB Malik Harrison - 82.7
- MLB Roquan Smith - 78.4
- SCB Arthur Maulet - 77.3
- CB Rock Ya-Sin - 75.2
It's a shame that injuries never stop coming Baltimore's way. That's because, once more, the Ravens went to sleep Sunday with three more banged-up men and a fourth one in Arthur Maulet, who suffered concussion symptoms but cleared the protocol in time to return before the final whistle.
Daryl Worley, the best defender on the field for the Ravens on Sunday even in a brief spell spanning just nine snaps. He was targeted once and he broke up that pass while manning the free safety spot.
Malik Harrison appeared in 14 defensive plays in which he applied one pressure and hit rookie QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson once, also loggin one solo tackle and one assisted and stopping one offensive play.
Roquan Smith was as good as always, playing 60 of 69 total snaps and racking up seven solo tackles to go with four more assisted, applying two pressures, and hitting DTR once while also forcing a hurry.
Arthur Maulet defended 44 snaps completing five total tackles and allowing two receptions on three targets, though limiting opposing receivers to get just 12 yards for a 6.0 YPR average with six of those total yards after the catch.
Rock Ya-Sin had one of his best games donning Ravens' threads, taking 25 snaps and allowing just one reception on three targets though limiting the receiver to only two yards after the catch and no gain on the play.
Worst 5 PFF Grades - Baltimore Ravens Defensive Duds
- LB Trenton Simpson - 39.8
- LB Del'Shawn Phillips - 41.5
- OLB Jeremiah Moon - 50.1
- DT Justin Madubuike - 61.1
- DT Brent Urban - 52.6
The frontline of the Ravens was bad as a whole as charted and observed by PFF even though they faced a rookie QB on Sunday.
Trenton Simpson (six snaps) and Del'Shawn Phillips (nine) only logged 15 combined plays but they struggled aligned in the box only completing one assisted tackle between them (Simpson) while putting up rather bad grades against the Brown's rushing game.
Jeremiah Moon logged 23 snaps and was better against the pass than the rush, but even then he was blanked by the Browns blockers and couldn't stop nor tackle a single player, let alone reaching DTR.
Justin Madubuike (39 snaps) and Brent Urban (15), both deployed in the defensive line at times throughout the game, finished with three and one pressure respectively while Madubuike also logged a sack and a couple of hurries. The problem for Madubuike was the tackle he missed of the two he had a chance to complete, which ultimately hurt his grade.
Best 5 PFF Grades - Baltimore Ravens Offensive Studs
- TE Mark Andrews - 88.5
- FB Patrick Ricard - 84.0
- RB Justice Hill - 83.3
- RB Melvin Gordon III - 73.7
- WR Zay Flowers - 71.6
The offense was great to start the game and tamed in the second half but by that time most of the damage had already been done and what was left to do fell in the hands of Mark Andrews, the best performer of the Ravens on offense last Sunday.
Andrews racked up 80 yards grabbing all five of his targets on the day including scoring a couple of touchdowns. He also caught a final TD-bound pass that he extended for a personal game-high of 36 yards.
Patrick Ricard took on blocking duties on offense and he was excellent at it. Ricard didn't log a rushing attempt nor a target on the day, but PFF valued his contributions preventing Browns' defenders from reaching Lamar Jackson giving Pat an extraordinary 74.4 pass-blocking grade.
Justice Hill only logged seven snaps and three carries but he made the most of those touches turning them into 33 yards for an average of 11.0 per rushing attempt. Hill was coming off an injury, so it's reasonable to expect a bump-up in opportunities going forward.
Melvin Gordon III played slightly more than Hill getting 11 snaps and he also did what he needed to do in the lone time Lamar looked his way: grab a pass for 23 yards and earn Baltimore a first down. He also rushed the ball three times for 21 more yards on the ground.
Finally, with the Ravens missing most of their pass-catching weapons, rookie Zay Flowers needed to step up to the occasion and that's what he did by grabbing three of four of his targets for 56 yards including a 43-yarder.
Worst 5 PFF Grades - Baltimore Ravens Offensive Duds
- RT Daniel Faalele - 32.8
- TE Isaiah Likely - 45.0
- RG Ben Cleveland - 50.3
- LG John Simpson - 51.0
- WR Nelson Agholor - 51.2
It makes sense to have pundits out there warning about how risky it'd be for Baltimore to go keep playing football without Ronnie Stanley and Morgan Moses while relying on Daniel Faalele as the next-man-up to use at RT.
Faalele was awful, to say the least, after replacing an injured Moses in the second half of Sunday's game, logging 29 snaps in which he was absolutely overwhelmed on both pass and rush-blocking duties.
Isaiah Likely appeared in 15 snaps and only five of those were pass plays while nine were of the run-blocking variety. He didn't help the team that much on that front, struggling in that role compared to what Patrick Ricard did on those same duties.
Ben Cleveland only logged three snaps but wasn't much better than Faalele. Considering these two are the main replacements of Stanley/Moses if both miss time going forward, the future doesn't look very bright for Baltimore's O-Line unless they sign a proper free agent.
John Simpson struggled once more at LG after having a solid Week 1. It's now three weeks in a row for the former Las Vegas Raider having a hard time on the field, struggling mostly on pass plays. However, it was never going to be easy for him against a supercharged frontline in that of Cleveland.
Agholor could have grabbed a touchdown but he couldn't grab the ball before stepping out of bounds, barely missing on completing the six-point play. Even then, PFF wasn't enamoured by his overall outing, as the veteran only grabbed only one other target for four yards even though he got to take 43 snaps in Week 4.