Ravens Beat The Browns 24-10 In Home Opener
BALTIMORE (AP) — The Ravens are making a habit of converting turnovers into victories.
Baltimore relentlessly harassed two Cleveland quarterbacks, Joe Flacco ramped up his production with a pair of touchdown passes and the Ravens breezed past the Browns 24-10 on Sunday.
Building on their season-opening shutout at Cincinnati, the Ravens picked off four passes and forced a fumble — giving them 10 takeaways in two games.
Most of the defense's damage came against Browns rookie quarterback DeShone Kizer, who left with a migraine headache in the second quarter after four ineffective series: a three-and-out, a lost fumble, an interception and a punt.
The former Notre Dame star was replaced by second-year pro Kevin Hogan, but returned in the third quarter with Baltimore up 21-10. On his second series back, Kizer moved the Browns to the Baltimore 7 before being picked off in the end zone by Lardarius Webb.
Brandon Carr's interception with 6:09 remaining all but sealed the victory.
Coming off a solid performance in his debut against Pittsburgh, Kizer went 15 for 31 for 182 yards with three interceptions and a lost fumble.
Hogan completed five of 11 passes for 118 yards and a score.
Both were outdone by Flacco, playing his second game since returning from a sore back that kept him sidelined the entire preseason. After going 9 for 17 in a keep-it-simple outing against the Bengals, Flacco went 25 for 34 for 217 yards in the encore.
As he matures, Kizer ultimately will come to understand the problem of holding the ball too long in the pocket — a mistake that put the Browns in an early hole. On Cleveland's second series, Kizer was looking for a receiver when sacked by Terrell Suggs. The rookie fumbled, Baltimore recovered, and minutes later Terrance West scored on a 4-yard run.
Kizer's next turnover wasn't entirely his fault: With the Browns at the Baltimore 26, his pass glanced off the hands of running back Duke Johnson into the arms of safely Eric Weddle.
Baltimore went up 14-0 in the second quarter when Flacco completed two straight passes totaling 43 yards to tight end Benjamin Watson before Javorius Allen caught a 9-yard TD throw.
Hogan entered and promptly took the Browns on an 83-yard drive that ended with his first career touchdown pass, to David Njoku.
But Flacco countered with a 2-yard TD pass to Jeremy Maclin on the final play of the half, and that was enough to hand Cleveland its 14th consecutive road defeat.
INJURIES
Browns: WR Corey Coleman's afternoon ended after he hurt his hand on a fourth-quarter play.
Ravens: G Marshal Yanda twisted his left ankle in the third quarter and did not return. ... DT Brandon Williams hurt his foot in the third quarter and did not return. ... Maclin missed time in the first quarter with a right shoulder stinger.
UP NEXT
Browns: have another road game, this one against the Indianapolis Colts, who have won seven of the last eight games in the series.
Ravens: head abroad for their first game in London, a matchup against the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Ravens lost the first eight games in the series and have since won nine of 12.
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