Brown BLog Predicts: Game 17 Browns vs Ravens - The Post Vrabel Era

There is little doubt the Browns investment in hiring Mike Vrabel as a Coaching and Personnel Consultant in 2024 paid off with a few extra wins during the Browns miraculous 3-13 season, and since Vrabel's contract expired last Monday, winning this week vs the Ravens just got exponentially more difficult.

However, the Browns do have Bailey Zappe at the commands today which could tilt the game in the Browns favor.   But as Dorian Thompson Robinson and Kevin Stefanski have pointed out this season, it takes 11 athletes doing their job for an offense to function efficiently so a bad offense is never the fault of the QB therefore it would be irresponsible to shoulder Bailey Zappe with any accountability should the Browns offense struggle.

I actually think we will see Zappe move the team at times because unlike Dorian Thompson Robinson, in his short time with New England, Zappe has shown he can throw a football accurately downfield further than 5 yards past the line of scrimmage.   Last week, Dorian Thompson Robinson completed 1, yes, 1 pass that was actually caught by a receiver in an area that extended further than 10 yards past the line of scrimmage.    All other DTR completions were caught barely beyond the line of scrimmage and any gains that extended past 10 yards were picked up after the catch.  Look for Zappe to stretch the Ravens D enough to buy some breathing room even if his 10 teammates on offense don't  pitch in on a given play. 

The above all said, the big question today is will the Ravens cover that 20 point spread.   I am going to say they will not.

Brown BLog Predicts

Ravens         27

Browns        14

The Brown BLog is 10-6 predicting Browns games this season.