Preseason Game 1 is always a little bit less telling than Game 2. These are the things I’m going to be watching for in Game 2.
Discuss what you’ll be watching for here.
1. The Running Game. So the running game didn’t look all that sharp last week. There were signs that it was going to be fine, and there’s obviously some rust because we don’t cut block in camp. But I’m to the point that I want to see results. There were big gaping holes for Rice, Pierce, Taliaferro, Forsett to run through last year. I want to see some of those this year. The running game looked awful in 2013 and we blamed Shipley and Gradkowski early. There aren’t excuses if you ask me this year.
2. Buck Allen vs Lorenzo Taliaferro. I think we’re going to find out Saturday the results of who is ahead here. In particular, if Taliaferro seems a big dip in reps the next two games it will show he’s locked up the top spot. He may not show it on the practice field, but Taliaferro is a gamer. Let’s be honest Buck Allen was mostly hype and rookie RBs have a long road to climb. If Taliaferro can handle third down blocking schemes and catch the ball out of the backfield, there won’t be a lot of room for Allen if he isn’t more decisive running the ball. Taliaferro indeed looked really good. Another performance of similar caliber and he’s a lock for the RB2 spot if you ask me. I can’t think of a lot of 3rd down and goal line backs though, so perhaps Allen can still impress his way onto the field for those reps.
3. The CB depth. Going back and looking at the last two years, you really how bad we really have been at corner when you move down the depth chart. We don’t have to watch the likes of Franks and C. Brown and pray things will go well. But someone needs to step up here. Jackson is hard to trust for health reasons. I’d put him out there for the whole game this week and see what happens. Melvin seems to be growing, I want to see that continue. Curious to see what happens with Pointer/Walker/Vaughan it’s likely the guy they think will get claimed is going to get a roster spot. Also depends a lot on special teams.
4. Speaking of which, special teams. This is where you’re going to see some roster bubble guys live or die. Rosburg has talked about A. Brown, Butler, Waller, and Aiken as gunners. The ST piece is going to matter a lot if both of those guys can stick around on the roster for this year. I’ll be watching the gunners closely.
4b. The return game still hasn’t developed. It seems like it’s Campanaro’s job to lose in some ways. In other ways, in the same way I hated how they used Webb/Jackson on returns when they needed their depth, I want to say keep the guys that need to stay healthy off the field for additional potential injuries. Carter appears to have lost his spot. So it’s looking more and more like a Jackson/Campanaro battle. I think it could be the piece that saves Jackson’s roster spot.
5. Offensive line, particularly the 2nd and 3rd stringers. It’s too bad we haven’t see more of Myers, but the Ravens might be starting to try and hide him. It doesn’t look like there’s a roster spot for him if Jensen stays. So he’s likely not going to play this week and if that’s the case, he may not see the field at all this pre-season. He’s a guy that if he goes “down for the year” shortly after the 4th preseason, I won’t be surprised. But the rest of these guys need to be better. It helps that Urschel is back and it’ll help if Zuttah is more healthly. But we saw Wagner get hurt, the depth will be important. It always is. We weren’t a beacon of health on the OL last year, but I’m curious to see how we hold together. My guess is if he misses time Yanda will slide out again, but I wonder if we’re going to see a lot of the first team OL at all this week. And by virtue Flacco. I can’t imagine they want him out there with Hurst/Reid on the bookends.
6. To me Carl Davis has locked up his spots. If the Ravens think he needs the reps though, more power to them, keep running him out there. But let’s keep his legs fresh. I think we see a reduction in his snaps. I want to see more of Guy. He was a solid backup last year, I think we could see him be another 20% of all snaps guys that really contributes. KLM and Bilukudi seem to be fighting for their bubble lives. I think it’ll be really interesting to see who is taking the snaps. If KLM and Bilukudi can’t get reps and we see a lot of Davis/Tyson/Guy that’s the death knell for KLM and Bilukudi’s spots. If not for this game, but how it progresses from this game to the next game has to matter for those two.
7. The safety rotation just got interesting. Glowing reports out of camp about Lewis show that he’s the CF and the playcaller in the secondary. I see him on the field almost 100% of snaps barring injuries this year. How are the Ravens going to use Brooks? Will we see him get any reps early on? Is Trawick’s spot lost. I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for him, but it seems like the Ravens like Perry. Trawick seems to run really hot or cold and Levine can and has played some CB. Trawick seems like he’s out now. The question is Perry in? And do the Ravens find a way to use Brooks creatively to help with the CB issues. Do we bring him in and have 3 safeties for a quarters type alignment? Nick Perry is the undrafted darling that’s finally emerged. I don’t think there will be another undrafted that makes the roster. The question is will there be room or a role for him on the 53-man.
8. The offensive playcalling. I was watching last week and I’ll watch again this week. I want to see how the offensive playcalling develops. How’s our run pass balance? More play action? We saw plenty last week. It’s so interesting that Trestman a guy without a running based offense in Chicago used more play action than Kubiak. I think it’s part of what he does to help QBs identify the defense and make key reads. We saw a sharp game from Joe and Schaub last week. Hoping to see the same again this week. I’m going to pay a bit more attention to tempo too. I’m curious to see how the Ravens approach this year and if we finally start to see more quick calls or breaking the huddle early and adjustments at the LOS to put pressure on the defense. I can’t definitively say I saw the Bears do this, but I feel like it’s certainly part of Trestman’s repertoire so I’ll be keeping an eye out for it.
9. The TE battle is getting good. Pitta is as we thought down for 6 weeks. We’ve finally got 3 good solid TEs that we feel comfortable using all the time. Boyle seems solid at worst, though no real upside. He’s emerged a good check down guy though and with 7 targets last week he lead the team. Williams is a gamer, he brings it and he wants to make plays. We need that attitude. He’s seemingly getting more comfortable. I wonder if we’ll see him and Gillmore together on some snaps. In particular I want to see some reps in the red zone with Gillmore, Williams, Waller and Brown on the field together. You’d think Joe would have to be able to find some mismatches in there. Plus you could be jumbo with Taliaferro and Juice in there at the same time. Gillmore is firmly the starter, but Williams is going to get the reps to make some growth this year.
10. Finally the WR battle. This is the one spot we aren’t sure how many guys the Ravens will carry. Smith, Perriman, Aiken, Brown are likely in. Campanaro probably earned his spot if he’s healthy last week. But the Butler – Waller battle is going to get some attention. Can they force the Ravens to keep 6 guys? The less reps Perriman gets the more feasible that seems. But Butler has to do more than impress at mini camps and in practice. We’ve heard glowing reports about his speed and his improved route running. In particular I’ll be keying in on him, because it feels like he’s the one that has to work the hardest to win his roster spot right now.
Ravens Analyst
Jordan Kough is a graduate of University of Maryland, Baltimore County. He’s a long standing Ravens and Orioles fan of many years. He grew up just north of Baltimore and likes the statistical analysis of games as much as watching games themselves.