As evidenced by their 4-7 record, the Baltimore Ravens don’t have a very good team.
A big part of the reason is, of course, the fact they have lost a number of core players due to injury. But it’s more than that. Some players, such as quarterback Joe Flacco, have underperformed. Others have gotten old and have reached the end of their careers.
Add it all up, and it has the Ravens as one of the NFL’s most disappointing teams this year.
But the Ravens still have a great organization. Former Browns star tight end Ozzie Newsome is still the best general manager in the business, and John Harbaugh is still one of the best head coaches there is.
So the structure and mindset of winning, and doing whatever it takes to win, permeates through Ravens Headquarters in Owings Mills, Md. In fact, the address of the building is, appropriately so, 1 Winning Drive.
That structure and mindset are what enabled the Ravens to gain a last-play 33-27 victory over the Browns last night at FirstEnergy Stadium when they returned a blocked field goal for a touchdown. Yes, because, right to the very end, they never lost the belief that somehow, some way, they would find a way to get the job done, the Ravens turned the Browns’ attempt to win the game into their own victory.
That – a confidence, a winning attitude — is what the Browns lack. It has been replaced by a lack of confidence and a losing attitude. While the Ravens find ways to win, the Browns find ways to lose.
That, obviously, has to change.
In a once-a-week series throughout the season in this space, we have been looking back at the Browns’ 1980 Kardiac Kids team and its memorable year. The Kardiac Kids always believed they would win, no matter what. It never occurred to them that they would lose, or could lose. Losing was unacceptable.
These current Browns are 180 degrees removed from that. The fact they have lost six in a row to fall to 2-9, and might end up with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft, is a testament to that.
Last night, it was the special teams, whose misadventures all year have flown under the radar because of the club’s many other issues, that let them down by allowing two TDs. The Ravens also ran back a punt for a score in the first quarter.
Special teams coordinator Chris Tabor has done a bad job for years. This season, he is doing even worse.
But in reality, if it hadn’t been the special teams failing, then it would have been some other area doing that disservice and causing the Browns to crash and burn.
As they say in sports, it’s mind over matter. And with the Browns, it’s the mental part of the game, formed through years of losing, that matters the most right now as another miserable season heads into the home stretch.
