Ravens frustrated by mistakes, missed chances in 29-24 loss to Browns

CLEVELAND — Lamar Jackson's final throw was his helmet.

Seconds after his last-play pass to the end zone fell incomplete, s ealing Baltimore's 29-24 loss at Cleveland, the Ravens' star quarterback yanked off his helmet and spiked it with both hands in frustration.

It was that kind of day for the Ravens (5-3), who couldn't put away the Browns (2-6) and had their five-game winning streak stopped. Baltimore came in with the NFL's top-ranked offense, the league's leading rusher and Jackson doing MVP-type things.

But beginning with a failed fourth-down conversion at Cleveland's 2-yard line on their opening drive to safety Kyle Hamilton letting a game-clinching interception slip through his hands with one minute left, the Ravens didn't play up to their standards.

“Every loss is frustrating,” said Jackson, who couldn't connect with Zay Flowers on two throws into the end zone in the final 14 seconds. “We didn't make plays.”

This one may have hurt a little more because the Ravens had more than a few chances to put the Browns away.

Baltimore twice had the lead in the second half and had gone back in front 24-23 on Derrick Henry's 2-yard run with 2:19 left.

The Ravens defense, which was missing cornerbacks Marlon Humphrey and Nate Wiggins due to injuries, needed one stop in the final two minutes but couldn't get it.

They were so close.

After Cleveland quarterback Jameis Winston, who passed for 334 yards and three touchdowns, converted on a third-and-7 with 1:18 left, Ravens coach John Harbaugh called a timeout.

He couldn't have imagined what would happen next.

After a false start penalty pushed the Browns back, Winston overthrew a pass to wide receiver Elijah Moore. The ball went directly to Hamilton, who couldn't control it despite touching it five times in a futile attempt at the catch.

Hamilton laid face down in the ground for a few seconds, knowing he could have ended the game.

On the next play, Winston hit Cedric Tillman, who got behind Baltimore's secondary and hauled in a 38-yard TD.

After the game, Hamilton was not available for comment.

Earlier, safety Eddie Jackson missed a chance to pick off Winston, who was making his first start in two years.

“I’ve just got to come down with it,” Jackson said. "This one has got me sick. There is no big theory behind it. We’re just not making game-changing plays. We’ve just got to catch the ball. Now we’ve got to live with this one and take it on the chin. But this one sucks.”

That was the overriding sentiment in Baltimore's locker room as the Ravens, who had a short week after winning at Tampa Bay on Monday night, lamented an unlikely loss.

“We know we should’ve won that ballgame,” defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike said. “It hurts. It’s frustrating, point-blank frustrating. It hurts a little bit, but what can we do?”'

It was a rare loss for Harbaugh against the Browns. He dropped to 25-8 against Cleveland, and didn't offer any excuses.

“You're not going to win every game,” he said. “It was a tough situation coming in here. I think our guys handled all of that pretty well. We operated pretty well. We didn't do enough. We didn't make the plays and that's really what it boils down to."