What Did We Learn From Preseason Game 1?
The Ravens are now one game into their preseason schedule with two remaining; one in Landover against the Washington Commanders on August 21 and another in Tampa against the Bucs on August 26. Rosters are scheduled to be reduced to 53 players by August 29 and the Practice Squad initially set by August 30.
On Saturday the Ravens kept their preseason win streak alive, extending it to 24 with a 20-19 win over the Philadelphia Eagles. Heading into the game I posted a few things to look for – all mild areas of concern at this point of training camp. Let’s review those concerns and determine if the Ravens calmed them or added more fuel to the belly of the fire.
How are the relative unknowns at CB competing?
Kevon Seymour, Daryl Worley, Kyu Kelly and Ar’Darius Washington all competed effectively yet doubt still lingers. Granted, you can only go to battle with those who line up against you across the line of scrimmage, but defending QB Tanner McKee to Tyrie Cleveland isn’t quite the same as putting the clamps on Joe Burrow to Ja’Marr Chase. With the severity of Rock Ya-Sin’s knee injury shrouded in Harbaughnian mystery, the team is dangerously thin at corner, particularly on the perimeter.
One side note. Brandon Stephens is a good football player. I just don’t think that he’s a good corner outside the numbers. He’s regularly in position to make a play, but his ball skills are suspect and he rarely has his head turned towards the ball to challenge the pass. I think he’s more ideally suited for safety but the relative dearth of talent in the secondary along the boundary leaves the team with little choice but to throw Stephens out there. The Ravens are too close to being among the league’s elite to allow corner to be their Achilles heel as they did back in 2014.
Is there depth at edge?
In a word – NO!
In limited action David Ojabo looked relatively pedestrian. The only edge rusher that consistently threatened was Malik Hamm who registered one of the team’s 4 sacks. The others came from a CB (Daryl Worley with 2) and off-the-ball LB Malik Harrison. It’s early, but judging from one fake game, edge is still a concern. The lack of pure pass rushers will force DC Mike Macdonald to manufacture a pass rush and when that happens, it can open up vulnerable areas and lead to big plays by the offense.
Will Ben Cleveland play with purpose?
Maybe he did, maybe he didn’t. But what I do know is that the results weren’t ideal. He is stiff and slow off the snap. As the 2021 NFL Draft’s 94th overall pick, this now vacant starting LG position was gifted to him and he’s blowing the opportunity. Every. Single. Day.
How will the young O-Linemen (Sala Aumavae-Laulu and Daniel Faalele) play?
Both of these young O-linemen were given plenty of snaps and of the two, I’d give the edge to Faalele. He held up well on the edge and certainly played inspired football. He’s still raw but he’s grinding as is Sala. The rookie guard had a face masking penalty that sabotaged one drive but overall, held his own reasonably well. He has the look and desire to improve. So overall, it was a plus day for this pair.
What does Todd Monken’s rushing attack look like?
If Saturday is any indication, the running game looks a bit more traditional than that of the Greg Roman years. But the preseason is full of lies, so who knows? The RPO’s were not part of Monken’s game plan on Saturday night and the overall ground attack didn’t include the sleight of hand we’ve grown accustomed to under former G-Ro.
I wondered coming into camp if Monken would simply adopt Roman’s run game and augment it with a more creative aerial attack. If Saturday is any indication, that won’t be the case. That’s not to say that eventually it won’t be, but for now it looks different. I’ll mark this one as incomplete for the moment.
The Dobbins Dilemma
J.K. Dobbins remains sidelined by choice as he continues to stage his “hold-in”. Coincidentally, Dalvin Cook, who shares the same agent as Dobbins (Zac Miller) remains gainfully unemployed. It’s not exactly a seller’s market for RB’s but Miller apparently is waiting for leverage to present itself in order to boost his clients’ respective earning power.
Dobbins is scheduled to make $1.39M in 2023 while backfield mate Justice Hill will earn $1.5M. Dobbins from what I hear, wants the Ravens to pony up more scratch in 2023. Meanwhile, the Ravens I’m told, are open to the idea but want a fair extension included in any deal. But finding fairness is challenging given the way Dobbins views himself relative to his peers and the way the Ravens see their oft-injured tailback.
However this plays out, Dobbins’ “hold-in” is accomplishing nothing and it could be argued that if it continues, it will be detrimental to his productivity in 2023. Count me among those who think it’s time for the Ravens to draw a line in the sand. In other words, issue Dobbins the warning, “If you aren’t practicing by August XX, daily fines will kick in.
