It was probably too much to expect the Browns to breeze into Baltimore and beat up on the rested Ravens, the defending league champs.

After all, this is just the second game of a whole new regime, one that admits it’s building for the long term and didn’t go all out to fill some key holes on the roster. This season is more about installation and evaluation than domination. Fair enough .

But dammit, I expect the Browns to establish, reinforce, and demand a culture in which everyone, at all times, will COMPETE to get better, to give full coordinated effort, to contest every scarce yard on every single play for every tick of the clock.

To COMPETE is to be utterly prepared, to play hard and fearlessly, to make smart choices, and to benefit — and benefit from — a team orientation above all else.

I question whether sitting on some $25 million in salary cap space is really competing. But that’s a complicated, big-picture matter. Among other things, Banner and company may very well be saving up for the franchise quarterback that Brandon Weeden pretty clearly is not likely to become.

Back on the field, we were promised an aggressive, attacking style and were sold on the experienced coordinators.

But facing an opponent who yielded seven passing touchdowns their previous game, the Browns couldn’t put the ball into the end zone at all.

Their first shot came after a Barkevious Mingo sack helped stall a Baltimore drive, and Weeden bought enough time to find Jordan Cameron downfield for 53 yards to the Ravens’ 7.

Again, Baltimore gave up seven passing touchdowns last week. So we run Trent Richardson off guard. Twice. A third-down pass fails badly, so a golden opportunity yields but a field goal. COMPETE.

The Browns’ vaunted front seven managed just two sacks, and the defensive unit — for the second straight week — surrendered third-down conversions half the time. Strong safety T.J. Ward, in his contract year, was largely invisible, except when the fullback broke his dive-tackle try to gain a first down, and when Ward could be seen spectating as a Ravens runner battled across the goal line. COMPETE.

Lest my bias for coach Chud cloud my analysis, I’ll criticize his choice to have a Ravens holding penalty assessed at the end of a 50-yard punt with no return, rather than making their coverage team run downfield again and giving Travis Benjamin a chance to pop one. COMPETE.

And what can I say about three delay-of-game penalties, all adding yardage to what became failed third-down conversions? Be ready to COMPETE.

When Peyton Manning torched the Ravens last week, five of his seven touchdowns were from 23 yards or longer. The Browns managed just one play of that distance. Meanwhile, Weeden threw eight incompletions in the direction of Greg Little (versus four connections), but targeted the fastest man on the field, Benjamin, just once (a gain of 22). COMPETE.

Punter Spencer Lanning came back to earth after a good debut. Eight punts: two touchbacks, just one inside the 20, a net average of 31.6 yards. The Browns were actually pretty even with Baltimore in yards from scrimmage, but the poor punt units squandered any chance to gain advantage through field position.

Once again, a strong first half defensive effort was not enough to let the Browns build an appreciable lead. They seemed to wear down in the second half, while the offensive adjustments were inadequate. Let’s see some screens to Trent, maybe some misdirection (an end around to Benjamin?), and a few shots deep. Weeden may not play with a sprained thumb, but whoever’s in there just needs to step up, bear down, start over, and COMPETE.

We’ve seen worse performances against the Ravens, no doubt about that, but we must see better ones than this uncoordinated stinker.