Ravens Near Two-Touchdown Favorites Vs. Browns

NFL News - September 21st, 2009 - Written by John

Browns at Ravens -- In the first week of the season, the Kansas City Chiefs came into Baltimore as heavy underdogs and raised some eyebrows when they pushed the Ravens to the edge before eventually falling.

The Cleveland Browns would probably settle for that kind of competitive result after being blown out in each of their first two games. They will try to snap an eight-game losing streak against their AFC North rival this Sunday.

Hence, the Browns are the biggest underdogs of the week when they visit Baltimore with hopes of simply being competitive. BetUS is giving them 13 points to start, with an over/under of 39. The Ravens have scored 30 in each of their first two games, so that only leaves nine for the Browns to hit the over. But after scoring only six against the Broncos, that might not be improbable.

It seemed like the Chiefs were throwing chum into the waters when forced to start Brodie Croyle in the opener. But they were surprisingly competitive, tying the score at 24-all early in the fourth quarter before allowing two late touchdowns. The Ravens, in fact, needed to set records to finally pull away, setting a franchise-high 501 total yards. Although many of Kansas City's points were set up by their defense, Ray Lewis and Co. must've taken offense to the score, storming back last week with a good performance against the Chargers. Lewis steered away rumors that his talents have already peaked, coming up with one of the biggest plays of his career, he said.

With a minute left in the game, San Diego went for it on 4th-and-2 inside Ravens' territory. Balking at conventional wisdom, coordinator Clarence Shelmon opted to run the ball to catch the defense off guard. The problem is, Lewis isn't easily fooled and crushed Sproles behind the line to seal the win.

"I'm thinking, 'Snap the ball. Snap the ball,'" he later said on Yahoo! Sports. "There's a backside A-gap, and I promise I’m gonna shoot it. He was sitting out there, and I'm like, I'm gonna kill this dude."

Not a good sign for the Browns, who amidst quarterback struggles, have only scored one offensive touchdown this season. And that score was kind of a gimmie as it was, coming in the last 28 seconds of their opening loss to the Vikings.

Brady Quinn has struggled under center since being named the starter. His quarterback rating hasn't topped 74 since Week 10 of last season, his first career start. He's been sacked nine times so far and fumbled in both games.

The lone bright spot has been, as usual, Pro Bowl return man Josh Cribbs. After housing a punt in the first game, Cribbs came up with 84 more return yards against Denver.

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