Preseason game 1 thoughts
Thank god it's football season again! Even if it's just preseason, it beats the shit out of watching the 13831st game of the retardedly long baseball season.
Anyhow, random thought on player perfromances:
- Flacco looked sharp out there. He's clearly ready to play. Once we get our normal offense going (you know, when we actually run the ball as well) it should really open up our options down field with the pass
- Oher looked like garbage at LT. Allowed 2 sacks on consecutive series from a middle-of-the-road pass rusher. We really need Gaither healthy
- Zbikowski is the reason I'm not overly worried about Ed Reed being injured. He really stepped it up at the end of last season, and was an absolute beast last night.
- While I was initially against the picking of Mt. Cody, I found myself eating my words last night. When he was in he made a serious impact. Teams are going to plan for him just as they do with Ngata
- Dickson and Pitta look to be two very good, young legitimate recieving threats at TE who aren't afraid to block. With Heap on the downhill side of his career, these guys are very welcome
- Marc Bulger could be the most talented back-up QB in the league, but I thought he looked lost out there. New system, new team, but some of his throws were really off, and he seemed way too eager to throw it away.
- Troy Smith looked like balls out there. Stay in the pocket longer than half a second please.
- Barnes looked like he got a good deal quicker in the offseason.
Over all I'm extremely excited for this season. While some of our star players on D are up there in age, our front 7 on D is undeniably beastly. Our linebackers are going to have free reign out there with the sheer size of our line. Ngata and Cody, that is some serious beef up front.
As far as the offense goes, we've always known we can run on anyone. And now, for the first time ever, we're deep at reciever and TE. Boldin and Mason are going to really open up opportunities for Stallworth and Clayton to make some big plays. The only weakness you can point to on O is the injury to Gaither, and having Oher cover at LT. Hopefully that goes away, but the run should cover most of that weakness.
Also, how scary is our goalline package? With Ngata and Cody blocking for McClain, the smallest guy on the field is Flacco at 6-6 236lbs.
1 – 0!
Well, they did everything they could to keep the Chiefs in the game, but the Ravens pulled out the win in the end. Despite the 38 - 24 score, KC was clearly outmatched on both sides of the ball. The defense held them to 188 total yards, and gave up 3 TDs, one where KC started from the 6yd line. The offense put up 501 total yards. Wait, was that a typo? Baltimore? 501 yds?
It looks like we finally have an offense to talk about! And although it was only KC, their defense is pretty good. It certainly won't be the best we face this year, but it's good to finally have an offense that isn't just along for the ride. And with the exception of the interception, Flacco looked pretty damn good!