Browns vs Ravens Season Finale: QB play, setting tone for 2025 key for Cleveland

Happy New Year and salutations. A year ago, the Cleveland Browns were playing their season finale against the Cincinnati Bengals while their wild-card game with the Houston Texans was looming. Fast forward to now, the team has a top-five pick after a frustrating season considering the expectations the team had going into the year.

Cleveland travels to Baltimore to take on the Ravens this Saturday. Kickoff is at 4:30 PM. The game will be televised on ABC/ESPN. Chris Fowler, Louis Riddick and Dan Orlovsky will be on the call.

Zappe or DTR? Who will it be?

Considering how this season has gone, the quarterback position has been under question for the entire season. Out of all the quarterbacks this season, Jameis Winston was the only one that produced and gained positive results. Granted, the turnovers were backbreaking but the offense could move the ball down the field.

As far as how the offense looks with Dorian Thompson-Robinson under center, it looks the same as it did with Deshaun Watson. Now the attention shifts to another quarterback. Enter Bailey Zappe. Zappe, who was a 4th round pick out of Western Kentucky, has starting experience in the league going back to when he was in New England playing for the Patriots. He was later cut by the team and signed with the Kansas City Chiefs practice squad then Cleveland snagged him. When Zappe played the results were mixed but he could find ways to produce.

The Browns haven’t told Zappe what the plan is going into Saturday’s game but he’s been preparing.

Will we see the Zap man on Saturday? Likely. Will we see DTR as well? Who knows.

Starting 2025 with a positive note

Despite being double-digit underdogs to a Baltimore Ravens team that has been clicking on all cylinders, it will be interesting to see how the Browns look. It has been a frustrating season for many reasons. Considering how many thought this team would be in Super Bowl contention only to be in the top 5 pick consideration is d,ifficult to say the least. It’s the NFL. Things happen but things can rapidly change in a year. Browns left guard Joel Bitonio left this quote regarding the direction of the team.

He’s right. To a degree. If Cleveland were to pull off a win, as impossible as it sounds, it can be a positive step in the direction. The team hasn’t quit on the year, it’s evident but there is something to play for and you can head into next season with momentum if you put together a performance that you can build on. The team will look different next season but you have building blocks to build on and get back into playoff contention.

Onto 2025.