Lamar Jackson has vintage dominant performance against Browns' top-ranked defense in Ravens' 28-3 win

People snickered when Lamar Jackson said he believed the Baltimore Ravens offense could score 70 points in a game.

It wasn't the most ridiculous thing to laugh at either, considering the Ravens' reputation for defense team and only periodically putting on a show offensively — even with the electrifying Jackson under center.

Not only that, Baltimore was going up against a Browns defense that had taken the league by storm and given up only one touchdown through its first three games. The Ravens heard all about the Browns being the new top dog in the division.

Then Jackson and company went into Cleveland, and put up almost half of those points in the Ravens' 28-3 win against the Browns. Baltimore did so missing starting receiver Odell Beckham, Jr., running back J.K. Dobbins out for the season and right tackle Morgan Moses being injured during the game.

Cleveland was without starting quarterback Deshaun Watson, who was downgraded ahead of the game, and rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson made his first-career start.

Jackson followed up his two rushing-touchdown performance last week, with two more scores on the ground against Cleveland. He's had six such performances in his six-year career, and three of them have been against the Browns — 2018 and 2020. Two of those three performances were in Cleveland.

In addition to those two touchdowns, Jackson had 27 rushing yards on nine carries and threw two more touchdowns to tight end Mark Andrews in the rout. Jackson was 15-of-19 for 187 yards through the air.

The win gives the Ravens sole possession of first place in the AFC North at 3-1 (2-0), while the Browns now look up at 2-2 (1-2).