CLEVELAND — The Baltimore Ravens have been several times where this year’s Cleveland Browns hope to be, at the top of the AFC North Division standings at season’s end and competing for the Lombardi Trophy in the playoffs.
As luck would have it, the Browns will get an early-season look at the Ravens when they travel to M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore for their first of six games within the AFC North Division, and the players are embracing the challenge.
“It’s very important,” Browns wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. said. “They’re playing at a very high level. I think they’ve only lost to the Chiefs, which is another one of the best teams in the league, and it’s a division game.
“It’s our first division game on the road. It’s going to be a true testament to this team after coming off a tough loss at home to the Rams to go in the division, into Baltimore and win a game. I think that’ll say a lot about this team, the way we fight, the character of this team.”
Quarterback Baker Mayfield added, “It being the first divisional game, I think, is the most important aspect of this, looking at it where we can stand in our division. We separate the season into four quarters, and so, this last game in this first quarter of the season is a very important one going up against the Ravens.”
The last time the Browns and Ravens shared the field, there was plenty on the line for both teams.
For the Browns, it was a chance at their first winning season in 11 years, while the Ravens needed a win to clinch the AFC North Division championship and a spot in the postseason.
After falling behind by three scores during an interception-plagued first half, the Browns mounted a comeback and had a chance to win the game in the waning seconds, but it was not meant to be.
On fourth down, Mayfield threw an interception and the Ravens locked up the AFC North Division title with a 26-24 win over the Browns, who missed out on their first winning season since 2007 by just one game.
“I would not say that it is ancient history,” Mayfield said. “I would say that is kind of a healthy medium of the past is the past, but also, looking back on it. It was the little details that got us.
“You look back on, ‘I missed an out route on the last drive of the game to Jarvis (Landry) where we would have had a first down and the interception to C.J. Mosley would have never happened.’ It is looking back and seeing what got us beat and how can we get better, but also, focusing on what is at hand right now.”
Although the Browns enter this week’s game at Baltimore with a 1-2 record, a win over the Ravens would vault them into first place in the AFC North Division, and the players are looking at the rivalry game as an opportunity to right a lot of wrongs from the losses to the Tennessee Titans and Rams.
“I think that is the frustrating part is we wanted it to be easy, but now, we really know,” Mayfield said. “It is not. People are going to game plan. They are going to have a certain strategy for us and we need to be able adapt. Talent is not going to take us there, and we just have to do our job.”