Other Thoughts & Notables
• Justin Tucker hit a 60-yard FG with plenty of room to spare during the game against Philly. Word is the Ravens would like to bring in another kicker to ease the workload of the future Hall of Famer. But that would require a roster cut. Currently the Ravens have 2 open spots on their 90-man roster but it is widely believed that an edge rusher and CB will eventually assume those spots.
• I had opined last week that Keaton Mitchell would be a preseason star and that it would be difficult for the Ravens to hide him with the hopes of sneaking him onto the practice squad. But make no mistake about it, he’ll be on some teams 53. Hopefully it’s the Ravens. If Saturday was any indication, Melvin Gordon doesn’t bring enough juice to risk losing Mitchell.
• Tylan Wallace is a valuable special teams player and so far during camp, he’s proving himself to be a steady receiver. On Saturday against the Eagles, he threw an exclamation point beside his name with an excellent catch of a tough, back-shoulder throw from Tyler Huntley for a red zone TD. Wallace is clearly ahead of James Proche, III whose job is in serious jeopardy after the fumbled punt return v. the Eagles. Pro is respected because he’s a good dude and an extremely hard worker. Perhaps a change of scenery will help him because there’s nothing gelling here in Baltimore for the former SMU Mustang who by the way, is SMU’s all-time leading receiver with 301 catches for 3,949 yards and 39 TD’s – all SMU records.
• Speaking of Huntley, he’s clearly the best backup currently on the Ravens roster. Josh Johnson looked pretty bad on Saturday and retirement might not be too far away. Anthony Brown is plagued by a lengthy windup that will always make him susceptible to INT’s.
• The Ravens will host the Washington Commanders at the Under Armour Performance Center this week, with two joint practices scheduled, one on August 15 and a second on August 16. Both practices are scheduled for a 9:30AM start. The scrimmaging that ensues on the practice field between these neighbors is likely to be more telling than the mirage that will take place at FedEx Field on Monday night.
4 Responses
Ravens are one injury away from being in trouble at outside LB aka Edge now, cornerback, and Rb if Dobbins holds out the whole season but I think they would trade him first. If some teams RB goes down in the next 2 weeks EDC might pull the string and Mitchell makes the roster. Gus is the man and Lamar is still the best runner on the team.
There is nothing you said Tony that I would argue with. I bear no malice toward Ben Cleveland, but sometimes it’s hard to watch him play. His first snap on Saturday is not what anybody would want to have go viral on the net. If I had to give him a nickname, it would probably be ‘Slow Foot’. I swear, he even walks like Godzilla. I don’t know, maybe if they put him on the other side of the line – he’s got the size and strength. At NT or DE, he might not look quite so slow.
Dobbins is just not worth the trouble. I’d cut my losses and trade him for whatever I could get, draft pick or somebody who can edge rusher or play corner. I’m not concerned about what his ‘potential’ is supposed to be. All I know is that you can’t score from the bench. And be it the result of an egocentric ‘hold in’ or not being able to stay health enough to play more than half of the games he was contracted for, his ‘potential’ is mostly unrealized. If he doesn’t want to be here, get someone who does.
Not a whole lot to glean from this glorified “scrimmage” except, as you stated, that Huntley is clearly the best backup choice at QB! In fact, in my opinion, he could start for some teams in this league! And, if needed, hopefully, Monken will let him play the position to his fullest ability……
couldn`t agree more on keaton mitchell and tylan wallace…mitchell is electric….i also have to say that justice hill,since his knee surgery looks like a different back…..you wonder just how long hill `s injury may have affected his game?…both he and mitchell are breakaway threats like we rarely(if ever) see in baltimore…i hope both are on the roster(although it might not be realistic)…honestly,i`m tired of dobbins` shenanigans…i still remember seeing him caught from behind in the open field after he came back…noticably gimpy…we honestly don`t know where the guy is……harbaugh will never tell us….
tylan wallace was a wunderkind as a sophomore at oklahoma st…then he had a serious knee injury that appeared to set him back literally years….but he`s a serious talent…maybe that leg(years after the fact) is finally healing to the point that he`s regained confidence in it?…..
that was some catch vs the eagles…a special catch…we literally have an embarrassment of riches at the wr position…..will todd monken be able to ween lamar off of his playground passing game style and turn him into a more structured pro qb?…..it may just be who lamar is….i mean it works….but i wonder if any off. coordinator can change the more off the cuff /broken play style qb that lamar has always been?……it`s going to be an interesting season.