What a difference two draft picks can make. Sashi Brown and the Cleveland Browns’ futility over the last two seasons helped set the table, then John Dorsey hit back-to-back jacks in drafting Baker Mayfield and Denzel Ward with the Browns’ two top-four picks. “[Mayfield] makes plays. I told him, I have not been around him a ton, but there is just something about this young man,” coach Hue Jackson said after the game. “He has a feel to him. He does not blink at situations or opportunities. “Something might have went wrong the play before, and it is water off of the duck’s back to him.” Jackson lauded Ward too for his “huge” interception and equally as impactful field-goal block that kept the Browns ahead 6-3 going into halftime. “As I keep saying about our team, we will keep working, keep listening, keep growing and keep working at this thing,” Jackson added. “Let’s see where we are when it is all said and done.” It may not all come together fully this season, but the Browns are back on track, and Dorsey deserves as much credit as anyone for making what some thought to be controversial selections with those two picks. Jackson deserves some praise, too, but Dorsey’s additions are certainly making their presence felt. If not for Mayfield and Ward, the Browns could easily be winless again in 2018. Instead, they at least appear to be on the verge of contending for a division title. Here are three big takeaways from this week’s Browns win over the Baltimore Ravens. Baker Mayfield, Playmaker That quarterback you have been waiting for over the years, yeah, that guy has finally arrived. Despite all the drama, Mayfield made a play when the Browns needed it most. His 39-yard completion to undrafted rookie Derrick Willies changed everything for a team that needed someone to make a play in the worst way. Some crafty pocket work on that crucial third-down freed him up to make a pin-point pass that hit Willies in stride and left him a ton of open field to exploit. “He’s a fighter. That guy can make plays. He’s a playmaker. He’s has that ‘it’ factor to him. We were talking a little trash on the field,” Ravens safety Tony Jefferson said after the game. “You have to respect a guy like that, especially a rookie who’s coming into a defense like ours. “I thought he did pretty well today. We weren’t good enough.” Baltimore’s defense had been rolling following two dominant performances heading into Week 5. The Pittsburgh Steelers looked helpless and confused against them in a 27-14 home defeat last week. A clearly flustered Ben Roethlisberger said he wasn’t “on the same page with anybody right now” after the loss. And the Ravens’ defense again showed up big this week, harassing Mayfield for five sacks and more than a dozen pressures. But those efforts weren’t enough to derail Mayfield’s Browns offense from finding a way to beat them. He ended the game with 324 yards passing, the second-most by a Browns rookie in franchise history. The Takeaway That’s About Takeaways No last minute overtime heroics would have been possible if not for the team’s gutsy and complete defensive performance. Despite giving up 25 first downs and 410 yards of offense, Cleveland’s defense fortified their end-zone and made Baltimore settle for field goals. They helped themselves with two more turnovers, including a goal-line interception and forced fumble in Ravens territory. Ward’s block also helped, wiping away a 48-yard attempt by “Mr. Automatic” Justin Tucker. That makes it 15 takeaways this season, the most by a Browns team through five weeks since they had 17 by this point in 1989. The Browns’ defense now leads the NFL in that category, and the team’s plus-eight turnover ratio also tops the league. Their minus-28 ratio—13 takeaways and 41 giveaways—was by far the league’s worst last season. Unsurprisingly, teams that won the takeover battle have won 75 percent of their games in 2018. That’s roughly on par with the historic 78-percent baseline the league saw from 1950 to 2016. Call it what you want, but whether it was a “bent but didn’t break” or not doesn’t really matter. The Browns are making more plays defensively, and their offensive ball security has been much improved. That’s a winning trend, one they got away from last weekend in Oakland. Although Joe Flacco got rid of the ball quickly much of the game, Myles Garrett added a half of a sack, giving him five on the season and 12 total in 16 career games. That makes him No. 5 on the Browns’ all-time sack list for players in their first two seasons with the team. The former No. 1 pick still has 11 games to catch leader Reggie Camp, who finished with 18.5 sacks in from 1983 to ‘84. Special Teams Didn’t Lose Another Game ... Not For Lack of Trying Through five games there have been exactly zero post-game discussions that haven't bemoaned the Browns’ league-worst special teams play. It’s hard to figure out how to feel about this group after Week 5. On one hand, Greg Joseph’s kick went in and the Browns won. Ward blocked a field goal, too, which was a pleasant new development. And there didn’t appear to be any coverage lapses in the punt and kick games that swung field position drastically against them. But Darren Fells had to block two outside defenders himself on the game-winning kick, and he allowed Jefferson an inside crease to have an opportunity to get his hand on the ball. The result was great, albeit ugly, but it could have ended in pitchforks and flames outside Berea demanding for Amos Jones’ head. We’re not going to go on another Jones deep dive, or focus too much on the obvious concerns of the Browns’ kicker position. We know both need addressed, and Jackson is taking it slowly while trying to remedy things as best he can. Joseph is a young kicker, so he’s going to struggle, just like Zane Gonzalez did. While he missed an extra point and a high-pressure 55-yarder that would have won the game, his last one did go in, and it got the Browns a win. Give him the game ball, boost his confidence, and hope he learns how to handle those situations for the next time his number gets called. There’s a better-than-good chance that’s going to happen after the team saw three overtimes in its first five games, and all five of them being decided by four points or less. Everyone is thrilled, the Browns finally got a little love from the football gods, but the same issue continues to plague them. The problem isn’t going away, and neither are the nail-biting finishes, so there’s this uneasy feeling this won’t be the last we talk about their special teams’ play determining outcomes.