Ravens over Panthers

The Ravens continued to roll in the preseason, improving to 3-0 with an impressive 17-13 win over the Carolina Panthers on Saturday night.

Take from a 3-0 preseason record what you will, but one thing is for sure, the offense looks like it's coming together in year 2 of Joe Flacco as QB and Cam Cameron as offensive coordinator.

Things got off to a shaky start, however, as the Ravens drove to the 1-yard line in their first possession of the game, thanks to several Flacco passes of 10+ yards to Derrick Mason and Kelley Washington, only to be backed up by consecutive penalties. And when they couldn't get into the endzone, Steve Hauschka missed a 27-yard field goal, leaving the kicking situation up in the air.

On the Panther's second drive, the Ravens demonstrated their "bend don't breal" defense, allowing the Panthers to drive downfield almost at will before being bottled up at the Ravens' 20-yard line. John Kasay kicked a FG to make the score 3-0 Panthers.

Then the Ravens picked right back up where they left off on their scoreless drive. Starting on their own 20-yard line, the Ravens gave the Panthers a steady dose of Ray Rice before Flacco connected with Washington again, this time for a 42-yard gain. Then after more Rice, Flacco threw a perfect TD pass to Todd Heap.

The next Panthers drive was a 3-and-out.

On the next Ravens drive, the Ravens previewed what we could be seeing a lot in 2009, Ray Rice as a receiver. He caught passes of 15 and 14 yards to kick off the drive, which eventually ended in a Willis McGahee TD run.

Before the starters left the game in the 3rd quarter, Flacco did drive the Ravens down for another Hauschka field goal attempt, which he did make this time. But when it was all said and done, the Ravens offense looked well-oiled and ready to steamroll their way over Kansas City's non-existent defense in week 1.

Flacco finished with 247 yards passing, 1 TD, 0 INT and a 115.3 QB rating.
Rice finished with 32 rushing yards and 67 receiving yards.
Mason finished with 71 receiving yards.
And Washington had 66 receiving yards.

And there you have it. Cam Cameron isn't afraid to call passing plays and Joe Flacco isn't afraid to spread the ball around the field to different receivers. I only hope they continue to pass as often as they have this preseason when the regular season begins.

Let's unleash Flacco on the NFL.

Keep in mind, this is all happening without Mark Clayton, who has yet to play a down in the preseason. When he comes back, it will be just another target for Flacco to work into this exciting offense. And Todd Heap, who'd been bothered with injuries and then had been busy blocking when healthy, finally factored into the offense again, hauling in that TD pass and then making a great catch, going up for the ball and then taking a tough shot before falling to the ground awkwardly in a now typical Heap fashion. He finished with 35 receiving yards and a TD.

The defense collected 2 sacks, and pressured Jake Delhomme well, but rookie RB Mike Goodson rushed well against the Ravens, one week after Jets RB Leon Washington carved up the Ravens pretty nicely too. However, Terrell Suggs has yet to play in the preseason, so hopefully the Ravens will be able to contain opposing RB's better than they have in the last 2 preseason games.

But all in all, it was an impressive showing by the offense, which might actually be asked to do more than kill the clock in 2009. And by the looks of it, they are chomping at the bit to do so.

Ravens win game 2

The Ravens scraped by the New York Jets in game 2 of the preseason, 24-23.

The first team looked solid, especially the defense, frustrating Jets rookie QB Mark Sanchez early on in the game. His first pass attempt was an interception by Haloti Ngata for a TD, and Sanchez took a nasty shot from Ray Lewis on the play.

The offense sputtered early on, but eventually got going, thanks to Joe Flacco. Flacco completed only 44% of his passes, but ended up with 120 passing yards after finding a rhythm with Derrick Mason (who else?), who caught 3 passes for 68 yards, including a 43 yard bomb that set up a Ray Rice touchdown on a nifty trick play where Flacco faked a quick throw, only to tuck the ball and then hand it off behind his back to Rice for he score.

On the ground the Ravens only rushed for 73 yards. Rice started with the first team and lead the way with 29 yards on 8 rushes and the TD. By the time Willis McGahee came into the game most of the starters were gone and the Jets had no problem shutting him down (23 yards on 8 attempts) and none of the other Ravens backs rushed for more than 10 yards.

The Ravens had only 56 offensive plays the entire game.

While the first team scored 21 points before halftime, 2 of the touchdowns came on defensive TD's, so it looks like the defense is still carrying this team, but you can come away impressed with the offense once they got clicking.

Needless to say, once the starters were removed, the game slowed down to a crawl.

Troy Smith looked unlike himself, staying in the pocket too long and making bad decisions, one of which ended up in an interception. He ended up 4 of 9 with 84 yards and 1 INT. On the other side of the ball, the Ravens couldn't stop Jets RB Leon Washington, who racked up 48 yards on 8 attempts. He also caught 2 passes for 35 yards and a TD.

The Ravens only gained 248 yards as a team, but the offense was finding its comfort zone around the time the starters were removed from the game. It would have been nice to see the second and third string players fare better, as we like to believe that the Ravens are extremely deep, but at least they held on to the lead and won the game, even though no one will remember the win in a couple weeks.

All in all it was typical pre-season football. Pretty boring. Still 2 more to go.

The Ravens travel to Carolina to take on the Panthers this Saturday at 8 p.m.

Impressive Shutout Win

The Ravens blanked the Washington Redskins last night, 23-0, in the first preseason game of 2009. It took the team a while to get going, but once they did -- even after the first team came off the field -- they got going.

