Until about 2:17 p.m. Sunday, the Ravens’ Week 8 game against the Cleveland Browns had an easy billing: the NFL’s most valuable quarterback against the NFL’s least valuable quarterback.

Then Deshaun Watson tore his Achilles tendon late in the second quarter of the Browns’ eventual 21-14 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, and the matchup changed. No longer would Lamar Jackson and the Ravens be facing Watson, the well-compensated owner of one of the worst starts to a season in NFL history. Instead, it would be Jameis Winston, Cleveland’s emergency third-string quarterback only a week ago.

It’s been a clean-the-slate kind of week for the 1-6 Browns, who’ve lost five straight games and haven’t scored more than 18 points all season. Not only is Winston starting Sunday, but coach Kevin Stefanski has handed over offensive play-calling duties to coordinator Ken Dorsey, too.

“We’re kind of looking at it as a blessing in disguise, because what we’ve trying to preach the last couple weeks is, we obviously have got to know our opponent, know the personnel to have the best plan to defeat them, but it’s really about us and our rules and our fundamentals and playing that,” Ravens defensive coordinator Zach Orr said Thursday. “It’s definitely going to be a little bit of unknown, but that just makes us focus on our job even more.”

The 5-2 Ravens know the risks of overlooking a supposedly overmatched team — their last loss came at home in Week 2 against the currently free-falling Las Vegas Raiders. Here’s what to watch in the Week 8 AFC North matchup in Cleveland.

1. Jackson saw a lot of blitzes Monday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He might see a lot more Sunday at Huntington Bank Field.

In the Browns’ first two games this season against dual-threat quarterbacks, defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz blitzed the Washington Commanders’ Jayden Daniels and the Philadelphia Eagles’ Jalen Hurts on exactly half of their drop-backs, according to TruMedia, two of the highest rates for any defense this season.

Neither plan worked as hoped. Daniels went 8-for-12 for 150 yards and took two sacks while scrambling three times for 59 yards in a blowout win. Hurts finished 6-for-13 for 105 yards and two touchdowns and took one sack in a narrow win. Both finished with above-average efficiency marks, too.

Cleveland, which ranks third overall in blitz rate (38.7%) this season, sent heavy pressure after Jackson only occasionally in last year’s matchups. He faced just six blitzes in Cleveland, where the Ravens won easily, finishing 2-for-3 for 34 yards, with three scrambles for 7 yards. But in a surprising home loss to the Browns, Jackson faced five or more pass rushers 10 times. He went 4-for-7 for 67 yards and was sacked twice.

This season, few quarterbacks have punished blitzes as regularly as Jackson. Over the Ravens’ five-game winning streak, he’s completed 74.1% of his passes on blitzed drop-backs for 608 yards and five touchdowns. He’s also thrown just one interception and taken just one sack in that span.

“I think we’ve been intentional about it,” coach John Harbaugh said Wednesday of the Ravens’ plan for beating blitzes, a struggle in previous years. “We’ve tried to build something, and Lamar … I would say Lamar has been the most intentional about it. He’s been locked in on that from day one, so it is showing up, and we have to keep it going, and we’re going to get different blitzes. Cleveland is a big blitz team; they’re one of the best blitzing teams in football. Jim Schwartz does a great job, and we’re going to have to be on point.”

2. After a slow start, Mark Andrews is back like he never left.

The Ravens’ star tight end has 11 catches on 13 targets for 162 yards over the past three weeks, the sixth-most yardage of any tight end since Week 5. While Andrews played just 50% to 55.1% of the Ravens’ offensive snaps in each game — a far cry from his usage in recent years, when he played closer to 75% — he made the most of his opportunities. Andrews averaged 2.95 yards per route run, a rate that would comfortably lead all regular receivers at the position.

Andrews is getting good looks because he’s getting open. According to ESPN, he’s tied with New York Giants rookie wide receiver Malik Nabers for the NFL’s best “Open Score,” which uses tracking data to assess the likelihood that a receiver would complete a catch if he were targeted.

“He’s just one of those savvy guys, has a way of getting open,” Schwartz said Thursday of Andrews. “He can be physical in the route. He can also use some route craft to get open. He’s good at trying to beat guys’ leverage. We saw a similar guy a few weeks ago in [Commanders tight end] Zach Ertz. Andrews maybe has a little bit more heaviness to him. But, yeah, he’s been a good player for a long time for them, and then also complemented by [tight end Isaiah] Likely, who’s made a lot of big plays. They run the ball so well that it opens up those tight ends in the play-action game.”