<doc-sep>Getty Images The Browns finally made a kick. And they won a second game in a season, which seems more rare. The Browns beat the Ravens 12-9 in overtime, thanks to Greg Joseph‘s 37-yard field goal as time expired on the extra session. Joseph, who isn’t their first kicker of the year, missed a 55-yarder earlier which could have been the difference. But on a day when points were hard to come by, his was plenty for a team that moved to 2-2-1. Quarterback Baker Mayfield threw for 342 yards and a touchdown, but the story was the way the Browns defense shackled the Ravens (3-2). While Baltimore’s 410 yards of total offense looks like a lot, they didn’t reach the end zone and were just 4-of-16 on third downs for the day. The Browns forced a pair of turnovers, and cornerback Denzel Ward had a blocked field goal along the way to help keep this one close. Their five games this season have been decided by a combined 13 points. It was the Browns first win on a Sunday since 2015, and while it was overly dramatic, they’ve already doubled their win total for the last two seasons.<doc-sep>Another season, another game where the Baltimore Ravens lose to an opponent they shouldn’t have lost to. On Sunday, Baltimore lost 12-9 in overtime to the Cleveland Browns, a team that hadn’t won a football game on a Sunday since December 2015. On top of that, Cleveland beat an AFC North opponent for the first time since 2015 — when they beat, you guessed it, the Ravens. Now, Baltimore falls to 3-2 on the season and looks ahead to the end of their three-game road trip against the Tennessee Titans. But before we get to that, there are four takeaways from the game against the Browns: 1. Michael Crabtree’s drops are a significant problem Crabtree entered Week 5 with five drops, which was the most in the NFL. With three drops against Cleveland — including the would-be game-winner late in the fourth quarter in the end zone — Crabtree didn’t do much to atone for his sloppy play. Baltimore’s offense was rolling entering this game, and now it feels like it’s all gone. Crabtree has to be better. If he continues to drop passes, I don’t know how much more longer head coach John Harbaugh can afford to put him out there.<doc-sep>
Some quick thoughts on the Browns’ 12-9 overtime win over the Baltimore Ravens in Baker Mayfield’s first career start at FirstEnergy Stadium: More overtime This was the Browns’ third overtime game in five weeks. That’s tough on the fingernails and the deadlines, folks. Antacid and antiperspirant sales are likely up all over Northeast Ohio, too. More kicking woes Greg Joseph is the reason for the overtime thanks to his missed extra point in the second quarter. The undrafted rookie is only in Cleveland because Zane Gonzalez directly cost the team two wins this season. Joseph also missed a potential game-winner at the end of regulation, a 55-yard effort that had enough leg but missed wide left. The 33-yard game-winner was aesthetically awful, but it eked over the goalpost. No style points needed, but they would have been welcomed. Denzel Ward continues his fantastic start Ward thwarted an early Ravens scoring opportunity with a brilliant diving interception near his own goal line on a Joe Flacco pass tipped by Larry Ogunjobi. The takeaway really let the air out of the early balloon for the Ravens, who started the game on fire. The Nordonia HS product was not done. He blocked a Justin Tucker field goal attempt on the final play of the first half. And he later he broke up a pass in the end zone, one of his three passes defensed on the afternoon. Another slow start Cleveland failed to score a touchdown in the first quarter once again. No team has scored fewer points than the Browns in the opening period. They’re the only NFL team yet to score a TD in the first quarter and the six total points in five games is not acceptable. The David Njoku roller coaster continues The Browns finally got into the end zone in the second quarter with an impressive drive. Njoku, a second-year tight end, played a huge part in the score, catching passes totaling 43 yards on consecutive plays to get the Browns close. On Cleveland’s first drive of the second half, Mayfield hit Njoku on both hands with a high pass. It was not an easy catch attempt, but “Chief” must make those types of receptions. He was guilty of one penalty and called for another, which leads to the next point … Poor officiating again clouds a Browns game Baltimore was not flagged for a penalty until 4:29 remained in the fourth quarter. At that point the Browns had been flagged 10 times. I’m not going to say the Browns were not guilty of their infractions. But if the officials think Baltimore played a clean game to that point, I’ve got some beachfront property in central Siberia for them to invest in. Obvious false start by Ravens RT and RG, no flag — Jeff Risdon (@JeffRisdon) October 7, 2018 On the game-tying drive by Baltimore’s offense, a false start by two Ravens linemen was not called. Referee Clay Martin waved off a flag for a block in the back because the runner’s forward progress was deemed to have been stopped. The most egregious call came when Jarvis Landry got chop-blocked while trying to run a route on fourth down. No illegal contact foul. No holding foul. No targeting foul. And no pass interference because the ball was deemed uncatchable precisely because Landry got cross-checked while being held. This time the Browns overcame the shaft Last week in Oakland the abhorrent officiating got to the Browns. This week Hue Jackson & Co. overcame the obviously inept men in black and white and prevailed anyway. That’s a nice feather in Jackson’s cap.