Ravens run over Browns

Rice: Rushing TD

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The hapless Cleveland Browns held Baltimore for a half on Monday night, before the Ravens recovered from an embarrassing start to win a fierce encounter 16-0.

After having two weeks to prepare for the arrival of AFC North rivals Baltimore, the Browns held them out for 30 minutes as the NFL saw it's first scoreless first half of the season.

Quarterback Brady Quinn started for the Browns for the first time since week three, but he had little joy as he was held under 100 yards passing and was intercepted twice - one of which was returned for a touchdown.

The Ravens did not help themselves in the first half with multiple penalties and the conversion of just one third down resulting in them making the Browns look good for the first 30 minutes.

Joe Flacco was hardly spectacular himself with just 155 yards through the air, but his 41-yard pass to Derrick Mason at the start of the third quarter proved the spark the Ravens needed.

Touchdown

Running back Ray Rice then ran the ball in from 13 yards for the one and only offensive touchdown of the game - Rice ran for 89 total yards during the contest.

On the very next snap, Quinn's wayward pass landed in the hands of Ravens safety Dawan Landry who coasted into the endzone from 48 yards to make it 13-0.

Baltimore missed the extra point but that would hardly matter against Cleveland's anaemic offence, which had mustered just five TDs in the last five games and could not get beyond the Baltimore 45-yard line on Monday.

Quinn was also blasted for a chop-block tackle on Terrell Suggs, which resulted in the Ravens linebacker leaving the game and he could be out for some time.

"Heck yeah it was a cheap shot," Baltimore's Ray Lewis said of Quinn's tackle on Suggs. "When you're running down and you're looking at the quarterback going at somebody's knees who doesn't even have the ball.

Baloney

"I want to see if he gets the same fine I got or even higher. Now this man is out four or five weeks because of some baloney like that."

Too add to Cleveland's woes, receiver Josh Cribbs was hammered by Ravens defensive end Dwan Edwards on the last meaningless play of the game and was carried off the field.

The Ravens keep their play-off hopes alive by moving to 5-4 but the Browns drop to 1-8 and look to have more questions than answers at the present time.

Quarterback Joe Flacco probably summed up the game the best when he said: "I guess I agree it wasn't pretty. It was an ugly win, but that's the way some wins are in the NFL."