The Ravens (12-5) and Browns (3-14) wrapped their regular seasons on Saturday with a breezy 35-10 Baltimore win.
With the result, the Ravens clinched the AFC North and No. 3 seed in the AFC, while the Browns secured a top-three pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Here are our takeaways from the first game of the Week 18 slate.
Knee-jerk reaction: Injuries hard to swallow
Injuries are the worst thing about the NFL. And while they happen every week, there’s something particularly depressing about seeing players suffer injuries during the final week of the regular season.
Browns rookie defensive tackle Mike Hall Jr. suffered a serious injury, needing an air cast before being carted off the field. Hall began the 2024 season on the commissioner’s exempt list after being charged with one count of domestic violence during the summer — he later pleaded no contest to a lesser charge in September — and his 2025 season could be delayed, too.
After being drafted in the second round of the 2024 NFL Draft, Hall has an uphill battle to avoid being a bust.
More worrying was Ravens wide receiver Zay Flowers’ first-half knee injury. He walked to the locker room under his own power but was ruled out of the game. Baltimore needs Flowers healthy to win its first Super Bowl since the 2012 season.
Wideout Rashod Bateman and safety Kyle Hamilton also suffered injuries but returned as head coach John Harbaugh left his starters in with the game out of reach.
Game co-MVPs: Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry
The Ravens quarterback made NFL history against the Browns, becoming the first player with 4,000 passing yards and 800 rushing yards in a single season.
Jackson finished Saturday’s game 16-of-32 for 217 yards and two touchdowns and added nine carries for 63 yards.
With Jackson’s 40th and 41st touchdowns of the season, he has an absurd 41:4 touchdown-to-interception ratio. Jackson is the first player in league history to finish a regular season with at least 40 touchdowns and fewer than five interceptions.
But he wasn’t the only Raven to make history on Saturday. Running back Derrick Henry became the first player with at least 1,500 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns in three seasons. He had 20 carries for 138 yards — including 130 in the second half — and two touchdowns in the Week 18 win.
As Bleacher Report noted, he’s also the first player with multiple seasons with at least 1,800 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns.
With both putting the finishing touches on historic seasons, it was impossible to pick one over the other for Week 18 MVP.
Quotable moment: ‘The most crazy, amazing play in NFL history.’
Ravens defensive lineman Michael Pierce, listed at 355 pounds, had arguably the game’s most memorable play. Yes, even more memorable than Jackson celebrating his third-quarter touchdown to Bateman as soon as he released the ball.
Late in the fourth quarter, Pierce intercepted Browns quarterback Bailey Zappe at Baltimore’s 16-yard line after dropping back into coverage and nabbing a pass intended for running back Jacob Kibodi.
Pierce had green grass and a convoy in front of him, but he gave himself up after running six yards, falling to his knees. We can hardly blame him.
Per The Baltimore Banner’s Jonas Shaffer, who cited Tru Media, Pierce “is the only 355-pound player with an interception since at least 2000.”
“The most crazy, amazing play in NFL history,” head coach John Harbaugh said afterward.
Perhaps the craziest part of the play wasn’t that Pierce notched an interception but that defensive coordinator Zach Orr dropped him back into coverage with a 25-point lead and two minutes left in the game in the first place.
