The Ravens Are Super Bowl Favorites. The Browns…Are Not

The Baltimore Ravens, from offense to defense to special teams to coaching to management— are elite. It showed on every level in Week 1 against the Browns.

Lamar Jackson, surprise surprise, played beyond an MVP level, and the pieces around him on offense followed suit. The running game, led by Jackson, looked strong once again with solid contributions from the veteran Mark Ingram and rookie JK Dobbins.

Baltimore’s defense was just as strong. The defensive line was a problem time and time again for a talented Browns offensive line. The secondary played tight coverage, forced turnovers, and caused problems all day for Baker Mayfield. Even the linebacker corps, maybe the weakest group on the Ravens’ roster, got a nice spark from rookie Patrick Queen who made some plays in his debut, including a forced fumble in the fourth quarter.

Meanwhile, the Cleveland Browns (who I’ve once again been fooled into believing in), showed that for all their talent— they’re still a work in progress.

Cleveland was given the misfortune of trying to figure out how to stop Lamar Jackson, and for as difficult as it is, they didn’t get anywhere close. Even while forcing pressure regularly, Lamar torched the secondary through the air— racking up 200 yards and two touchdowns in the first half alone.

Things weren’t much better for the Browns on offense. Mayfield continued to struggle with inaccurate throws— but his receivers weren’t doing him many favors, and especially Odell Beckham. For as talented as those Cleveland pass-catchers are, they struggled to create separation against an equally talented Ravens secondary, with Beckham adding a couple of drops to go along with an overall rough showing.

The NFL season is a long one, but the Browns got off on the wrong foot. The Ravens, meanwhile, couldn’t have looked much sharper.