The preseason is part of the offseason process – the process of building and shaping a 53-man roster and the accompanying practice squad. Winning is a pleasant byproduct of the effort, but the ultimate goal is for each player to stack, to get a little better with each snap, with each game.
The players we watched last night in large part are those who will eventually represent the Ravens depth – they build the roster from the bottom up. Injuries are part of the game. They are inevitable. Quality depth helps teams to absorb costly injuries. The level of quality is in many ways defined by the things learned and experienced during these preseason games.
So, what did we learn from Preseason Game 1 vs. the Eagles, a game the home team lost, 16-13? Here are my takeaways:
Offense
The Ravens will live and die with Lamar Jackson, a player known to fall prey to illness; a player who missed 5 games in 2022 and 4 games in 2021. That’s substantive! If the same were to happen in 2024, the Ravens are ill-equipped to win with the likes of Josh Johnson or Devin Leary. Johnson has struggled in camp and last night was no different. If Lamar misses time, the Ravens will miss an opportunity to win. It’s that simple.
Throughout camp, Bethesda, MD native Owen Wright has outperformed Rasheen Ali. Last night was no different. Wright had 33 yards on 7 carries while Ali had 26 yards on 10 totes. If Wright isn’t the clubhouse leader for No. 3 on the RB depth chart to start the season, he should be, barring draft choice v. UDFA politics.
Dayton Wade has captured my attention. He did have a drop when he tried to add YAC on a short comeback route, but otherwise, he’s shown good ball skills and instincts. I don’t see him has a member of the 53, but I do expect him to be on the team’s practice squad, unless of course he balls out and forces the Ravens to make a tough decision that could result in him being exposed for another team’s taking…Tylan Wallace made some nice catches in traffic…Malik Cunningham might have a better chance taking reps as a backup QB than he does making the team (even the practice squad for that matter) as a wide receiver.
Daniel Faalele did next to nothing to silence his critics. His quest to be the team’s starting RG is more like a fairy tale. This preseason game was indicative of his camp so far, one that has me wondering if he even makes the team…That said, I thought the same thing of Ben Cleveland a week ago, but the former Georgia Bulldog had himself a decent game while showcasing some versatility assuming the role of center.
The best of the O-linemen trying to crack the starting lineup was Andrew Voorhees who could work out to be a major coup by Eric DeCosta who moved back into the 7th round of the 2023 NFL Draft to select Voorhees, considered by most to be a solid Day 2 pick before his Combine injury. The former USC Trojan was effective recognizing disguised blitzes, making the proper switch and filling in with great technique to thwart the blitz. He sprung Wright during the RB’s first quarter 12-yard run, turning Eagles DT Jordan Davis to create a running lane.
Todd Monken’s offense had 82 yards passing, 82 yards rushing. The good news is that represents a balanced attack. The bad news, that also represents an offense suffering from vitamin deficiency anemia. Two of the Ravens drives produced a total of 122 yards. The other 8 possessions were a complete cluster during which the Ravens “racked up” just 42 net yards on 25 plays (1.68 YPP).
Defense
Nate Wiggins is a baller. That has been evident throughout training camp. It was also evident last night. He’s tight in coverage; bats down the ball and protects the boundaries on screens. Despite his slight frame, he attacks as a tackler. He’ll be a starter by mid-season, unless of course we receive devastating news about his right arm injury later today.
nate wiggins vs eagles | preseason week 1 pic.twitter.com/7vsEK36ZZg
— 🏜️ (@SimplyAS10) August 10, 2024
Trenton Simpson has speed and instincts. He looks prepared to effectively fill the shoes of Patrick Queen. Simpson flowed well to the ball, shooting gaps once ball carriers made a commitment. He even had the added responsibility of the green dot. There’s a falloff at the weakside ILB position after Simpson. Protecting him is important. I’ve seen enough. Restrict his work to the practice field.
Ar’Darius Washington smells blood in the water and it is that of opportunity – one that surfaced with the knee injury to Arthur Maulet. His versatility is a plus and he played well at slot corner…Daryl Worley was solid, and Bump Cooper made a nice break-up on a deep ball down the left sideline, running stride for stride with the receiver. Beau Brade and Sanoussi Kane were physical and seemingly undeterred by the bright lights of their first NFL preseason game…Pepe Williams did a nice job of keeping his feet during his sack of Kenny Pickett.
The defensive front was less than impressive. Early on Broderick Washington and Travis Jones did little to stymie the Eagles interior rushing attack…The edge rushers did little in the way of applying pressure to Philadelphia QB’s. There’s a rather obvious dearth of pass rushing talent once you get past Odafe Oweh and Kyle Van Noy. DeCosta might be forced into a move. Haven’t we seen this movie before?
Special Teams
The new kickoff rule has the potential to be exciting, but it certainly has an odd look. It improves the offense’s chances of starting from somewhere better than the 25-yard line and early indications suggest that there will be more returns for scores than the traditional kickoff plays…Jordan Stout did his best to trigger more rain with a few missiles that soared well about Kamala Harris’ data storage clouds and into the sky. He netted 45 yards on 6 punts while averaging 51.5.
