The Baltimore Ravens have no shortage of motivation heading into Saturday’s regular season finale against the Cleveland Browns, having a chance to clinch the AFC North with a win and all. However, there’s another powerful motivating factor for them: revenge.

Back in Week 8, these two teams met in Cleveland while heading in complete opposite directions. The Ravens had won five-straight while the Browns had lost five-straight, leading many to assume the game would be a complete blowout.

It wasn’t. In fact, the Browns pulled off a stunning 29-24 upset in front of the home crowd, giving them their second of just three wins this season. Jameis Winston tore the Ravens’ defense apart with 334 yards and three touchdowns in his first start as a Brown, though Baltimore’s defense did itself no favors with many, many mistakes.

For this game in front of the home crowd, the Ravens would love nothing more than to show how far they’ve come since that gut-wrenching defeat.

“That’s definitely something on the forefront of everyone’s mind, knowing that we didn’t play the way we wanted to play during that game, but I feel like we have a totally different team than we were then, so it’s about showing exactly who we are, keep building on our momentum, and we have to keep taking it to them,” linebacker Roquan Smith told reporters Wednesday. “We have to defend our turf by any means, but we know it’s not going to be an easy one.

“These guys are fighting for their livelihoods. They have jobs. They have families they have to take care of, so we know it’s not going to be anything light, but we’re preparing for whatever.”

Smith brings up a good point about the dichotomy between the two teams. The Ravens are the biggest favorites of this NFL season and have everything to play for, while the Browns have seemingly been looking to the offseason for a while now.

Despite that, Cleveland’s players still want to go out there and give it their all each and every week, and Baltimore expects nothing less.

“Personally, I don’t really look into what people say as far as, ‘Oh, we should win this,’ or ‘We should win that,’” Smith said. “If it was based on that, the game wouldn’t be played. The game is played for a reason. Those guys are in the NFL. Those guys have a family to feed, kids at home [and] wives at home, so they’re going to put it all on the line and play for an opportunity for them to have a job next season.

“That’s why I know how I’d be if I was in that type of position, and I know guys on that side of the ball that will be the same exact way. That’s what it is. [There is] nothing else about that.”

Make sure you bookmark Baltimore Ravens on SI for the latest news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more!

The LA Clippers hired Ty Lue as their head coach in the 2020 offseason. Since then, the Clippers have a 203-148 record and three playoff appearances, including a Western Conference Finals appearance in his debut season.

Lue has a strong coaching resume throughout his young career, including three consecutive Finals appearances and one NBA championship through his first three seasons as a head coach. His 2016 championship run with the Cleveland Cavaliers will forever be etched into NBA history, leading the franchise to a 3-1 Finals comeback and their first title.

While Lue certainly did his job as head coach, he was completely overshadowed by the heroic efforts of LeBron James and Kyrie Irving. Lue recently joined The Draymond Green Show with Baron Davis to talk about his 2016 Finals run, telling an absurd story about James and the Cavs squad on their way to the first-ever 3-1 NBA Finals comeback.

“What people don’t understand is after the first two games, I didn’t show the film because sometimes LeBron would be upset, and he’d be in the back rolling his eyes,” Lue said. “So I was like, I’m going to stay positive. Everything we did [in practice], we only shot half-court shots, we did a lot of different stuff. Then, when we won Game 3, that’s the game where I showed all of our mistakes, what we needed to get better at. When you win a game, it’s easier to kind of show stuff. So they came back and won Game 4, I didn’t show any film.”

While Lue’s coaching strategy after they went down 2-0 in the series is certainly unconventional, it seemed to be the correct approach. James not appreciating the film session is a surprise with everything typically told about him, but he averaged 33.2 points, 11.8 rebounds, 8.8 assists, 2.4 steals, and 2.8 blocks in Games 3-7 so whatever they did obviously worked.

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CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) – History was made in Northeast Ohio in 2024 on the field and court, in the skies and senate, by police and the president, and even on the big screen.

Here are some of the most popular stories that occurred during the year…

October

By far the biggest story of the year was the Browns leaving Cleveland… again!

However, they wouldn’t move out of Ohio this time, just down I-71 to a domed stadium in Brook Park.

Team owner, Jimmy Haslam, has plans build a state of the art complex, with hotels, restaurants, shopping and of course the new stadium to the cost of nearly $3.5 billion.

Cleveland officials tried to entice the Haslam Group to stay downtown with numerous offers, but fell short.

The hope is for the dome to be completed in time for the 2029 season.

April

Lights Out in The Land was a once in a lifetime event for Northeast Ohio.

Millions flocked to our area to witness the total solar eclipse.

It was the first in Northeast Ohio since 1804 and it didn’t disappoint…

Our Lights Out In The Land coverage witnessed the moment at 3:13 p.m. and it was a sight to behold.

The next total solar eclipse won’t happen in Cleveland until 2099.

November

An upset in the political arena, as Ohio senator, Sherrod Brown loses his seat to businessman, Bernie Moreno in one of the year’s most competitive and expensive senate contests.

Brown, a staple in Washington, served as an Ohio Representative from 1993-2007 and then as a Senator, until his loss in November. Despite leaving Washington, Brown promises to still have a loud voice on certain issue and doesn’t rule out a future run for office in Ohio.

August

It was a stormy year for the state and Northeast Ohio.

March 14, April 17, and Aug. 6 saw numerous tornadoes hit the viewing area.

But it was the Aug. 6 storm that made the biggest impact when five EF-1 tornadoes touched down.

The majority of the damage was near Parma Heights, leaving thousands without power for several days.

Overall, the state saw a record 73 tornadoes in 2024.

April

Catlin Clark mania hit the CLE in April, as the city hosted the Women’s Final Four.

South Carolina, UConn, NC State and Iowa brought tens of thousands to Cleveland – and it was Clark who was the main attraction.

Her story was almost had a Hollywood ending, but South Carolina finished the season undefeated, beating Clark and her Iowa Hawkeyes.

The title game was the most watched basketball game, including the NBA, since 2019, bringing in nearly 20 million viewers.

July

Another potential blockbuster was filmed in Cleveland back in July.

The city center was ground zero for many scenes of the new Superman movie, directed by James Gunn, who was seen out and about at several downtown venues.

Filming locations included the Leader Building, which was transformed into the “Daily Planet,” and the Arcade.

You can see the new Superman movie, featuring all of Cleveland, this summer.

February

in February, changes within the Cleveland Division of Police led to Dorothy Todd being sworn in as the city’s 42nd chief of police.

She replaced outgoing Chief Wayne Drummond, who became the city’s director of Public Safety.

Chief Todd has been tasked to try and clean up the on-going crime issue, particularly with juveniles.

December

In December, President Joe Biden commuted the sentence for former Cuyahoga County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora, who was already in federal prison for over a decade for coruption charges.

In March of 2012, Dimora was convicted of 32 corruption-related charges including, racketeering, bribery, and conspiracy.

He was scheduled to be released in 2030 and had previously requested clemency but was denied.

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