3 reasons the Cleveland Browns will win or lose against the Baltimore Ravens
By Chad Porto
Three reasons the Cleveland Browns will win
Lamar Jackson has fallen apart
Firstly, fully guaranteed contracts in the NFL are a great thing but they’re also an issue. No one deserves $40 million in the NFL, as this is not a one-position sport like the NBA. So while I fully agree that players deserve as much as possible, not to that extent. Not when you have a player like Lamar Jackson, who can’t seemingly carry the team without high-priced talent and simultaneously wants to carry a contract that will be so restrictive that they’re forced to get guys like DeSean Jackson. Jackson has fallen apart. He went from scoring 12 touchdowns in three games to scoring just three touchdowns over the next three games. He’s also doubled the number of interceptions thrown, while also seeing the rate of fumbles increase as well.
If this were Week 17, ok, fatigue sets in. We’re not even at the half way point and Jackson looks exhausted. It’s unfair that the offense only goes as far as he goes, I admit that, but if you want a fully guaranteed, record-setting contract, you don’t get that excuse. The Ravens are doing their very best to get the most out of Jackson but we may have seen his peak already.
The Baltimore Ravens’ defense has fallen off
The Ravens GM Eric DeCosta is no Ozzie Newsome and that’s obvious. DeCosta has not had the same success at building a defense as Newsome has and most of DeCosta’s picks are either guys who are middling average at best or outright busts at worse. It certainly doesn’t help that their All-World cornerback Marlon Humphries was last seen on missing posters. The Ravens’ defense isn’t the squad it used to be and the Browns can do work against it.
The talent isn’t there as in years past
John Harbaugh is probably going to get fired sooner rather than later because DeCosta can’t get talent on the team. The Ravens’ offense is devoid of any real stars and even traded away one of their better receivers. The team hasn’t been a threat in the playoffs during the Lamar Jackson Era, and now, thanks to DeCosta’s management, the team isn’t even a regular-season threat anymore. This is not the same Ravens teams that we’re used to seeing.