The Ravens will face their first “trap game” in this winning streak. The Ravens travel to the north and take on the Cleveland Browns. How can the Ravens avoid ruining their magic that they have been building since the bye-week?
It’s the same thing I said in the first matchup. It’s obvious that the Ravens are better here. They play a rookie QB on a team with two wins. This is not a trap game if the Ravens lose, because they know the stakes are 4-5 following a terrible start. The Ravens also know that they have struggled to win in Cleveland in recent years, having lost three games in the last four visits. The Ravens will win if they don’t turnover the ball and play simple games like they did in Minnesota, scoring points whenever they can.
Gabriel was named the Browns starting quarterback five games ago. Since then, Gabriel has been sacked an average of three times per game. This season, his offensive line was near the bottom in the league. Gabriel will be under constant pressure from the Ravens, who have a somewhat revived pass rush.
I’m expecting a game similar to Minnesota with the addition of Dre’Mont Jones and Travis Jones. Carl Lawson could also be active in this game. The Ravens had 12 hits against J.J. McCarthy – a season’s high – showing an improvement but only converting one sack. Gabriel’s quick release and ability to not hold the football in the short game is one of the main reasons why the Browns started him over Shedeur, who likes to hold the ball. The Browns will likely lean heavily on their quick game so I expect a lower sack number. However, I would like to see Ravens set a season-high in quarterback hits over the next two weeks.
Derrick Henry was stopped by their defense in the first match against the Browns. Henry only averaged 2.1 yards on 11 carries in the first game against the Browns, as they switched to a more pass-heavy offense. This worked well for them. The Ravens will likely carry over a lot of the offensive game plan they used against the Vikings, and the quick-passing game is expected to be a major focus in order to counter the Browns’ pass rush led Myles Garrett. The Ravens used QB runs before to create traffic for Garrett, but should find new ways to do this to limit Jackson’s vulnerability to hits.
Mitchell’s use should also skyrocket now that Justice Hill is out. Mitchell has only been touched a few times per game over the past three weeks. One or two of those touches were for explosive plays. This should be doubled in this match. Monken should make the Browns front seven move laterally instead of crushing down on Jackson or Derrick Henry by using Mitchell. Henry can then be used to finish the game with the Ravens by squeezing the final quarter.
Last week the Ravens faced J.J. McCarthy who was ranked at the top in the league for both average depth and time to throw, which means he liked to hold the football and then push it forward. This week, the Ravens will be playing Dillon Gabriel. Sumer Sports reports that Gabriel ranks 36th among 37 quarterbacks qualified for the position in terms of average target distance (6.01 meters) and is in the bottom five when it comes to time to throw (2.52 second). By mixing up their coverage and keeping the rush lanes in check, the Ravens were able to force McCarthy to throw several ill-advised long balls that resulted in interceptions.
I want the Ravens this week to keep their ears on the rush as much as possible and jump as many short routes as they can. Gabriel could be forced to make an error by staring at his first quick-read and struggling to move forward. If he holds onto the ball he may panic and get happy feet, which could lead to a pass rush. Last week, the defensive line did an excellent job of getting their hands out to bat down passes. This may have been even more effective when it came to Gabriel’s 5-foot-11 height.