Ravens defend AFC North title, clinch home playoff game with 35-10 win over Browns

BALTIMORE — It was Christmas night in Houston, but Marlon Humphrey’s wish had yet to be fulfilled.

“I want that AFC North,” the Ravens’ uninhibited cornerback said after Baltimore’s blowout of the Texans. “It feels good to get that hat and T-shirt.”

Saturday night at M&T Bank Stadium, it was delivered amid a joyous but moderate celebration.

From 0-2 to a second straight AFC North title.

Baltimore (12-5) beat the Cleveland Browns, 35-10, in the regular-season finale on a chilly evening when the outcome was never in doubt. The victory also gives the Ravens the No. 3 seed in the conference, meaning they will play at least a wild-card game at home next weekend against either the Los Angeles Chargers or Pittsburgh Steelers.

But the dissection of that rematch — the Ravens split their two games against the Steelers this season and already beat the Chargers once this season — could be put on hold for another day.

Saturday’s performance against the Cleveland Browns (3-14) was a coronation more than a contest.

Baltimore’s defense, which has been the best in the NFL the last two months of the regular season, easily stifled a short-handed and lousy Cleveland offense, while Ravens quarterback and NFL Most Valuable Player candidate Lamar Jackson completed 16 of 32 passes for two touchdowns and ran for another 63 yards on nine carries.

Derrick Henry added 138 yards rushing, most of which came in the second half, along with two touchdowns, while tight end Mark Andrews and receiver Rashod Bateman had one touchdown apiece and rookie cornerback Nate Wiggins his first career interception, which he returned 26 yards for a touchdown in the opening quarter to set the tone for a long night for Cleveland.

It was also a culmination.

All season long, coach John Harbaugh preached that the team’s goals were to go 1-0 each week then to make the playoffs, win the division, advance through the postseason and win the Super Bowl.

“It’s one of our five main goals — to win the division,” Harbaugh said earlier this week. “From a team perspective, it’s a big deal.

“That means a lot, especially in the AFC North. It’s a tough division, so winning the AFC North is even a greater accomplishment.”

The same could be said about the Ravens’ turnaround.

Just two games in, there was an incertitude and apprehension — at least outside the building — over a defense that suddenly and shockingly forgot how to cover and tackle, a shaky offensive line with three new starters and a seemingly endless parade of flags and self-inflicted mistakes that spoke to a lack of discipline.

It was one thing to lose to the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs by a toenail at Arrowhead Stadium to open the season. It was another to suffer a bungling loss against a Gardner Minshew-led Las Vegas Raiders team that went on to have one of the worst records in the league.

There were also uneasy and difficult moments. At least three players got in significant car crashes toward the end of training camp and the beginning of the season, including tight end Andrews and Wiggins.

Even as the wins started to pile up, questions and doubts persisted.

But Harbaugh, the second-longest tenured coach in the league and in his 17th season at the helm in Baltimore, has been around plenty long enough to know that seasons aren’t won or lost in September and that the season is a marathon, not a sprint.

The Ravens’ play demonstrated as much.

On offense, Jackson’s play continued to elevate by the week, thrusting him into the NFL Most Valuable Player conversation again. Future Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Derrick Henry became the hammer he had been his first eight years in the league with the Tennessee Titans. Wide receiver Zay Flowers produced the first 1,000-yard season at the position for the franchise since 2021.

Along the way, Jackson became the league’s all-time leading rusher at quarterback, breaking Michael Vick’s record, and set a franchise record for touchdown passes in a season with 41 and on Saturday became the first player in history to throw for at least 4,000 yards and rush for at least 800 yards in a season.

Meanwhile, Andrews set a team record for career touchdowns and Henry broke the organization’s single-season mark for touchdowns with 16 this season. Andrews also tied wide receiver Torrey Smith for the most touchdown catches in a single season in Ravens history (11) and passed former tight end Todd Heap (5,492) to move into second place all-time in franchise history in receiving yards behind former wide receiver Derrick Mason (5,777).

Henry, meanwhile, became the first player in NFL history with three seasons of 15 rushing touchdowns and 1,500 rushing yards.

Defensively, coordinator Zach Orr simplified his scheme and substitution packages and since Week 11 no defense was better than Baltimore’s. The Ravens made lineup changes, most notably benching safety Marcus Williams and parting ways with turbulent free agent addition Eddie Jackson in favor of Ar’Darius Washington and deploying All-Pro Kyle Hamilton at safety. They also benched struggling second-year inside linebacker Trenton Simpson in favor of the more experienced rotation of Malik Harrison and Chris Board.

Outside linebackers Kyle Van Noy and Odafe Oweh also helped spearhead a pass rush that racked up the second-most sacks in the league coming into Saturday and added to its total with one by each against the Browns.

That gave them 12 1/2 and 10 on the year, respectively, marking the first time that Ravens teammates reached double-digit sacks in a season since Terrell Suggs and Elvis Dumervil in 2014.

Baltimore also remained remarkably healthy during its journey (though the status of Flowers remains unclear after he injured his right knee in the second quarter Saturday and did not return). Despite a gantlet of three games in 11 days last month, the Ravens went from two games back of the division lead at the start of that stretch to division champions for the eighth time in their 29-year history thanks to four straight wins to close out the regular season.

They will soak it in, but not for long. The playoffs await, and that’s all that matters for Jackson and company now.

Asked earlier in the week if it felt like 2024 was coming to an end, Jackson’s answer was foretelling.

“It don’t,” he said. “It feel like the season just getting started.”