NFL: Ravens Roll In the Preseason
The Baltimore Ravens have finished the preseason with a perfect 5-0 record. Although the preseason doesn’t equate to regular season success by any means, it’s still an impressive run for Baltimore. The biggest takeaway from the Ravens’ exhibition outings has to be Lamar Jackson’s progression. He wasn’t bad in their opening matchup, but Jackson didn’t exactly look good either. After being at Louisville for three seasons and winning the Heisman during his sophomore year, he was selected No. 32 overall by the Ravens in the most recent NFL Draft. Five games in now and he seems a lot more comfortable in the pocket. Although, it still remains to be seen if he'll get an opportunity to start at any point during the regular season.
To open the preseason, in the Hall of Fame game against the Chicago Bears, the Ravens escaped with a 17-16 win, behind Robert Griffin III’s 58 yards on 71.4 percent passing. RG3 also had one touchdown and an interception as well. In the true Week 1 of the preseason, the Ravens made quick work of the Los Angeles Rams, running away with it to the tune of 33-7. Joe Flacco only threw seven passes, but he looked fine, and was able to total 71 yards and one score in a short amount of time. Gus Edwards, out of Rutgers, had arguably his best game in Week 3, as he produced 43 yards on 15 carries. Edwards won’t be the starter during the regular season but he might have earned some action with his performance.
The Ravens defeated the Indianapolis Colts, 20-19, in that game. In the final two games is where Jackson really seemed to take a huge step forward. In the two matches combined, he went 16/25 for 207 yards and a touchdown pass. That’s about as good as you can ask for in August. The Ravens beat the Miami Dolphins and Washington Redskins by a score of 57-30. A couple of other teams that played well in the preseason were the Houston Texans, Minnesota Vikings, New England Patriots, New Orleans Saints, and Pittsburgh Steelers. All of those teams went 3-1. According to CBS Sports, the Ravens are projected to win around 10 games and have a 71.2 percent chance to reach the playoffs.
Photo Credit: CBS Sports.
