Cleveland Browns blueprint to victory in Week 16 vs. Ravens

The Cleveland Browns are one of only two teams to beat the Ravens this year when they did it in week three. But both teams look vastly different than they did early in the season.

It may end up being the signature win of the season but the Cleveland Browns failed to build on their 40-25 victory over the Baltimore Ravens. They looked great in that game, everything was working on offense and defense.

The Browns will have trouble replicating that performance, their offense looks the same for the most part besides the addition of Kareem Hunt. Defensively they will look a lot different, they will be without a couple of key players.

Myles Garrett was suspended for the rest of the season after striking Mason Rudolph with a helmet. Olivier Vernon has missed the last five games with an ankle injury and he has been limited in practice this week.

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Those are two crucial pieces to setting the edge of the defense which has to be the first priority when facing Lamar Jackson. If you let him get around the corner he will run all over you. Jackson has already broken Mike Vick’s single-season rushing record for a quarterback and the Ravens lead the league in rushing.

It’s important for the defensive ends and outside linebackers to beat Jackson to the outside and force him to go back inside where the rest of the defense is waiting. This becomes difficult when they run the read option and try to take the defensive end out of the play. Lamar Jackson is the straw that stirs the drink for Baltimore so he needs to be the top priority for Cleveland’s defense.

The Ravens are going to put up points anyway, they are first in the NFL in points per game so Cleveland will have to score and the Ravens are vulnerable to giving up big plays.

Baltimore plays with a single safety in the middle of the field most the time and when you have Earl Thomas why not? They will have to commit another defender to the box to stop Nick Chubb so you can expect to see Thomas playing a lot of center field.

That leaves the seams of the field open, the space between the cornerback and the safety. If the play is designed right you can wait for the safety to choose which side of the field he is covering and attack the opposite seam. This was the plan of the attack for the Kansas City Chiefs when they beat Baltimore earlier this season as Patrick Mahomes passed for 363 yards.

The final step in the blueprint is something that Browns fans have been calling for all season but head coach Freddie Kitchens hasn’t seemed to pick up on yet is run the football 30 or more times.

It’s simple, Nick Chubb is the best player on the Cleveland Browns and you have to play through your best player. He is averaging five yards per carry so he should carry the ball between eight and ten times every quarter.

If you think that sounds like too much you can put in another all-pro caliber running back in Kareem Hunt. They have to make Baltimore respect their running game so they can attack the seams and put up quick points because Baltimore can put up a ton of points in a hurry.

Cleveland is not mathematically eliminated from playoff contention but they would need several teams to lose their last two games and the Browns have to win their last two.

Most people think it is close to impossible for Cleveland to win this week and it is very hard to beat a team twice in the same season. But they have shown an ability to beat the Ravens and it feels like if they sweep one of the best teams in the NFL could give the Browns momentum going into the offseason.