After Leaving With ‘Cramps,’ Lamar Jackson Returned Just In Time To Beat The Browns

The Browns and Ravens met on Monday Night Football in a critical game for both teams, with Baltimore needing a win to stay in the playoff hunt and the Browns looking to lock down their own Wild Card slot and get as high a seed as possible. While we expected a competitive game, few saw what was to come in Cleveland, as the two teams racked up 40-plus points each in an instant classic.

Lamar Jackson and Baker Mayfield both put on tremendous performances, but in the fourth quarter Jackson suddenly disappeared during a Cleveland drive with the Ravens up 34-20. The Ravens officially said he was dealing with cramps, but the way he ran to the locker room indicated to many that he was dealing with a different problem, of the intestinal variety.

Trace McSorely entered the game and went 3-and-out on his first drive and then, after the Browns took a 35-34 lead, returned for their next drive. McSorely pushed the Ravens to midfield but on third down he slipped on the slick turf that caused Jackson problems for much of the night and appeared to suffer a significant knee injury. That took things to the two-minute warning, and just at that time Jackson managed to emerge from the locker room.

On his first play, a 4th-and-4 that was, effectively, for the game, Jackson ran a sprint out to the right but, rather than running for the first, he found Hollywood Brown over the top for a touchdown.

Jackson and the Ravens, naturally, went for two and converted to go up 7. That led to the Browns marching down the field, with Baker Mayfield finding Kareem Hunt for a game-tying touchdown — and Cody Parkey hit the extra point despite plenty of nerves from Browns fans.

However, that left a lot of time on the clock for Jackson and the Ravens to set up the best kicker in NFL history. They managed to do just that, hitting Mark Andrews across the middle three times to set Tucker up for the game-winner and he crushed it, as usual.

The Browns final play was a disaster, not just for them but for anyone with the Browns +3, who thought they were at least going to push until the worst thing possible happened in the form of a safety.