Ravens: Quick Hits August 12th

The Baltimore Ravens had their first pre-season game Friday, in a home loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.

There are two more more pre-season games to come, before full attention can be turned to the September 5th season opener in Kansas City.

As a kid, I used to really enjoy preseason football.

Getting the first glimpses of the team, and seeing directly the players who were pushing for the last spots on the roster.
Getting a sense of who could potentially impact the team when the games started to count.

I’m no longer a kid.
I’m 45, and cantankerous.
Pre-season football is horrifically bad.

I tried to watch a few series Friday night, and it was torture.
One guy – Ravens 1st round pick Nate Wiggins – was jumping off the screen for his work in coverage.
And he was immediately hurt.
Thankfully the injury was minor, and the Ravens believe he will be available for Week 1.

If you still enjoy watching the preseason, God bless.

Also, I certainly understand that torture for me, means everything to the individual players pushing to make the roster, and the life changing aspects that can bring their families.
I wish them nothing but the best and respect that they are working to make this roster, or put something on tape which sets up their next opportunity.

But I personally just can’t pretend to be interested at this point.
I also can’t personally pretend to care about the regular camp updates the local beat reporters are writing about daily, or posting to X,
That’s not a shot at any of them.  A lot of them do excellent work. Reporting on what they see, is exactly what they should be doing. It’s their job.

I’m just saying I don’t care about who the camp darling of the day is, or who is in the best shape of their life.
There have also just been too many Autumn’s where I’ve wondered, “What happened to the guy I heard about all Summer?”

All the fans want is for their team to get to the season opener as fresh and healthy as can be.
Which is frankly the same thing the teams want too. (Of course they are good with the additional gate money.)
The teams aren’t trying to spend these preseason games giving extended snaps to players they are counting on.
The teams aren’t spending Training Camp and these games hitting, and doing the tackling they did 25-30 years ago.
And I’ll bitch about that too in the first few weeks of the season, when there are missed tackles galore; but ultimately you understand it.
There are probably only so many tackles in guys.  You want to spend that equity in the Summer before the lights go on?
Coach Billick had it right 20+ years ago, when his camps were called, ‘Camp Cream Puff.’

So, my advice to my fellow Ravens fans is to tune out the noise you hear coming out of Owings Mills right now.
It’s largely meaningless.
Unless it’s a severe injury, nothing that happens in Camp or in these two remaining Preseason games are going to tell you much.
The questions we had going into camp, will remain largely unanswered, and unknown until the curtain rises on the season for real.

Quick Hits

1) Is the Offensive Line good enough for the skill position talent to flourish? Andrew Vorhees is expected to start at LG.  Right Tackle will either be Patrick Mekari, or Rookie Roger Rosengarten. I like Mekari’s versatility. Rosengarten has some real promise, but there are also questions about his strength. Right Guard is also a question, which makes things even more dicey with having multiple question marks on that side of the line.  Obviously the Ravens need Tyler Linderbaum to be great at Center, and the hope is that Ronnie Stanley is average to above-average at LT, and stays available.  Realistically you can expect that the questions the O-Line has, are going to force the Ravens to regularly utilize 2 and 3 TE sets, along with a lot of Patrick Ricard.  Stanley being above average would be huge.  But an average Stanley who somehow stays available for 17 weeks plus the post-season would also go a long way to stabilizing things.  If the Ravens were going to make an addition before the season, my hope would be either for a swing Tackle who could start if need be, or a starting RG that projects to better than Ben Cleveland or Daniel Faalele.

2) One way to help the line is to get the ground game going. Let them push down hill. Get early leads, and feed Derrick Henry. Bully teams in the 4th Quarter when they are tired, by feeding Henry, and watch teams mentally give up with flailing arm tackles.

3) I feel great about the Ravens skill position talent as a whole.  I don’t feel great about the WR depth, but it’s obvious that all 3 TE’s going to get time, and that minimizes some of the concern there. Still, the WR  talent behind Zay Flowers and Rashod Bateman is questionable. Tylan Wallace doesn’t seem to be in any danger of being a cap casualty since he’s a quality Special Teams player. Does he get more WR reps? Is Rookie Devontez Waller going to be regularly active?  The Ravens have recently signed veterans Russell Gage, and Anthony Miller.  Seems like Gage – would have a decent chance of making the roster, behind Nelson Agholor. Last thing with the WR’s, is Bateman a dependable option week-to-week here in Year 4? I believe he has the ability to really emerge, but first things first, he has to show he can stay on the field. Before dreaming of him putting up huge numbers, can he show an ability to regularly move the chains?

