Harbaugh haunts Browns

John Harbaugh has been a football coach since 1984 in a variety of capacities at five different colleges. He entered the National Football League universe in 1998 when head coach Andy Reid hired him as special teams coach of the Philadelphia Eagles.

The older brother of Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh became a head coach for the first time in his career in 2008 after the Baltimore Ravens fired Brian Billick. The hire was surprising because the Ravens wanted Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator Jason Garrett.

The Cowboys did, too, and convinced him to stay after bumping his salary and tacking on the title of assistant head coach (to Wade Phillips). He stepped up to the top spot a couple of seasons later and held the job for 10 seasons.

Harbaugh, meanwhile, is in the midst of his 15th season and once again challenging for the AFC North championship, which would be his fifth and qualify the Ravens for the postseason for the 10th time under his watch. He already owns one Super Bowl ring (XLVII).

All Harbaugh does with the old Browns franchise is win, win and then win some more, especially against the Browns, against whom he is 24-5 (a winning percentage of .827) entering Saturday's nationally- televised matinee on the lakefront. He is 121-87 (.582) against the rest of the NFL in the regular season. Overall, he's 145-92 (.612).

The Browns have employed nine head coaches since Harbaugh took over in Baltimore. Only Rob Chudzinski in 2013, Mike Pettine in 2015, Gregg Willians (acting head coach) in 2018, Freddie Kitchens in 2019 and Kevin Stefanski last season can boast a victory over him.

Makes no difference how the Ravens are playing at the time, the edge seemingly is always in their favor when playing Cleveland. Numerous times during his tenure, the unexplainable happens that tilts the decision in the Ravens' favor. It just does. There is no other way to describe it.

Whenever Cleveland pops up on the schedule, Harbaugh must heave a sigh of relief no matter how it's going for the Ravens at the time because he knows a positive result lies ahead. The record substantiates it. 

Take Saturday's game, for instance. The Ravens are down to backup quarterback Tyler Huntley, who took over after Lamar Jackson injured a knee a couple of games ago. A break for the Browns? Jackson is 6-3 against Cleveland and gives the defense fits as he works his miracles. The Browns will not miss him.

But then there's Huntley, who subbed for Jackson against the Browns last season and played well despite losing by two points, producing a career-high 270-yard passing game and another 45 yards on the ground. He has similar traits to Jackson. He's got a nice arm, arguably better than Jackson, and is just as elusive in the open field. He is not afraid to leave the pocket and scramble.

That right there poses a big problem for a Cleveland defense that doesn't handle scrambling quarterbacks well. Lack of proper containment on the edge has been a problem most of the season. And now that  Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah has joined fellow linebackers Anthony Walker Jr., Jacob Phillips and Sione Takitaki on injured reserve, Huntley becomes more dangerous when scrambling.

The Browns also have to keep an eye on tight end MarkAndrews and running back J. K. Dobbins. Andrews has been poison for the Browns with 40 receptions for 510 yards in nine games and has burned them for seven touchdowns, mostly in clutch situations.

Dobbins, the former Ohio State star, missed all of last season with a knee injury after running for 805 yards and nine touchdowns as a rookie in 2020. He returned to the lineup from injured reserve last week after reinjuring the knee in week six, running for 120 yards and a touchdown in a two-point victory over Pittsburgh.

This could be a game where the Browns offense, in order to have a chance, must rescue the defense by putting plenty of points on the board. Deshaun Watson must elevate his game to a higher level than his first two games in order to take pressure off the ground game, on which the very good Ravens defense will concentrate shutting down as Cincinnati did last Sunday.

Key will be how healthy Amari Cooper is at game time. A bad hip slowed the veteran wide receiver down against the Bengals. That could mean more work for rookie David Bell if his injured toe comes around by game time. The Browns hope that will take the pressure off Donovan Peoples-Jones and tight end David Njoku, who have become favorite targets for Watson.

I don't know how the Ravens are going to win this game. I just know they will because, well, because that's what they've done to the Browns under Harbaugh for the past 15 seasons. Victories over him come so infrequently in this series, it's fairly evident the Browns will fall to 5-9 and into a familiar residence: The AFC North basement. This one's easy. Make it:

Ravens, 24, Browns 13