The question that looms for the Browns defense heading into Saturday's game against Baltimore is who they're going to actually see playing quarterback for the Ravens. About the only answer they do know is that it's almost certainly not going to be Lamar Jackson .
After that, the Browns are preparing for the Ravens with a big question mark over who'll play the most important position on the football field. They're not allowing that uncertainty impact their preparations for Baltimore.
"I wouldn't say it is too much of a challenge," cornerback Greg Newsome II said Tuesday. "I feel like their quarterbacks all kind of do around the same thing. They are not going to really change the offense as much as we have seen in the past. We played them last year when they didn't have Lamar and kind of kept the offense pretty similar. I wouldn't say it is too big of a challenge. At the end of the day, we just have to, whatever the game plan is, do our job and try to be as successful as we can."
Jackson has been recovering from a knee injury he suffered Dec. 4 in a win over the Denver Broncos . He did not play in the Ravens' win at Pittsburgh last Sunday, and is not expected to play Saturday against the Browns.
Jackson's backup, Tyler Huntley , started against the Steelers , but left the game due to a concussion. Although he went through Baltimore's walkthrough on Tuesday, Ravens coach John Harbaugh was noncommittal about his availability for Saturday's game.
"It's part of the process, what he did today," Harbaugh told Baltimore reporters Tuesday. "Yes, he's in the protocol, and he was allowed to do walkthrough."
Anthony Brown, an undrafted rookie out of Oregon, spent the first 12 games of the season on the practice squad. However, he was forced into duty against Pittsburgh and helped the Ravens emerged with a 16-14 win that kept them in a first-place tie with the Bengals atop the AFC North at 9-4.
Brown played 23 snaps against the Steelers, which was 38% of Baltimore's offensive snaps. He was just 3-of-5 passing for 16 yards, but managed the offense over the Ravens' final three possessions, taking over with 3:03 remaining in the third quarter and Baltimore on its own 1.
"They were playing their song, the crowd was going berserk, the towels were flying, right?" Harbaugh said of when Brown went into the game. "You guys who were there, it was just one of those moments that I actually was talking to God for a minute there. I just said, 'Well, you couldn't have created anything more perfect than this.' We thought we had the ball at the 20, then all the sudden we have the ball at the 1 by some obscure rule that someone needs to check out to make sure it's real — all the sudden, the ball is at the 1-yard line."
Brown did lead Baltimore to a fourth-quarter field goal drive to extend its lead to 16-7. Much like Jackson and Huntley, he is a quarterback who, during his college career at Boston College and Oregon, has been able to extend and make plays running the ball.
The Browns are familiar with having a quarterback have to come in to replace Jackson in-game. The last time they played Baltimore in Cleveland, last December, it was Huntley who was that quarterback.
Jackson was injured on the first play of the second quarter of the Browns' 24-22 win on Dec. 12. That injury proved to be a season-ender for the Ravens quarterback. Baltimore trailed 17-0 in the second quarter, but Huntley pulled it within two points and it had the ball after an onside-kick recovery with 1:15 remaining, but couldn't finish the comeback.
Huntley, who finished last season as the Ravens' starter, was 27-of-38 passing for 270 yards and a touchdown in that game. He also ran for 45 yards on six carries, but was sacked three times, including one by Jadeveon Clowney on Baltimore's final possession.
"Great runner," Newsome said. "He was an amazing runner. He was hard to bring down. He didn't really miss, it wasn't too much of a difference I would say from him and Lamar running the ball-wise; he did a great job running the ball last year. So that was something that we kind of gotta prepare for a little bit more. I think he didn't throw as much as Lamar did. I think they tailored it more to the run when he was playing, but he was great getting out the pocket and things like that."
The Browns did a good job of containing Jackson in the teams' first meeting this year, a 23-20 Ravens win in Week 7 in Baltimore. They limited the former MVP to just 9-of-16 passing for 120 yards and another 59 yards on 10 carries.
With the way the Ravens have constructed their quarterback room, whether it's Jackson, Huntley or Brown, the Browns are going through this week with a similar approach.
"I know this — they are all good," Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said. "They all can hurt you from the pocket. They can hurt you on the move. They can hurt you in the run game. Really, really good players."
Contact Chris at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com.
On Twitter: @ceasterlingABJ
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cleveland Browns deal with challenge of Ravens QB uncertainty
