The Ravens trailed the Browns for much of Sunday’s game in Cleveland, but it looked like they had done just enough to pull out a win when Derrick Henry scored a touchdown in the final minutes of the game.
Any hope that they’d head back to Baltimore with a win disappeared in a matter of minutes, however. Jameis Winston completed six passes to move the Browns into Ravens territory and then connected with Cedric Tillman for a 38-yard score that put the Browns back ahead with 59 seconds left on the clock. The Ravens would get in position to take a few shots into the end zone, but they all fell incomplete and the Browns got to celebrate a 29-24 win.
When it was over, Ravens defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike said the loss was more about what the Ravens didn’t do than what the Browns were able to accomplish.
“I need to get better. We all need to get better, in terms of run game, pass game — everything,” Madubuike said, via a transcript from the team. “Kudos to the Browns; they played a good game, and they won, and congratulations to them. But we know who should have really won that game, and it was just [on] us. We just didn’t capitalize on those opportunities, and it hurts. But we have a new opponent coming up, and that’s what we’re going to focus on, really.”
It’s the expected spin for a Ravens team that feels they let a game get away from them on Sunday, but the Browns’ side will feel like the win was a sign of what’s still possible now that Deshaun Watson is out of the picture for the rest of the season. A lifeless team played with great energy and determination that paid off in the final seconds and there’s now renewed hope about what the future can bring in Cleveland.