Coaching
John Harbaugh should have called it a day with Wiggins. Given his camp and his first half, there was nothing left for the 2024 first-round pick to prove. But Harbaugh wanted to see more and in doing so, Wiggins could miss some time with an arm injury. Look, injuries happen but this one could have easily been avoided and should have been with a little common sense…With 16 seconds remaining in regulation, the Ravens ushered reserve QB Emory Jones out onto the field to try and win it for the Ravens. It was Jones’ first snap as a professional. It didn’t go well. Jones was strip-sacked and 12 seconds later the Ravens walked off the field, 16-13 losers. Why not just let Leary take that final snap? What a ridiculous sequence of events. But to be fair, Coach is still in preseason mode too, I guess.
Savage Sandusky
Hometown announcers are often homers and at times, Sandusky wears that hat. The Ravens didn’t get the benefit of a good spot, paving the way for an Eagles first down. And as the game officials sifted through the wreckage of human bodies, Sandusky savagely chastised the league, believing that there’s a better way to determine a first down, than relying on old guys with sticks.
He may be right, probably is.
But that poor chain gang member may never be the same. Have a listen below…
LMAOOOO the announcer absolutely EVISCERATED this dude on the chain gang
just running the chains out and caught a barrage of strays 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/MJPw8216Qo
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) August 10, 2024
In Gerry’s defense, he did issue an apology today.
Will Josh Johnson and Devin Leary do the same?
13 Responses
Harbaugh was for sure inadequate in his methods & diminished in his thinking. Why not have your 3rd string QB with a big arm take the final snap? Harbaugh is on his last leg with the team. Lamar saved his job in 2018 and I suspect the same is true now (especially considering harbaughs poor coaching of the AFC champ game)
The pass protection looked pretty good, but the OLine didn’t seem to have much punch in the run game. 82 yards says it all. I’ll take it for now, though. It’s fairly early. Hopefully, they can get in sync over the next two preseason games. I’m just not sure guys like Faalele and Rosengarden have the mauler in them to be strong run blockers.
Leopards don’t change their spots and John Harbaugh may be the worst game day coach in the game!
Steelers fans say the same about Mike Tomlin. John has some game day work to do…and maybe he never gets to the point of being an efficient in-game head coach; maybe he never is one step ahead of his peers like Andy Reid was to him in the AFCCG. But “the worst”? There are plenty of other coaches “competing” for that distinction.
All coaches make game day mistakes occasionally, but Harbaugh has made them consistently for 17 years!
He’s the not the worst Tony, however he’s very fortunate to still have a job with the many, many game day blunders and several blown big games since 2013..
At least Tomlin can win with bum qbs. I think if Lamar got drafted by Pittsburgh in 2018 he’d at least have 1 Super Bowl by now with their great defense and pass catchers. And Tomlin wouldn’t have ran the ball 6 times in the AFCCG
Good to see you’ve come out of your cave for the new season, singing the same tunes as before. You hated Billick and he won a SB. You can’t stand Harbs and he has a SB. Some things don’t change.
Not sure who you are referring to, but winning a SB does not make a coach a god or HOF lock. Harbaugh hasn’t won much of anything in the playoffs since 2013, stats don’t lie..
He’s referring to me! BTW, Billick was such a good HC that he wasn’t ever able to land another HC position after being fired! And, if it hadn’t been for Flacco taking control of the offense after Harbaugh was FORCED to fire his crony OC, Cam Cameron, he wouldn’t have won that SB!
Right on. I am referring to you. You’ve been trolling Harbaugh and Billick from jumpstreet. But then you were ArmchairQB. Meanwhile the Ravens win way more than they lose. They make the playoffs more than most teams. In the time they have won 2 Superbowls, the Clowns have never been to one. Their last championship was in 1964. I was 3. My brothers and my father went to the game.
Billick was fired because he locker room fell apart with infighting. But he brought Baltimore a CHIP. And our last one was from that team was against the Cowboys. That one, I watched.
Is Harbaugh the best coach in the league? No. That no doubt belongs to Andy Reid. Is John Harbaugh better than at absolute least 25 other coaches in the NFL. Perhaps only you says no. In fact, I can’t name 5 other coaches better than John Harbaugh. Can you? Tell me who is an active HC you’d rather have. But do it without looking it up on the internet. You’re the armchair QB. I’m sure you can name all the HC’s in the leagure.
Eric needs to find a QB2, and fast. Hey, how about that armchair guy?!?
But TL, don’t see how coachJohn could have foreseen Wiggins going down so soon. It’s all in the hands of the football gods.
Guess we may have to wait a bit for Wiggins vs Hollywood – hope it’s ’cause of Wiggs and not Hollywood.
OOPS – my BAD. Meant ’cause of Hollywood – not Wiggins.