Cleveland Browns vs. Baltimore Ravens could come down to special teams
When the Cleveland Browns tangle with the Baltimore Ravens, it is usually an AFC North slobber knocker and it could come down to special teams.
It’s finally here, the Cleveland Browns versus an awesome Ravens team, yet one which the Browns were able to beat twice in the past two years. Throw all the predictions out the window, nobody knows what is going to happen, especially after a pre-season that almost never happened due to Covid-19. Maybe it will be a Browns’ blowout like last year, when the Browns won 40-25, but it could very well come down to the last minute and it could be very well decided by special teams.
We don’t have to go back very far in history to find a game in which special teams really mattered. In 2018, the Browns played the Ravens in a game that featured only one touchdown, a 19-yard touchdown from Baker Mayfield to Rashard Higgins, which gave the Browns a 6-3 lead in the second quarter after a failed extra-point attempt by Greg Joseph.
Baltimore tried to tie the game just before halftime, but Denzel Ward managed to block Justin Tucker’s field goal attempt. That would prove to be crucial. In the second half, the Ravens’ Tucker kicked two field goals and the Browns’ Joseph kicked one, leaving the score tied at 9-9 in regulation. Cleveland fans will never forget winning the game in overtime on an incredibly low, wobbly knuckleball kick by Joseph that never seemed to gain altitude but just barely cleared the crossbar before plopping to earth.
Special teams could come up big again on Sunday. If so, that same Justin Tucker who figured mightily in the 2018 contest could be an important factor in 2020