BALTIMORE — The Ravens have accepted who they are at this point in the season, a team that is going to walk by faith and an unwavering belief in each other, rather than by the traditional metrics used to determine success and failure in the NFL.
It’s why on a night where they committed four turnovers, including three in a span of three-plus minutes in the second quarter, they never flinched or blinked. They just kept playing their game, absorbing body shots one minute but delivering haymakers in return.
Their 16-10 victory over the Browns was neither artistic nor efficient. They were generous with the football, unable to hit on deep passes and hurt themselves with penalties, the worst of which was a false start on fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line that forced them to settle for a field goal rather than go for the touchdown as planned.
But this is who they are — a team that neither embraces adversity nor runs from it. They will tell you they’ve had it hard all season, from losing their top three running backs and cornerback Marcus Peters out of the gate, to standout left tackle Ronnie Stanley undergoing season-ending ankle surgery in October, to star quarterback Lamar Jackson missing a road game because of illness.
But instead of complaining about having 19 players on injured reserve, they go about their business and find ways to win — and arguably no victory was more important than Sunday night’s because of the impact it could have had on the race for the AFC North title.
A loss would have left them tied with Cleveland and Cincinnati in the win column atop the division. However, turning back the Browns before a sellout crowd in M&T Stadium left them in sole possession of first place at 8-3, a game ahead of the 7-4 Bengals, whom they play this weekend, and 2.5 games and three games ahead of the Steelers and Browns respectively in the loss column.
That’s critical because we’ve reached the point in the season where the finish line is a lot closer than the starting line, which means head-to-head divisional games will be more frequent. The NFL made the choice to alter its scheduling process 11 years ago to have the majority of divisional games take place in the final weeks. Consequently the Ravens will play four of their final six within the AFC North; the Browns three of their final five, including each of the last two weeks; the Steelers three of their last six; and the Bengals two of the final six.
Said another way: Everyone is still in running to win the division, particularly when we’ve already had the Ravens beat the Browns, who routed the Bengals, who swept the Steelers and thumped the Ravens earlier in the year.
Said another way: Assume nothing, although some teams are clearly playing better than others.