What to watch for: presented by House of Blues

11.10.2009

The Browns make their lone appearance this season on Monday Night Football against the Ravens. The Browns played 3 games on Monday Night Football last season and went 2-1 with wins over the Giants (35-14 on October 13th) and the Bills (29-27 on November 17th).

The Browns are 15-13 all-time on Monday Night Football, including an 11-8 mark in home games. This is the first time the Ravens and Browns will meet on a Monday night, which has not been kind to the Ravens over the years. Baltimore is 4-7 on Monday Night Football and just 1-5 in road games.

This is the second meeting between the Browns and Ravens this season. The Browns lost in Baltimore 34-3 earlier this year and are 7-14-0 all-time against the Ravens. The Browns last beat the Ravens at home 27-13 on September 30, 2007.

As the game unfolds, here are several things to keep an eye on:

Running back Jamal Lewis. The 10th year man moved into 21st place on the NFL's all-time rushing list with 69 yards against the Bears two weeks ago. Lewis passed Eddie George and Tiki Barber on the list and has 10,456 career rushing yards.

Lewis is 187 yards away from tying Ricky Watters for 20th in NFL history. Lewis will play in his 129th NFL game Monday night against the Ravens, his former team.

Lewis is 3 carries away from reaching 2,500 rushing attempts in his career.

Wide receiver/return specialist Joshua Cribbs. With 6 kickoff returns for 137 yards against the Bears, Cribbs has 29 career games with at least 100 kickoff return yards. Five of those games have come this season.

Cribbs is tied with five other players for first in NFL history with 6 kickoff returns for touchdowns. Two of the players Cribbs is tied with are Pro Football Hall of Famers Ollie Matson and Gale Sayers. Sayers and Cribbs both have 6 touchdowns in 68 games.

In the second meeting with the Ravens last season, Cribbs had a 92-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.

Kicker Phil Dawson. Dawson will break a second-place tie with Don Cockroft on the Browns' all-time field goals list with his next three-pointer. Dawson and Cockroft's 216 career field goals are 18 shy of Lou Groza's franchise mark of 234.

Dawson has quite a history with the Ravens. In the November 18, 2007 meeting in Baltimore, Dawson kicked a 51-yard field goal at the end of regulation to tie the game. Dawson's field goal hit off the crossbar's back support and was originally ruled no good, but after an official review, the call was reversed. The Browns won on Dawson's 33-yard field goal in overtime.

The Browns pass rush. The Browns defense sacked Bears quarterback Jay Cutler 4 times and have 16 sacks on the year entering Monday Night's game with the Ravens.

Linebackers Kamerion Wimbley and Jason Trusnik, along with defensive lineman Corey Williams each registered solo sacks of Cutler. Wimbley leads the Browns with 5.0 quarterback sacks this season, while Trusnik has 2.0 sacks since coming over to the Browns in Week Five.

Trusnik led the Browns with a career-high 8 tackles against the Bears.

Center Alex Mack. The Browns top draft pick in April (No. 21 overall) has started every game this season and is the only rookie to start at center this season.

The task of blocking for the Browns running backs and keeping pressure away from the quarterback will not be easy. The Ravens typically start Haloti Ngata, Kelly Gregg and Trevor Pryce on the defensive line. They average 6-foot-3, 316.67 pounds-per-man.

Punter Dave Zastudil. Despite the bye week, Zastudil, a former Raven, still leads the NFL with 25 punts downed inside the opponent's 20-yard line. On the season, Zastudil has punted the ball 49 times for 2,188 yards, an average of 44.7 yards-per-punt.

When factoring in returns, Zastudil's net punting average is 39.1 yards-per-punt.

Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco. Flacco is 183-of-282 for 2,044 yards with 12 touchdowns against 7 interceptions this season. In the first meeting with the Browns this season, Flacco completed 25 passes for 342 yards and 1 touchdown.

In three career games against the Browns, Flacco is 55-of-83 for 719 yards and 3 touchdowns with only 2 interceptions.

Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis. Lewis may be in his 14th season, but he is still the physical and emotional leader in the middle of the Ravens' 3-4 defense. Lewis leads the Ravens with 68 total and 53 solo tackles.

Lewis had a fourth down stop of running back Darren Sproles in the final minute of a 31-26 win over the Chargers earlier this season.

The Ravens on third down. Opponents have converted just 37-of-106 (34.9 percent) of their third downs, while the Ravens are 47-of-105 (44.76 percent) in third down situations.

The Browns go into Sunday's game at 1-7 after a 30-6 loss in Chicago before the bye week. The Ravens are 4-4 following a 17-7 road loss to the Bengals Sunday. Flacco went 18-of-32 for 195 yards and 2 interceptions against the Bengals.

CONNECTIONS

Jamal Lewis and Dave Zastudil were drafted by and began their NFL careers with the Ravens. Lewis was the No. 5 pick in the 2000 Draft and played for the Ravens from 2000-06. Zastudil was a fourth round choice out of Ohio University and spent four seasons in Baltimore (2002-2005).

Browns safety Brodney Pool played at the University of Oklahoma with Ravens wide receiver Mark Clayton and offensive lineman Chris Chester.

Browns offensive lineman Hank Fraley is a native of Gaithersburg, Maryland and went to Gaithersburg High School. Linebacker Alex Hall is a native of Glenarden and went to C.H. Flowers High School in Springdale, Maryland.

Ravens linebacker Prescott Burgess is from Warren and went to Warren G. Harding High School. Reserve strong safety Haruki Nakamura is an Elyria native and a graduate of St. Edward High School. Quarterback Troy Smith graduated from Glenville in Cleveland before winning the Heisman Trophy at The Ohio State University.

Running back Jalen Parmele played college football at The University of Toledo, while defensive tackle Brandon McKinney played high school football at Dayton's Chaminade-Julienne High School.

MEDIA

Fans can watch Monday night's game on ESPN at 8:30pm with Mike Tirico (play-by-play) and analysts Ron Jaworski and Jon Gruden providing the call, along with Suzy Kolber and Michelle Tafoya reporting from the sidelines. Fox affiliate WJW-TV 8 has the rights to show the game locally.

The game is also available along the Browns Radio Network with Jim Donovan, Doug Dieken and sideline reporter Andre Knott providing the call.