At least the Ravens know they are capable of putting together a total, team effort. That?s because the offense, defense, special teams and Coach Brian Billick took turns stinking up Cleveland Browns Stadium.

These are the Ravens, a 2-2 team that has an injured quarterback in Steve McNair who can?t make accurate throws consistently, and a defense that can?t pressure the quarterback and is allowing too many big plays. It also has a special teams that added a costly turnover to their run of penalties, and a head coach who failed to get his team ready to play a huge game on the road.

They are 0-2 against teams from the AFC North, 0-2 on the road, and they play only once at home between now and Nov. 11. Suddenly, their Nov. 5 date in Pittsburgh looks like the Monday night the Ravens might have their last chance to have a realistic say in the divisional title discussion.

Please, don?t tell me about how the Ravens should be fine, since they have an easy schedule this month.

You don?t lay eggs like this, then look in the mirror and still call yourselves a contender. You face reality, and admit right now, you just aren?t very good.

“We just got our butts beat, plain and simple,” Billick said. “We had a great week of practice and started to get healthy a little bit. Our focus was good, but we?ve had trouble when we come here to play.”

Correction, Brian. You?ve had trouble every week this season. Your team is lucky not to be 1-3. And your team?s performance resembles a virus that appears to be spreading.

It only took three possessions for Cleveland to make the Ravens sick. Former Baltimore quarterback Derek Anderson sliced them up during the opening drive to give the Browns a 7-0 lead. McNair, who looked uncomfortable all day with that sore groin and all of his cumbersome, protective gear, then stared down Todd Heap and got picked off.

On the next play, Ravens cornerback Chris McAlister guessed wrong and jumped an inside route by wide receiver Braylon Edwards, who slipped outside and torched McAlister for a 78-yard touchdown catch. Fewer than 10 minutes into the game, the Ravens were in a 14-0 hole. Then, it started filling with quicksand.

The offense took every possession into Cleveland territory, but scored just 13 points as it fell behind, 27-6. The red zone was once again an ugly adventure. For every solid pass he made, McNair sailed one too high. It was painful watching him favoring the groin with such bad mechanics. What a sad waste those 104 rushing yards were by Willis McGahee.

The defense ? besides giving up too many big chunks through the air for the third straight week ? got pushed around and embarrassed up front in the second quarter. Former Raven Jamal Lewis and Jason Wright ran through open areas and fueled a 24-6 halftime lead.

The special teams joined in the fun. Rookie return man Yamon Figurs sparked the Browns to a second-quarter touchdown after fumbling away a kickoff. That drive should have ended with a missed Phil Dawson field goal, but the Ravens were offside. Even old reliable Matt Stover missed two field goals.

Seven more penalties, including several drive-killers on offense, soiled the landscape. That points to a lack of discipline, which goes back to the coach.

Billick?s day could be summed up in one, symbolic moment: He tried to challenge the ruling that Jamal Lewis had stretched out enough to break the goal line with the ball to make it 24-3, but he threw the red flag on the field too late.

His team was late all day.

Gary Lambrecht is a columnist for The Examiner who writes about the NFL, Major League Baseball and college sports.