IT’S BACK!!!
After three long months wandering in the wasteland between seasons, we’ve gotten the first taste of football to sate our hunger for a little longer, at least until training camp is in full swing. It’s like finding an oasis in the desert to help you complete your journey and finally make it back to civilization and sanity.
Now I may be hyping this up a little too much, but it was great to see the Ravens take the practice field and begin to clear off the cobwebs that have collected since their 2017 campaign ended prematurely on New Years Eve.
There was the beautiful moment that fans collectively watched repeatedly in slow motion: the interaction between incumbent QB Joe Flacco and rookie QB Lamar Jackson. After some rumors spread that Flacco hadn’t had any association with the former Heisman winner, fans let out a sigh of relief on Monday when the video surfaced. My colleague Adam Bonaccorsi had a breakdown of that whole moment as well.
Flacco looks good. The high points of his performances at OTAs thus far have been a beautifully executed deep shot to new burner John Brown and some nicely executed passes to veteran wideout Michael Crabtree. If he can continue to build momentum and chemistry with the new and returning weapons at his disposal, there’s no reason why he couldn’t have a resurgent season.
I’m not afraid to say I’m on the Kenny Young bandwagon as evidenced by my last two articles. I mean the kid has talent, and he showed it when he tipped a Josh Woodrum pass into the arms of Patrick Onwuasor. Plus, I don’t really see anyone that can offer up legitimate competition against the UCLA product. He has potential, and I’ll be damned if I don’t see a Young jersey when I head down Ravens Walk at M&T Bank Stadium for the season opener.
So much hope rides on the 2018 Baltimore Ravens. There are plenty of exciting new folds in offense and defense that have not been seen on the gridiron in many a moon here in Charm City. John Harbaugh’s job could be on the line this season, and with Ozzie Newsome handing the keys to Eric DeCosta, every loss will be another log on the fire underneath the head coach’s seat.
All of this speculation is way too early, but much like bad pizza still being pizza, football is most definitely still football.
