Quarterback Joe Flacco of the Baltimore Ravens connected with wide receiver Anquan Boldin for a nine-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter against the New York Giants on Saturday night. The Ravens defeated the Giants, 24-10. Flacco and Boldin are pictured above in a training camp practice in Westminster, Md. on August 3.
I’ll be honest with you right from the outset here — I didn’t watch the second half of the Baltimore Ravens’ 24-10 victory over the New York Giants. Once the second stringers come in, preseason football becomes brutal. As much as I would have loved to see the Ravens and Giants’ second and third stringers play sloppy football and trade punts for an hour and a half, I decided to watch the Baltimore Orioles’ game. But here are my thoughts on the Ravens’ first stringers:
-Joe Flacco (21-for-34, 229 yards, two touchdowns and one interception) looked great. The first offensive series was brutal, but after that, Flacco was clicking on all cylinders. Ravens’ offensive coordinator Cam Cameron adjusted to the Giants’ pressure and the offensive line’s initial struggles by switching to a no-huddle offense and calling for quick passes. It worked. Flacco got on a roll by making a lot of quick reads and hitting his receivers in stride. And when the Giants did get to him with pressure, Flacco stepped up into the pocket very well in evading the pressure.
-The receivers got open and made some really nice catches to help out their quarterback. This doesn’t seem like much, but to Ravens fans, having receivers getting open and making tough grabs is nothing to take for granted. The receivers basically got open at will, and I’m not sure if was because of the receivers or the Giants’ secondary — the Giants’ passing defense looked awful.
-I could definitely get used to Flacco-to-Anquan Boldin touchdown connections.
-Tight end Todd Heap looked fantastic. He was making acrobatic catches for the first time in a few years, and as far as I could tell, there wasn’t a trainer in sight alongside Heap. Remaining healthy has been a huge obstacle for Heap in the past.
-One receiver that couldn’t avoid a trainer was Donte’ Stallworth, who will unfortunately be out until at least mid-season with a broken foot. This is a huge downer for the Ravens’ offense, which was counting on Stallworth to be the big deep threat. How good Stallworth looked in camp and the preseason makes this even worse. Stallworth has been injury-riddled in the past, but it’s been due to hamstring problems. My guess is that this injury means Demetrius Williams probably will make the squad.
-I liked the fact that Ray Rice wasn’t put in the line of fire much. The Ravens absolutely cannot afford to lose him — he’s the centerpiece of their offense. That’s part of the reason why I thought the first-team offense didn’t run much — 1) Rice doesn’t need to be getting battered by linebackers in the preseason, and 2) Cameron knows what the running game can do, so he wants to work exclusively on the passing game.
-While it’s fine that Cameron is pass-happy in the preseason, he needs to return to a balanced attack in the regular season. Rice will need 25 touches, and Willis McGahee and Le’Ron McClain will need their fair share of carries, too. The Ravens’ offensive line is still much more suited to go straight ahead than to drop back, and the Ravens’ strength is still running the ball despite Flacco’s maturation and the presence of Boldin.
-Ravens’ left tackle Michael Oher got flagged for a false start that I didn’t think was a false start — I just thought he got off the line so quickly that the referee just assumed it was a false start. This happened a good amount of times last season, where referees were fooled by Oher’s freakish quickness.
-How many times were Terrell Suggs and Haloti Ngata held on Saturday? A lot — but it was never flagged.
-The Ravens’ first team secondary — yes, the secondary — looked great, in part because the Ravens could get pressure from the front four. It was good to see the corners not giving up much to the Giants’ receivers. I love the Ravens’ depth at safety with Tom Zbikowski and Haruki Nakamura. There’s no reason for Ed Reed to rush back.
-The broadcasters on television were getting on the Ravens’ defense for the phantom tackles they applied to Brandon Jacobs, which would be valid complaints — in the regular season. There’s no reason for the first-team defense to get in front of that mountain of a man in the open field in a meaningless preseason game. That’s an injury waiting to happen.
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I was impressed with what I saw last night. Relieved is more like it, I guess. The first games were sloppy.
Bummed about Donte. But 6 weeks … not entirely awful.
Todd Heap seems to be stepping it up, eh? Competition is a beautiful thing.