4) Mike Macdonald is now the Head Coach in Seattle.  I think Macdonald was a legitimate difference maker. I think back to the Christmas Night game in San Francisco.  49ers Head Coach Kyle Shanahan is always regarded as one of the best tacticians in the game. Macdonald’s defense didn’t just out execute the Niners, they out thought San Francisco.  I was a big fan of Zach Orr the player. He was outstanding in 2016, and then had to prematurely retire due to congenital neck condition. Huge respect to Orr for going from that injury to immediately into coaching and progressing to this point where he’s now the Defensive Coordinator. I’m sure Orr will be good in his own right. It is fair to wonder what differences we will see with Orr now in charge.

5) One of the primary questions for Orr and the Ravens is; will the defense be able to line up and get pressure without scheming additional rushers? The Ravens led football last year with 60 sacks. They will put up plenty of sacks again this year as well. That’s not my question. My question is when the Ravens are playing a strong passing offense, can their pass rushers get home, while leaving their pass defenders in coverage?  Michael Pierce isn’t going to get sacks, but he takes up a huge amount of space. Last year he played all 17 games (11 combined in ’21 and ’22), and I think his availability helps others push the pocket. I think Travis Jones breaks out this year in his third year. You know you are going to get strong production from Justin Madubuike.  What do the Ravens get out of Odafe Oweh, and David Ojabo? It’s certainly concerning that Ojabo still hasn’t been cleared to play in games.

6) The Secondary has a chance to be awesome. Headed by Kyle Hamilton and Brandon Stephens, that’s a loaded group. It’s that much better if Marlon Humphrey bounces back, and this is the year Marcus Williams stays available.

7) The 2023 season ended with the AFC Championship Game home loss to the Chiefs.  The ’24 season begins with a trip to Kansas City.  A win in the opener doesn’t erase the pain of the AFC Championship Game loss. A loss in the opener doesn’t eliminate the aspirations which exist for ’24.  What the opener could ultimately represent is a leg up in the race for home field in the ’24 playoffs. It’s also either going to be a reminder to the Ravens that they can play with and beat KC, or a reminder that there is still another rung to climb.

8) Is there any hangover from last year, or do you see a team that is motivated week to week with something to prove in ’24? You want to see a team that doesn’t play down to competition. A team that stomps on the necks of teams when there is that opportunity. When something bad and unexpected happens, there is something to the mentality of not panicking. Of saying, “We’ve been here before, and we will fix it.”  On the other-hand you don’t want a team where everyone is too comfortable, and just expects to go through the motions.  The AFC North is always a fight. Cincinnati has their own Super Bowl aspirations. Cleveland won 11 games last year playing 4 different QB’s.  Pittsburgh won 10 games last year with horrible QB play, and it’s not crazy to think that Justin Fields or Russell Wilson could be near league average this year. Before thinking about the playoffs, you have to earn your ticket back there.  That starts with again winning the Division. Actually it starts with showing up each week, and playing out the schedule. Controlling what you can control and not get caught looking ahead. NFL seasons get late early. Be ready to go September 5th. Don’t think you are just going to turn it on later in the year.

9) In no real order, I’d say the Ravens 10 best players are Lamar Jackson, Roquan Smith, Hamilton, Madubuike, Linderbaum, Henry, Mark Andrews, Zay Flowers, Humphrey, and Justin Tucker.  For the Ravens to be their best, clearly these players have to stay healthy and produce as you would expect. No secret there.  Did want to include Ricard, but couldn’t.

10) In no real order, I’d say the Ravens players who can swing the season the most are Bateman, Stanley, Vorhees, Rosengarten, Isaiah Likely, Jones, Oweh, Trenton Simpson, Ojabo, and Williams.  How good will the Ravens be this year? The answer there will largely be determined by how good this group is.