One defensive stop might have ended the game then and there, the other would have sent the game to overtime.
Instead, Baltimore would score on both possessions and defeat the Browns 47-42 in Cleveland.
Baker Mayfield completed 28 of 43 for 343 yards with two passing touchdowns, a rushing touchdown, and one interception for Cleveland while Nick Chubb finished with 82 rushing yards and two touchdowns on the ground.
Kareem Hunt, Rashard Higgins, and Jarvis Landru all caught six passes with Hunt and Higgins each catching a touchdown toss from Mayfield.
The loss drops the Browns to 9-4 and they will play again in primetime next Sunday against the 5-8 New York Giants, who are still fighting for a playoff spot of their own, believe it or not.
Brownie Bits
1: I've been unafraid to criticize Baker Mayfield here, but with the exception of one throw in the third quarter that he shouldn't have thrown, Mayfield played very well.
Especially in the second half, Mayfield was sharp, didn't make his receivers work to find the football, and even with the Ravens not allowing him to throw on the run as Tennessee allowed him to do last week, Mayfield still found a way to keep the Browns in the game.
The weather in this game wasn't bad and I still have questions about Mayfield as the long-term man under center, but no doubt at all, Baker played a tremendous game.
2: I'm sure that Baker Mayfield knows that he shouldn't have thrown the one pass that cost him in this one that was intercepted by former Houston Cougar Tyus Bowser and returned to the Cleveland one.
But the situation might not have been the best time for that pass, down eight, under five minutes to go in the third quarter on your own thirteen.
Mayfield shouldn't have tried to fit the football in that spot to Rashard Higgins only five yards downfield, but Kevin Stefanski called the play and I might blame him more for the call.
3: While Stefanski made a mistake with the above call, and he might have given the Ravens too much time to score on the Browns final scoring drive (don't get me wrong, when you can score- you should, too much can happen otherwise), you can feel what he's trying to build here.
I'm a believer for now, as these things tend to flow with the won-loss record, but the Browns had two chances in this game to roll over and they did not- Building a culture.
4: Donovan Peoples-Jones finished with three catches for seventy-four yards with one of those going for thirty-seven yards on maybe the best ball that Baker Mayfield threw all day.
While I am excited about his potential and going back to the day he was drafted, I thought the Browns had a steal, I'm still not convinced that he's ready to be the number one on the outside next season.
Some are starting to state that due to his development that the Browns could allow Odell Beckham to leave next year and even though the Browns aren't releasing Beckham or trading him (cutting him saves the same cap space as keeping him and trading with his salary is very unlikely), Peoples-Jones still needs some time to develop, although I've liked what I've seen.
5: I don't know what the issue was with Lamar Jackson that caused him to leave the game to go to the locker room, but if Trace McSorley doesn't twist his knee, it's McSorley on the fourth down play that gave Baltimore the brief lead and could have clinched the game for Cleveland, does he make that play?
I doubt it.
Jackson's running ability forced two Browns to bite on the run and allow Marquis Brown to stroll into the end zone.
6: I've always thought Mack Wilson had the potential to be a solid linebacker, but he missed a lot of tackles in this one with a really bad that resulted in Gus Edwards scoring six.
I still think Wilson's knee injury caused him to fall behind in getting comfortable under Joe Woods and I'm looking forward to seeing how he plays next year, but after next year I'm running out of excuses for Wilson.
7: We constantly hear about how Andrew Berry and company don't value linebackers, but for all the good things that they have done in a year (and everything cannot be finished in one season), I would advise them to reconsider.
In this division, you face two strong teams with running commitments in Pittsburgh and Baltimore and the third team in Cincinnati has an excellent back in Joe Mixon.
Plus you have to add the running ability of Lamat Jackson and the Browns' lack of speedy linebackers are glaringly obvious.
If you don't want to spend large free-agent dollars on the position then you had better be ready to spend draft capital on linebackers.
Pittsburgh and Baltimore draft them high (or fairly high) every year and when they get too expensive, they always have linebackers ready to replace them as they allow the more expensive veterans to walk away.
I hope Andrew Berry considers this as part of his plan to build the roster.
8: And it wouldn't be a Browns wrap-up without an Andrew Sendejo note.
After the Marquis Brown touchdown to give Baltimore a one-point lead, Sendejo had a chance to stop J.K. Dobbins on the two-point conversion.
However, instead of wrapping up Dobbins and taking him to the ground, Sendejo decided to go for the big hit and bounced off Dobbins like a racquetball off a wall and Dobbins added the two-point conversion.
If Sendejo stops Dobbins, the lead for Baltimore is five, does Kevin Stefanski attempt to use more clock on Cleveland's final possession because a touchdown wins the game rather than ties it?
9: Once again, the Browns kicking game bites them as Cody Parkey missed a field goal that you need to make- the attempt was a 39 yarder, and he missed an extra point to boot.
Kickers miss kicks unless you have Justin Tucker, but the Browns seem to be caught in this rut that a kicker will put together a few games and then miss a few big attempts and it's been this way since Phil Dawson left town.
It'll be interesting to see how Parkey responds to playoff or big game pressure considering his playoff meltdown as a member of the Bears.
10: The Browns and the Ravens entered the game as the top two rushing teams in the league.
The two teams combined for nine rushing touchdowns, which is a number that had only occurred twice in league history and not since 1922!
11: The Browns scored 42 points and almost 500 yards of offense and lost.
As I noted earlier, the Browns didn't invest much into the linebackers, and other than modest spending they didn't in the secondary either.
12: It's a process and they are missing their best cornerback (Denzel Ward), their best safety this season (Ronnie Harrison), and have missed their second-round draft pick all season (Grant Delpit) in the secondary.
This team could point to next year and argue that their likely starting secondary for 2021 is entirely on the sidelines right now with Denzel Ward and Greedy Williams at cornerback and Ronnie Harrison and Grant Delpit at safety and feel better about the secondary.
Depth is still needed though, especially at safety and I'd be disappointed if it wasn't addressed at least a little.
13: I liked the effort in this one and even in defeat, you have to feel good about the improvement and the future.
However, it doesn't remove the pain of losing this one.
With Pittsburgh's two losses in a row, the Browns could have been in a position to win the division entering the final games against the Steelers.
Those hopes are gone, but the playoffs would almost take a historical level of stink to avoid because it would mean losing to the Giants, Steelers and in the historical part, the Jets who seem to be destinated for 0-16.
14: With three weeks to go, the Browns have an 87 percent chance of making the playoffs, according to Cleveland.com, and a 96 percent chance of reaching the postseason with a victory over the Giants.
The Browns have tiebreakers over the Titans and Colts with their victory over them (one or the other will be the division champ in the AFC South) and lead Miami (the current 7th seed) by one game.
Take care of business against two weak teams in New York, put this loss behind you, and you are in the postseason.
Everything else is a special bonus.....
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