Not over yet

In the National Football League, it's all about survival for teams contending for the postseason when the homestretch of the season comes into view. Like Sunday afternoon for the Browns, for example.

Teetering ever so slightly on the brink of elimination, they played the survival game to the hilt against the Baltimore Ravens and won as barely as possible, managing to stick around one more week in the playoff chase with a 24-22 victory not meant for the fainthearted.

A successful onsides kick by the Ravens with 1:17 left in regulation heightened the drama, which had reached dangerous proportions for Browns Nation and almost assuredly triggered thoughts of -- wait for it -- here we go again.

But a strong stand by the defense -- that unit is clearly carrying this club right now -- took a victory and kept it that way instead of turning it into yet another maddeningly frustrating loss, keeping the season alive in the process.

Jadeveon Clowney, whose contributions to the Cleveland defense have been few and far between this season, and cornerback Denzel Ward came through with the big plays. Clowney recorded his fifth sack of the season and Ward delivered a solid stick on a fourth-down pass as the drive died at the Cleveland 43.

A Jekyll-Hyde performance by the Browns' offense took what looked like a romp in the first half and turned it into a nail-biting mess in the final 30 minutes that in previous years would not have turned out as positively. If that's a sign, then it comes with a warning attached.

This football team has problems putting away a game. Whether it doesn't know how to or is incapable of it most likely will be answered in the final four weeks of the regular season.

When head coach/playcaller Kevin Stefanski took his foot off the accelerator and dialed it back in the second half after accumulating a 24-6 lead at the half, it basically allowed the Baltimore offense, which lost its star quarterback in the second quarter, to not only stay close, but believe winning was possible.

Just about everyone believed the Ravens were cooked after Lamar Jackson injured an ankle when Cleveland linebacker Jeremiah-Owusu-Koramoah decked him after releasing a pass a few seconds into the second quarter.

Baker Mayfield, looking more like his old self despite numerous injuries, had thrown touchdown passes to Jarvis Landry (his first as a receiver this season) and Austin Hooper and Myles Garrett recorded a rare triple with a strip sack and touchdown run with the fumble as the Cleveland defense shut just about everything down.

Playing with only one healthy tight end limited what Stefanski likes to run and seemed to hamper his playcalling. To help the ground game, which more than doubled its 40-yard output a couple of weeks ago against the Ravens, he employed offensive lineman Blake Hance to enhance that aspect. 

Tyler Huntley, best known as caddy to one of the  NFL's most dynamic quarterbacks, took over for Jackson, but needed a full quarter to get his bearings. Once he did, he strafed the Cleveland secondary relentlessly and accurately in the final 30 minutes.

Huntley, who piloted the Ravens to a narrow victory over Chicago in week 11, looked like a mini version of Jackson in the second half, playing pitch and catch with tight end Mark Andrews -- eight catches for 107 yards and a touchdown -- and looking very much like the elusive Jackson with 45 yards on the ground in six attempts.

His remarkable 12-yard scramble in the third quarter on a second and 20 at his 18, during which he serpentined at least 40 yards, leaving four Browns flailing hopelessly at him, was immediately worthy of top 10 status on SportsCenter and every football wrapup show in the country. To call it dazzling would be underselling it. 

An 18-point lead at the half ostensibly took the mystery out of this one, especially with Jackson, who has wrecked Cleveland defenses for the last four seasons, in the locker room and done for the afternoon. It allowed the fans to breathe easier. But not for long.

The game and momentum turned slowly in the Ravens' favor in the second half, the offense showing life while the Cleveland offense slowed down perceptibly. The Ravens, who ran only 26 plays on offense in the first half, ripped off 43 more in the second half, including 18 straight in the 13-point fourth quarter, 

The Cleveland offense, meanwhile, snapped the ball just 28 times in the scoreless second half and generated only 95 yards and five first downs after a 33-play, 195-yard first half. The closest they got to the Ravens' goal line was the 23, where Chase McLaughlin nicked the left upright on a failed 41-yard field-goal attempt.

A surprising strategic move by Ravens head coach John Harbaugh after his team's first touchdown lessened the concern somewhat, a two-point attempt failing after Huntley badly overthrew a wide-open Andrews at the goal line and was picked off by safety Grant Delpit. That made it a two-possession game.

The successful onsides kick with 77 seconds left brought the mystery and potential misery back into play for Browns fans. The ball ricocheted of the right shoulder of fullback Andy Janovich, whose main job was to block, and into the arms of Baltimore safety Chuck Clark. 

And that's when the weary Cleveland defense showed finally up and basically said, "Not this time." The sense of urgency that prevailed in the first half and disappeared in the second half returned just in time.

That the Ravens came as close as they did, though, was more of an indictment against Stefanski for playing not to lose offensively rather than continuing to attack a Baltimore defense rife with injuries in the secondary, which drew four pass interference flags in the first half to sustain drives. 

Whether this is a portent of how future events unfold for the 7-6 Browns is a matter that will be determined in the next four games, all of which will be laden with playoff fever. This team, quite literally, controls its own fate from here on out.