RIP 2021

For all practical purposes, the Browns' quest to return to the National Football League postseason is over, but definitely not with a whimper, not after Sunday night's tough 16-10 loss to the Ravens in Baltimore.

The defense on both sides put on a spectacular show all evening in the nationally televised game as the Browns dropped to 6-6. The Cleveland defense easily played their best ball of the season and just about neutralized one of the best offenses in the league.

They need a miracle to get back into the playoff hunt with five very tough games remaining, including a rematch with the division-leading Ravens after the upcoming bye week. They need to win at least four of those games, maybe all of them, to have a chance. Zero margin for error. Every game from now on is like a playoff game.

This was the one they really needed to win. But with an offense that has been struggling a major portion of the season because of a wounded, hobbling quarterback who isn't getting any healthier, that is not going to happen.

Losing offensive right tackle Jack Conklin to a right ankle injury on the 10th snap of the evening didn't help the situation. The All-Pro, who just returned from injured reserve with a dislocated elbow, played a major role in the run game.  

It was the Cleveland defense that made this one exciting almost down the final minutes of regulation. The offense, with the exception of a five-play, 87-yard drive that ended with a Baker Mayfield 20-yard scoring toss to David Njoku at the end of the third quarter that cut the deficit to 13-10, was AWOL again.

The other 11 possessions mustered just 175 yards in 52 plays. The last three possessions with the game still on the line gained only 38 total yards in 14 snaps. Playing catchup, which used to be a strength of this team, has become a lost art.

The Ravens, obviously dedicated to shutting down the vaunted Cleveland ground game, did so spectacularly. Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt were rendered useless with just 36 yards in 15 attempts, about 120 yards under their per-game average.

If defense is what turns you on, this one was for you. The level at which both teams played on that side of the football was enough to rope in even the most ardent fans of wide-open football because of the excellence on display.

It was tough, it was hard, it featured solid tackling and could serve as a primer on how to shut down offenses because neither team sustained  possessions with any consistency. 

The Browns actually made miracle-worker Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson look what could best be described as normal, taking away his ability to make the opposition look foolish with runs at critical times that make you blink and wonder how in the hell did he do that. 

As usual, he led the Ravens with 68 hard-earned yards in 17 carries. His longest run was only 13 yards, significant in that he routinely rips off runs much longer and opposition-deflating.

The Browns made him look foolish with four interceptions, three on consecutive possessions as the teams swapped turnovers on five straight possessions in a span of three minutes and 31 seconds of sloppy football late in the second quarter. Jackson looked less than ordinary.

Fumbles by Jarvis Landry and Mayfield of the Browns accounted for the other turnovers in that span as the clubs played a football version of hot potato. Here, you take the football; no, thank you, you can have it. 

Three of the four picks were intended for tight end Mark Andrews, who later scored the Ravens' only touchdown of the game at the crazy tailend of a nine-play, 75-yard drive that opened up the third quarter  after Baltimore took a 6-3 halftime lead on two of Justin Tucker's three field goals.

On third-and-10 from the Cleveland 13, Jackson in shotgun was immediately pressured and retreated adroitly all the way back to the 34, keeping the play alive. More than 20 yards behind the line of  scrimmage and moving to his left, he somehow spotted Andrews in the back of the end zone,

All at once, as defensive end Myles Garrett had tracked him down and was moving in, Jackson flicked a rainbow toward the charging and diving Andrews, who cradled the ball -- there's the miracle -- just before it hit the ground a couple of yards inside the end zone. 

Lucky? Sure. But luck, it has been said, is the residue of hard work. Garrett was impressed enough to kind of congratulate Jackson on his legerdemain with a wondrous look on his face. It gave the Ravens a 13-3 lead, which held up after the Browns' only scoring drive of the game and Tucker's third field goal. 

Some day, this one will be remembered by Browns Nation as the game Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah became a star. The 12-tackle (six solo) performance saw the rookie, who was playing like a five-year veteran, make tackles from sideline to sideline. He was ubiquitous. It was a pure tour de force. 

If he wasn't spying and ultimately chasing Jackson, he was blitzing (got half a sack). The football seems to find him a lot. That was no mistake. He is smart, quick, fast and a play-making dervish. He's every bit the player the Browns thought they were fortunate to get in the second round of the last college draft. 

Too small, some scouts said. Doesn't weigh enough to play linebacker, said others. All he does is make things happen, If he missed a tackle, I didn't see it. 

Safety Ronnie Harrison Jr. and middle linebacker Anthony Walker Jr were also busy, combining on 26 tackles (19 solo), but it was the athleticism of JOK that freed them up to do some damage. Safeties Grant Delpit, John Johnson III and Harrison partnered with cornerback Denzel Ward on the quartet of picks.

It's the kind of defense that bodes well for the future because now fans know they are capable of playing at a such a high level. Unfortunately, that unit received precious little help from another unit considered dangerous and scary entering this season. 

That was the big difference Sunday night.