AFC North Power Rankings Week 2: Browns make a statement against Bengals
• Baltimore suffered a huge loss to injury
• Cleveland Browns sit atop the AFC North
By Randy Gurzi
AFC North Power Rankings No. 2: Baltimore Ravens (1-0)
Of all four AFC North teams, the Baltimore Ravens had the easiest Week 1 schedule. The NFL did them a favor by giving them a home game against the Houston Texans, who are predicted to be among the worst teams in the league this year.
Houston, who finished 3-13-1 in 2022, is starting a new quarterback with No. 2 overall pick C.J. Stroud under center. The former Ohio State Buckeye made his debut against the Ravens and was able to throw for 242 yards. He had no touchdowns no touchdowns and no interceptions but was sacked five times and lost a fumble.
Baltimore wound up with a lopsided win, 25-9 but they weren’t exactly a well-oiled machine. Lamar Jackson had just 169 yards and a pick on 17-of-22 passing. They were without Mark Andrews and outside of rookie Zay Flowers, no one else made a huge impact on offense.
Even the ground game was just fine with 110 yards on 32 attempts — an average of 3.4 yards per run. Jackson led the way with 38 yards as this was far from a track meet. Making matters worse, they lost J.K. Dobbins for the year with a torn Achilles.
Still, they’re 1-0 which is what matters in the standings. Having said that, they’re looking up at the Browns — who have a divisional win — and weren’t nearly as impressive in their victory.