Schwartz’s blitz-heavy tendencies could give Andrews opportunities to win in man-to-man coverage, but Cleveland has defended tight ends well this season. According to FTN, the Browns are allowing just 34.1 receiving yards per game to tight ends and have the NFL’s second-most-efficient pass defense against the position.

3. The Browns’ best strategy on offense might be to embrace chaos. Winston probably won’t need much convincing.

The former No. 1 overall pick has never been afraid of hunting big plays or trying tight-window throws. In 2019, when he led the NFL in passing yards (5,109) and finished behind only Jackson in passing touchdowns (33), he also threw an NFL-high 30 interceptions. Runner-up Baker Mayfield had just 21.

Even with star wide receiver Amari Cooper traded to the Buffalo Bills, the Ravens can probably expect Winston to test them downfield. Since he arrived in the NFL in 2015, Winston has averaged 10.3 air yards per attempt, according to TruMedia, the most of any quarterback with at least 500 pass attempts in that span. In relief duty Sunday against the Bengals (5-for-11 for 67 yards and a touchdown), his average depth of target was 10.5 yards, the third highest of any quarterback in Week 8. Watson, meanwhile, was averaging a slightly-below-average 7.3 air yards per attempt.

Winston’s belief in his arm can get him into trouble. According to Pro Football Focus, his career turnover-worthy play rate is 4.7%; only four quarterbacks with at least 100 drop-backs this season have been worse.

Of course, the Ravens have to finish off turnovers, too. They’ve let a handful of would-be interceptions slip through their hands in recent games. “Once we start doing it,” Harbaugh said after Monday’s win, “it’s going to be another turbo boost for our team.”

4. Browns running back Nick Chubb’s rehabilitation from a torn meniscus, ACL and MCL was arduous enough. Cleveland’s offensive line isn’t making life any easier.

The Browns rank 26th in run block win rate, according to ESPN, and 27th in run blocking grade, according to PFF. Chubb had 11 carries for 22 yards in his season debut against Cincinnati, but he didn’t have much room to run. According to tracking data from the NFL’s Next Gen Stats, his expected rushing total was just 26 yards.

“First game back, they were kind of easing him back into that,” Orr said. “We expect the Nick Chubb of old, which is top running back in the league, and we expect them to give him the ball a lot more than they did last week.”

Injuries have hampered Cleveland’s offensive line, but it could be in better shape Sunday. Right tackle Jack Conklin, who suffered a season-ending knee injury last year, has been solid since returning to the starting lineup in Week 6. Right guard Wyatt Teller, a Pro Bowl selection each of the past three seasons, returned to practice Wednesday and could make his first start since Week 3. The biggest question mark might be left tackle Jedrick Wills Jr., who has struggled all year and hasn’t practiced this week because of a knee injury.

On paper, the Ravens have a clear advantage. They lead the NFL in rushing defense and rank in the top 10 in average yards before contact per carry, according to TruMedia. But they allowed a season-high 125 rushing yards Monday to Tampa Bay, and starting defensive lineman Travis Jones could be limited or sidelined by a knee injury.

5. NFL teams are just 2-for-19 on onside kicks this year. Unfortunately for Chris Horton, they’re 2-for-4 against the Ravens.

Horton, who has served as the special teams coordinator in Baltimore since 2019, didn’t have to worry about his “hands team” over his first four seasons. The Ravens handled all eight of opponents’ onside-kick attempts in that span.

But the Arizona Cardinals recovered an onside kick last year, the Dallas Cowboys got one in Week 3 last month, and the Buccaneers energized their own fourth-quarter comeback with a recovery Monday. Harbaugh said Wednesday that the Ravens would “flip some guys around” to help shore up the unit. Wide receiver Zay Flowers could be one of those moving parts; he had a shot at both bouncing balls.

“It has happened twice, but we get it right the second time,” Horton said, referring to the Ravens’ success with subsequent onside kicks against Dallas and Tampa Bay. “We’ve got to get it right the first time. I think we know what to do; we just got to execute in that situation. We understand those are high-leverage situations, and I think maybe moving some pieces around, putting guys in different spots, will really give us that ability to take care of that.

“Other than that, that’s really it. I don’t think it’s a problem where there’s like this big old fire. And it’s happened twice against us, but there’s ways that I truly believe that, if we just execute the play like we’ve done the second time on both of these onside kicks, we’d be fine. We’ve got to get it done the first time.”