The Baltimore Ravens had their first preseason game on Friday and the reviews are in. Joe Alfana of Sports Illustrated picked five Ravens who impressed against the Philadelphia Eagles. His selections were: Nate Wiggins, Trenton Simpson, Owen Wright, Roger Rosengarten, and Tylan Wallace. We’ve got more to talk about regarding Wiggins, so let’s highlight what Alfana scribed regarding Simpson and Rosengarten specifically because these are two players stepping into big jobs for the Ravens.
On Simpson:
Simpson has some big shoes to fill this season as he takes over for the departed Patrick Queen, and he certainly made a strong first impression. The second-year linebacker played three quarters and recorded a game-high 11 tackles.
Simpson is one of those players that needed some time in the exhibition play. As the quote above mentions, he’s supposed to be the new Patrick Queen. If you think about how Queen played, you’ll remember he was fast and flowed to the football without mercy. Seeing Simpson play confidently and trusting what he saw was a good sign that he could take that style of linebacker play in the games that count. In those games, he’ll have Roquan Smith playing next to him which should boost his development and performance.
On the rookie tackle, Rosengarten, this is what Alfana wrote:
The second-round pick out of Washington had a relatively quiet preseason debut, rotating with Patrick Mekari at right tackle. For a rookie offensive lineman, though, quiet is exactly what a team wants. Rosengarten is still competing for the starting right tackle job, and Friday’s performance shows that he’s up to the task.
Indeed, quiet is a good thing. Rosengarten was solid and he looked the part. He’s a second-round pick that was drafted to be an immediate starter. It wouldn’t have been shocking if he looked like a rookie or there were some things that gave the coaches some pause. The fact of the matter is that there are no notes needed. The rookie tackle looked the part and confidence should be up.
Ravens Rookie RT Roger Rosengarten against Eagles
– 11 Pass Pro opportunities
– 0 Pressures
– 0 Sacksvia: @PFF #RavensFlock pic.twitter.com/6aTtJj9JqE
— Jordan (@OnlyTheRavens) August 11, 2024
Ravens CB Nate Wiggins was ranked as the highest-graded player on the team in Week 1 preseason, per @PFF,
No surprise here. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/jIO6HODYLm
— 𝗥𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝗡𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝙇𝙄𝙑𝙀 (@LIVERavenNation) August 11, 2024
How impressive was Wiggins? Let’s talk about the rookie cornerback. He pulled the top grade from Pro Football Focus from any Raven on Friday night.
.@Ravens #1 pick; Nate Wiggins dazzled early. Hoping the shoulder is good. #BaldysBreakdowns pic.twitter.com/Iyo4niNAp3
— Brian Baldinger (@BaldyNFL) August 10, 2024
While the injury to his shoulder is the footnote you don’t want to see after such an impressive debut, it looks like he avoided the worst. Ian Rappoport of NFL Network reports that Wiggins’s injury is considered to be a day-to-day kind of situation.
#Ravens first-round CB Nate Wiggins suffered a minor shoulder sprain in their game this week, sources say. The impressive rookie shouldn’t miss regular season time.
He is considered day-to-day. pic.twitter.com/o4JtigDEqc
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 11, 2024
Wiggins showed off his athleticism and his coverage skills. The Eagles tested him early and often. He wasn’t perfect but he showed the skill-set that made him a first-round pick. The Ravens have to hope he recovers soon because he’s a player who could make an impact in the kickoff game against the Chiefs.
“Looks stable, looks good.” Coach Harbaugh with an update on Kyle Hamilton pic.twitter.com/jffahoaa91
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) August 11, 2024
Wiggins isn’t the only defensive back with injury concerns at the moment. Kyle Hamilton left practice early on Sunday with an apparent leg injury. Harbaugh told the media this: “his leg looks good and stable.” At the moment the Ravens seem to be on the lucky side of unfortunate situations. It would be nice to stop testing their luck for a bit, of course.
Chiefs WR Marquise “Hollywood” Brown, who spent the night at a Jacksonville-area hospital after suffering a dislocation of his sternoclavicular shoulder joint before being discharged this morning, is now back in KC. His status for KC’s regular-season opener remains uncertain.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 11, 2024
There was a scary moment in the Chiefs’ preseason game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Former Raven Marquise Brown was injured and it landed him in the hospital. Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that Brown is back in Kansas City and his status for the season opener against the Ravens is up in the air. Hopefully, Brown will make a speedy recovery. Even if he misses a few games though, it sounds like great news that this injury wasn’t worse, as it had the potential to be life-threatening.
Marquise ‘Hollywood’ Brown
Injury update
He suffered a SC (sternoclavicular) dislocation. This is a very serious injury, and is sometimes life-threatening.
The collarbone or clavicle, attaches to the sternum with a bunch of ligaments. The collarbone can pop out and dislocate… pic.twitter.com/GOlJkddBqC
— Jesse Morse, MD (@DrJesseMorse) August 11, 2024
Back to current Ravens…
Big day for @Lj_era8 and @DaGorilla4’s connection 🔥 pic.twitter.com/gefvdE2brV
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) August 11, 2024
Isaiah Likely's big day with Lamar Jackson:
🟣 20-yard TD catch
⚫️ Catch on deep crosser, plus stare-down for added effect
🟣 30-yard jump ball catch
⚫️ 50-yard one-handed catch-and-run score(yardage is estimated)https://t.co/nvg91Xi3tk
— Jonas Shaffer (@jonas_shaffer) August 12, 2024
The Ravens X account shared the top play of Sunday’s practice, a snazzy one-handed catch from Isaiah Likely. Likely burst onto the scene last year when Mark Andrews missed time due to injury. The tight end continues to show that this was just a teaser of what is to come and he could be one of the top five most entertaining Ravens in 2024. According to Jonas Shaffer, this wasn’t the only big play Likely had on the practice field. It should be fun to watch this entire TE room in the coming months.
2 Responses
How did Wiggins Steal the show? We have all stated before the kid needed to eat, that he was too light. Now he has proven what we’ve all been saying. Now he’s injured. This kid was drafted specifically because teams like KC don’t try to draft “probowl WR” out of college (looking at you EDC). Instead they draft the fastest WRs they can get and send them deep. You need someone like Wiggins to keep up with them. Maybe if we started drafting fast WRs instead of worrying about pro bowls, we might have a WR corps. But alas we have a QB that sucks at throwing the deep ball ( not enough touch on his deep throws). So again, how did Wiggins steal the show? He’s injured.
man, I am sure you are fun to watch this game with, Mr. Ironhide. Crazy how negative people can feel about a good showing from a rookie who banged up his shoulder making a good play. AND you some how turned this into shitting on Lamar? Gotta check those sad fan bingo boxes, huh?