Having ranked near the top of the league in defense on a consistent basis since 1999, winning a defensive battle is nothing new for the Baltimore Ravens. Baltimore won another slugfest on Sunday, knocking off the Browns, 14-6.
Browns vs. Ravens 2013: Baltimore fans relieved after defensive battle
It may not have been pretty, but Baltimore was able to scratch out a 14-6 win against Cleveland. Ravens fans, however, aren’t sure Baltimore can continue to win defensive battles.
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Although the Ravens have had success winning low-scoring games in the past, Jason Butt of Baltimore Beatdown wrote Baltimore won’t be able to continue to win games that way this season.
It's not 2000 anymore. Winning defensive slugfests 14-6 don't happen often. If the Ravens play like this on offense against teams such as Green Bay and Houston, they'll find themselves behind real quick.
The offensive line, which played a big part in Baltimore's ability to win a Super Bowl, has had two consecutive tough outings in a row. There aren't any viable backup options to tinker with either. The Ravens don't have the weapons on the outside to not need a running game. They desperately need to get Rice and Pierce going more so that the play-action passing game will open up.
The only games Baltimore could win like this on its schedule are against the Browns, Jets and Vikings. The offense needs to pick the pace up.
For the second straight week, Cleveland struggled offensively. Quarterback Brandon Weeden was unable to get much going, although that may not have been entirely his fault. Trent Richardson struggled on the ground and Chris Pokorny of Dawgs By Nature wrote the wide receivers didn't do much to help Weeden, either.
Weeden's big gaffe during the game was the overthrow to Ogbonnaya. You can't brush that under the rug. With that said, I thought Weeden played at an acceptable game. It sounds stupid to say that when the offense scored just six points, but he made a couple of big throws that Greg Little dropped, and from looking at the replays, the receivers really struggled against man coverage this week. There were three delay of game penalties, but Weeden seemed to be calling for the ball early on two of those.
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