All 3 QB's (Joe Flacco, Troy Smith and former Dolphins QB, John Beck) each threw for over 100 yards. Smith threw for 200 and a TD.

Flacco started the game and played the entire first quarter and finished the drive into the second, going 9 for 15 for 103 yards. He hit Ray Rice on a screen for a large gain of 34 yards which eventually lead to a Steve Hauschka field goal. Then on the next drive, Flacco connected with Kelley Washington for consecutive 15 and 16 yard gains, which eventually lead to another Hauschka field goal to make the score 6-0.

Most of the second half involved the Ravens and Redskins trading punts, but Troy Smith did hit L.J. Smith (former Eagles TE) for a nice 35 yard gain. The Ravens eventually punted.

Toward the end of the first half, the Redskins put together a nice drive that took almost 6 minutes off the clock. But after a Redskins fumble at the Ravens 35-yard line, the Ravens recovered with 1:12 left. It was the perfect time to execute the hurry-up offense, and the Ravens did. Troy Smith chipped his way down the field with passes of 14, 14 and 13 yards before capping off the drive with a 19-yard touchdown to Justin Harper with 5 seconds left.

Harper had a tough time getting going, having dropped his first 2 or 3 passes, but his touchdown catch was pretty, and his final line of 4 receptions for 57 yards was second only to Jayson Foster, who racked up 79 yards receiving on 3 receptions. Harper has been the guy to watch in training camp, and with Mark Clayton nursing a torn hamstring, Harper could be the one to step up and fill in. And he eventually got around to impressing fans last night.

The running game took second fiddle to the passing attack, with Cam Cameron utilizing the pass to get a better look at his unknown wide-receivers. However, Willis McGahee looked fresh, and busted a highlight-worthy 16 yard run in the second quarter, dodging several tacklers. He only rushed 4 times but ended up with 26 yards. Ray Rice rushed for 22 yards, but his 38 yards receiving (including the big 34 yard catch) proved that he will be a pass-catching threat out of the backfield this season. Cedric Peerman rushed twice for 9 yards and a TD. But undrafted RB Matt Lawrence racked up the most yards on the ground, 36 on 9 carries, all of them coming against the 3rd string defense.

The defense played as well as a defense can play in a shutout. They stifled the Redskins first team offense, pressuring Redskins QB Jason Campbell, and stuffing the run. The Skins were without Clinton Portis and Santana Moss, but it was still nice to see the Ravens defense shut them down completely. Tavares Gooden lead the team with 5 tackles, and looks to be a potential breakout player on the defense in 2008 after Bart Scott followed former defensive coordinator Rex Ryan to the Jets. The Ravens also collected 3 sacks on the night.

One of the few roster battles this preseason is between the two kickers, Hauschka and Graham Gano, one of whom will eventually take over the kicking duties following the departure of Matt Stover. Hauschka made 2 field goals, the first 21 yards and the second 37, and Gano kicked a 39 yarder, but missed a 28-yarder late in the game. They each made an extra point. Hauschka has been with the team since last year, filling in as the long-yardage FG kicker and kickoff specialist, but played only one year of D-1 college football. Gano, however, kicked for Florida State and won the Lou Groza award for his 2008 season. He can also punt. The battle between the two kickers, will be the one to watch for the remainder of the preseason.

However, the impressive shutout win was not without injuries. WR Marcus Smith, who the Ravens hoped would step up in his second season after not catching a pass during his 2008 rookie campaign, injured his Achilles tendon and looks to be out for the season. John Beck hurt his throwing shoulder when a Redskins player ran into him and had to leave the game in the 4th quarter. It is unknown what the severity of Beck's injury will be.

Preseason or not, the Ravens looked like they were in mid-season form. They racked up over 500 yards of offense, and it seemed like whoever was on the field, the Ravens could do no wrong. Granted, the Redskins were without some key players, but it was nice to see the Ravens on the good end of a 23-0 game rather than the bad end.

The Ravens take on their former defensive coordinator Rex Ryan, now head coach of the New York Jets, next Monday, August 24th.

He's back!

Derrick Mason ended his "retirement" this weekend, and reported to training camp in Westminster, MD.

Mason has been dealing with some "personal issues", most likely stemming from former Titans and Ravens teammate Steve McNair, who was murdered in July. Mason announced his retirement a few days following the funeral.

It's also possible Mason was using the retirement as leverage to get an extension, as 2009 is the last year on his contract. But as Mason showed up at camp over the weekend he stated his intention to "finish this thing". Whether he is talking about his contract or a Super Bowl win is up to you.

Having Mason back allows the Ravens and their fans to take a deep sigh of relief. Without Mason, the WR corps looked like a rudderless ship. Mark Clayton is better suited as a deep-threat #2 WR, not the ball-controlling #1 that Mason is and has been throughout his career. And the remaining WR's in camp have only a handful of NFL games between them.

Without Mason, the Ravens were relying on the planets to align to get production from the WR's they had. With Mason back, they have a veteran leader, someone with great route-running skills and good hands. And Joe Flacco has his security blanket back.

However, the Ravens should still be looking for ways to improve the passing game. Having Mason back puts the Ravens back where they were at the end of 2008, which was still a game short of the Super Bowl and 0-3 against the Steelers.

But Mason takes away the desperation of having to make a move, like trading for Brandon Marshall or signing a troubled player like Plaxico Burress. Luckily, the Ravens were never actually considering making either move.

At any rate, welcome back, Derrick!