We’ve almost made it, Ravens flock! The NFL preseason schedule has officially wrapped up, and in less than two weeks from today we will finally once again be blessed with meaningful football in our lives. With all of the hype and anticipation heading into a year where the Ravens will be champing at the bit to remind people just who they are, it truly couldn’t come soon enough. The team still has a lot of work to do before the final roster cut downs on Tuesday though, and we’ve got some recapping from the final preseason game to get to. So, let’s dive in!
🔥🔥🔥🔥
Tune in on WBAL
pic.twitter.com/WisEl9CzBi— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) August 27, 2022
We’ll start with the good stuff. After a mostly uneventful first quarter in which the offense went 3-and-out twice and couldn’t get it going, this one quickly became the Anthony Brown show. Every week he’s seemed to get more and more comfortable under center, and his progress could very well present the Ravens with an interesting decision. Do they roll with three QBs on the main roster? Or do they attempt to sign Brown to the practice squad and risk another team swooping in with a potential QB2 offer? We’ll find out soon enough.
Also promising to see was how quickly Demarcus Robinson was able to make his stamp on the Baltimore faithful, to the tune of four catches for 135 yards and the score shown above. Now, we’d be remiss not to mention that the quality of opponents in a final preseason game is probably the lowest you’ll find in any NFL contest, but nonetheless it seems like that shiftiness and deep threat ability that the Ravens need him for hasn’t gone anywhere.
Ravens defense with 5 sacks tonight.
— Kyle Phoenix Barber (@KylePBarber) August 28, 2022
The defense also showed up to play in a big way, most notably Kristian Welch who notched 2.5 sacks on the evening. With the emergence of rookie middle linebacker Josh Ross in recent weeks, Welch’s roster spot (which seemed like a lock given his special teams prowess) has been looking less and less safe. It’s clear that he also knew this, and wanted to remind the Ravens coaching staff why they’ve kept him around these last few years.
I'm not feeling pumped about the Ravens RBs right now. Knowing JK Dobbins will need time to be 100, where is the RB standing out vs. backups like Isaiah Likely and Demarcus Robinson? Or even like the ILBs on the bubble did. Not writing anyone off, but not feeling confident either
— Sarah Ellison (@sgellison) August 28, 2022
On the flip side, it was yet another rough game for the Ravens running back room. As a team (Anthony Brown included) they ran for only 21 yards on 14 combined carries, continuing a trend from the first couple weeks where the rushing attack has simply looked stagnant. Given the uncertainty surrounding JK Dobbins’ early season workload, it’s likely that the guys we’ve seen carry the rock so far will be leaned on heavily in the first few weeks, so seeing this inability by all of them to get any real momentum going is certainly a concern.
Pretty nice ball from Sam Howell but Dyami Brown bobbles and ultimately drops what could have been a touchdown pic.twitter.com/SJ5UF8ONTa
— Mark Bullock (@MarkBullockNFL) August 27, 2022
It was also another rough night for Brandon Stephens, who gave up a few key catches in coverage and almost allowed even more as shown above. After a frustrating game against Arizona where he had a boneheaded personal foul call and was being beaten on almost every snap, you have to wonder if these performances will make the coaching staff rethink his role. Safety seems to be his comfort zone, but it also happens to be one of the Ravens’ deepest position groups. Corner is where they’d likely prefer to play him, but if he can’t cover wide receivers man-to-man that’s obviously not going to work either. It will be interesting to see how he’s deployed come Week 1, and whether or not he can get it together on the field.
A look how Poe was injured.
You hate to see anyone go down in the final preseason game.
— Jamison Hensley (@jamisonhensley) August 28, 2022
Unfortunately, we were unable to escape this final game completely unscathed, as it appears Poe may be out for the rest of the year. Absolutely heartbroken for him and his family, as some were saying this could have been his best season to date. Seeing a guy taken out in his prime in such an unwatchable fashion turns your stomach, and if Roger Goodell doesn’t fine that child for such an unnecessary use of force, I have no faith left in the league office. Actually, that’s probably already the case in all seriousness, for much more obvious reasons.
Ravens 53-man roster projection: Expect a lot of roster gymnastics for DeCosta and company given team’s injury situation.
via @TheAthletic https://t.co/k7pK88tLHa
— Jeff Zrebiec (@jeffzrebiec) August 28, 2022
We’ll wrap up today first with a fun piece from our friend Jeff Zrebiec to get us primed for the final roster cut downs. Positions such as middle linebacker, left guard (well, offensive line as a whole really) and edge rusher will all be key spots to keep an eye on, as those all seem to be the biggest question mark areas for the Ravens. Will we see some unexpected faces on the sidelines come Week 1? Will it all go exactly as we planned? Will another free agent addition come in and shake up the whole thing? Tomorrow we will have our answer.
The next game the Ravens play…
Lamar Jackson vs. Joe Flacco 🍿 pic.twitter.com/h8jpuaHLXc
— The Ravens Realm (@RealmRavens) August 28, 2022
And lastly, in keeping with tradition, this edition of the Ravens photo of the week signifies what comes next. The next time we see the purple and black take the field, it will be against an old friend in New York. It’s nothing personal Joe. We’re sorry, we love you.
