This past weekend we saw the Baltimore Ravens open preseason play against the Philadelphia Eagles. Baltimore unfortunately lost but we saw a lot of good things from them. But there were also many flaws and issues from them that will be discussed in this article. I also had the great opportunity to attend Ravens training camp on August 13th and will give a recap of what I saw at the end of this article.
The Ravens started preseason play in their home stadium on Friday, August 9th playing against the Eagles who they will face off against in the regular season on December 1st. The Ravens stadium went through man renovations throughout the offseason as they were able to show those to fans that were coming to the game. As a fan who went to the game, I was not able to see really any of the renovations as they were mostly for the high-paying fans, but I was able to get a look at the field seats which looked almost pieced together last second, I really do think the Ravens dropped the ball on this one but back to the play on the field. This was a very defensive game for both teams especially through the first half as we saw Ravens 1st round rookie corner Nate Wiggins break up three passes in a row on a drive and look as advertised as the best cover corner in the draft. Unfortunately, he was injured with a minor shoulder sprain and is considered day-to-day per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. We also got to see the Ravens new defensive coordinator Zach Orr calling plays. His pass defense was great, but his run defense struggled a bit throughout this game, he was able to work through these issues and make his run defense somewhat stouter but there are still things to work on for this defense. And addressing the main issue we saw from the Ravens this game, the backup QB room, the Ravens played 3 quarterbacks in this game and their combined stat line would be 10/22, 99 yards passing, 0 TDS, 0 INTS. Which is really bad and that's not including the crucial fumble from Emory Jones in the end that cost the Ravens the game. There is a glaring issue with this team if Lamar Jackson goes down. When Tyler Huntley came in you weren’t expecting a win, but he could go out there and play somewhat decent football, but these guys looked downright bad. Devin Leary was taken for his arm strength, and he goes out there and averages 6 yards a pass. Josh Johnson was supposed to be a veteran leader, and he went 4/12 passing on the day. This is an issue that the Ravens really need to figure out before the season starts.
Nevertheless, let's talk about some of the better performances from the Ravens in this game starting on the defensive side. Ravens second season linebacker Trenton Simpson showed up with 11 total tackles, 5 solo tackles and a pass deflection. Seeing stat lines like this from Simpson is great news for Ravens fans as losing Patrick Queen means that Simpson will take over MLB2 duties next to All-Pro MLB Roquan Smith. Ravens UDFA cornerback Bump Cooper Jr. also had a surprise showing as he had 1 total tackle and gave up 0 receptions and 0 yards on 4 targets against him. Heading over to the offensive side, despite the low amount of offense from the Ravens in this game there we’re still a few surprises on the offensive side of the ball. One of my biggest surprise players was Dayton Wade who is an UDFA Rookie WR from Ole Miss. He had 4 catches for 27 yards and was very shifty on the one Ravens touchdown drive. He was catching short passes from Devin Leary (who threw 4 of his 6 complete passes to Wade) and was really able to move with the ball getting them a lot closer in the redzone. And another surprising player for me was Owen Wright a second year running back out of Monmouth University. Wright outshined Ravens rookie 5th round running back Rasheen Ali in the game while rushing for 33 yards on 7 carries and making an impressive 17-yard reception. As always, the Ravens special team unit excelled with Justin Tucker making both of his kicks. Jordan Stout also punted 6 times for 309 yards averaging 51.5 yards per punt with one punt inside the 20. And with the new kick return rules the Ravens tested out multiple guys at returner in Rasheen Ali, Dayton Wade and Chris Collier. Ali ultimately had the longest return, but it was almost a fumble to the Eagles, officials ruled the fumble as caused by the ground, so he was saved, and the Ravens were rewarded with a 31-yard return. Ali had ball security issues in college, and he will try to fix those issues and hope they don’t translate to the NFL.
Moving over to the training camp side of things, August 13th was a non-padded training camp day therefore much less intensity with the practice but there were still a few observations I was able to make there. I saw new Ravens running back John Kelly who was added today with the corresponding move for the Ravens being to cut Quincy Roche. Trayvon Mullen went out for a little while and was working on rehabbing his shoulder with blocking sleds and then he went back inside and didn’t come out for the rest of practice. Veteran wideout Anthony Miller had a good day as the Ravens were working on deep passes, he had a nice deep touchdown catch that Lamar just put right in the bucket and he had a similar right in the bucket toe tap catch on the sidelines. Wide receiver Keith Kirkwood had a good showing at camp today with a nice physical catch over cornerback Brandon Stephens. Wide receiver Rashod Bateman did leave practice early, but it seems more as a precautionary reason than a reaggravation of his injury as the Ravens try to ease him back in. Moving back to the deep shots Lamar Jackson was able to hit Nelson Agholor in stride for a deep touchdown after Sunday’s practice where Agholor dropped a throw from Jackson while he was wide open causing Jackson to be very frustrated and throw his helmet to the ground. So, it was great to see Agholor making those catches today. Kyle Hamilton returned to practice today and looked pretty close to a full participant while he also had a really good pass breakup on a Jackson to Zay Flowers pass, Defensively Coordinator Zach Orr said that Hamilton might be the only safety in the league that could make that kind of play. Hamilton also signed autographs after practice for the kids. Ar’Darius Washington had a pick six against Josh Johnson as he keeps showing why he deserves a spot on the 53-man roster. Ravens first round rookie cornerback was once again not practicing as he is still dealing with his minor shoulder strain.
These were my main takeaways from preseason week 1 and 8/13th training camp. There were many good things to take away from what we saw in preseason but there were also many things the Ravens will look to improve upon as they get closer to the regular season. And as for training camp every practice is a battle for those 90 guys fighting for a job and may the best men win come roster cutdown day. Good luck to all those Ravens on the roster bubble and I hope they can make it on this team or show put and go to someone that needs them. Baltimore is ready for some good football this upcoming season and hopefully revenge for that AFC Championship game hoping they can get their way back to the Super Bowl and hoist the Lombardi Trophy.
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