CLEVELAND (AP) -The Baltimore Ravens produced 149 yards of offense but no points in a sloppy, scoreless first half at Cleveland on Monday night.
It is the NFL’s first game of the season to be scoreless at halftime, according to STATS, LLC.
Baltimore quarterback Joe Flacco completed 8 of 12 passes for 92 yards and Ray Rice carried 10 times for 41 yards, but the Ravens’ only scoring chance came up empty when Steve Hauschka pushed a 36-yard field goal wide left in the first quarter.
nse limited to five touchdowns over the past 14 games, Cleveland tried using a hurry-up offense and the wildcat formation with limited success.
Cleveland quarterback Brady Quinn was making his first start since getting pulled at halftime of the Browns’ first game against the Ravens on Sept. 27 – just 10 quarters into the season. Quinn was 6 of 12 for 63 yards. Josh Cribbs also took a handful of snaps at quarterback, running twice for 14 yards.
Each team punted four times and the Ravens were out of timeouts less than seven minutes into the game. They lost one on a replay challenge and burned the other two amid confusion on their second possession. Baltimore was also flagged for 12 men on the field defensively in the first quarter.
Ravens safety Haruki Nakamura broke his right ankle while blocking on the opening kickoff.
Nakamura, a Cleveland native, was grabbing the ground in pain as trainers wrapped an air cast around his foot and carted him off the field.
Hours before kickoff, a person with The NFL Players Association told The Associated Press of a meeting the union is trying to set up with Browns players this week to talk about coach Eric Mangini’s practices, a person at the union said.
about health and safety.
Last week, veteran running back Jamal Lewis said he thought Mangini was tiring out his players by overworking the Browns, although Lewis then reversed field a day later and blamed the media for exaggerating his complaints.
A planned fan protest seemed to fail as Cleveland Browns Stadium was three-quarters filled before the opening kickoff.
Two die-hard fans, disgusted with the direction of the 1-7 team, had urged fans to stay away from their seats for the start, hoping it would send a strong message to team owner Randy Lerner.
Under first-year coach Mangini, the Browns have lost three straight.
The Ravens (4-4) have lost four of their last five after beginning the season 3-0.
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