McSorley shines in first half as Jackson sits and Brown debuts.
Usually, football teams aren’t this banged up until November or December. That’s not the case this year for the Baltimore Ravens. In the middle of August, the Ravens are heavily damaged along the offensive line, at wideout, and on defense.
So the Ravens headed into Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field on Thursday night unable to get a lot of their starters on the field for the kind of Week 3 tuneup usually seen before the first string gets to sit in next week’s preseason finale.
In the past few years, the Ravens (as well as most other teams) have taken a cautious approach to Week 3 by not extending their starters into the third quarter. But, this year, Baltimore is backed into a corner because it can’t put its best on the field because of injuries.
However, injuries didn’t matter on Thursday night. The Ravens bested the host Eagles 26-15 and, in doing so, extended their preseason winning streak to 16 games. It was a weather-shortened game.
A lightning storm caused a 21-minute delay early in the fourth quarter, after which game officials called off the remainder of the contest.
For the Ravens, it was the second time that a storm affected a game. In 2007, the Ravens lost a preseason game at Washington when a storm knocked out some of the lights early in the third quarter.
And as much as head coach John Harbaugh likes to win–no matter what month it is–he certainly had to be less concerned with keeping a relatively-meaningless August streak alive than he was with making sure his team is healthy enough to start the regular season in Miami on September 8. “Our coaches do a great job of coaching during training camp,” Harbaugh said. “Guys will coach everybody from the top to the bottom of the roster.”
And Philadelphia (1-2) was a major concern–not only because it was the third preseason contest–but because it was a game played against a physical team that sees itself as a playoff contender.
The game came on the heels of joint-team practices sessions on Monday and Tuesday that were held at the Eagles’ NovaCare practice complex.
And the repetitions quarterback Lamar Jackson got in those sessions–together with playing the first quarter of the first two preseason games–seemed to satisfy Harbaugh. He sat Jackson against the Eagles, which will render him inactive until the regular-season opener in Miami on September 8.
With backup Robert Griffin III (thumb) still out, sixth-round rookie Trace McSorley (16-for-24, 203 yards, two touchdowns, no sacks, 120.7 rating in first half) played. McSorley looked sharp, hitting eight different receivers, and rushing for a score in a big first half.
McSorley completed a 25-yarder to tight end Mark Andrews that set up his four-yard, second-quarter touchdown run. The score gave the Ravens an early 13-0 lead. He then directed a 59-yard, six-play drive that resulted in another score.
“He’s a baller,” Andrews said of McSorley. “That’s why he came in here and did well tonight, and that’s why they brought him here. They have a lot of trust in him. He played a great game, and he’s showing maturity.”
Jackson’s absence was likely prompted by the omissions of starting offensive linemen Ronnie Stanley, Jermaine Eluemunor, and Marshal Yanda. Those absences left center Matt Skura and right tackle Orlando Brown as the only starters playing upfront. James Hurst, Bradley Bozeman, and rookie fourth-rounder Ben Powers filled in on a unit that had surprisingly allowed only two sacks through the first two games.
Running backs Mark Ingram, Kenneth Dixon, and Gus Edwards were also deactivated to further guard against the kind of ailments that have plagued Stanley (ankle) and Eluemunor, who was carted off the field during the joint practices with an unspecified ailment
Injuries also put rookie draftees Marquise Brown and Miles Boykin squarely in the spotlight. Boykin has had a great camp, while Brown (foot) has only recently begun practicing against the Eagles. “Man, it felt amazing,” Brown said. “It’s the best day so far. Just being out here – from pregame to being in the game and being with the team – it was just a lot of fun. My expectation was not to make a lot of mistakes and catch every ball that was thrown to me.”
Boykin hauled in a 44-yarder to set up an early field goal, and Brown (17 yards, three catches) got involved with some short routes early. That work helped the Ravens get into position for a 49-yard Justin Tucker kick that opened the scoring. He also caught a two-point pass that was wiped out by a penalty. Later, Floyd caught a pretty 28-yard touchdown pass from McSorley to make his case as he begins his eighth NFL season with his third team.
On defense, the linebacking corps–a significant source of what has been a spotty pass rush–had to do without rookie rusher Jaylon Ferguson and young, inside man Chris Board, who incurred a concussion in last week’s win over Green Bay.
However, for a third straight week, the defense didn’t have to face a first-string quarterback. The Eagles’ Carson Wentz was held out of the game in favor of backup Cody Kessler. The Eagles also have 40-year-old Josh McCown, the former Cleveland Brown who lit up the Ravens several years ago for 457 yards in a win at M&T Bank Stadium. McCown entered the game late in the first quarter and threw a third-quarter 20-yard touchdown pass to ruin the Ravens’ shutout chances.
McCown added an 11-play, 69-yard scoring drive and a two-point conversion late in the third to cut the lead to 26-15. He completed 17 of 24 passes on the night for 192 yards, two touchdowns, and a 122.2 passer rating.
Kessler, working against the Ravens’ front-line secondary, completed three of five passes for 34 yards, fumbled once, and was sacked once. McCown’s first drive ended in a three-and-out. The Ravens took over, driving towards Tucker’s second field goal, a 32-yarder, and a 6-0 lead as the second quarter opened.
The Ravens defense was penetrated just before halftime as the Eagles threatened to score, but a few of their 12 first-half penalties slowed the advance. A missed 41-yard field goal preserved a shutout lead that grew more imposing when McSorley found Jaleel Scott, last year’s fourth-round pick, for a seven-yard score that made it 26-0 at the half.
McSorley had been intercepted the last two weeks in similar two-minute-drive situations but avoided such problems this time around.
The preseason wraps up next Thursday night with another short Interstate 95 road trip–this time in the southbound lane–to Landover, Maryland to play the Washington Redskins at FedEx Field (7:30 p.m.; WBAL-TV; WIYY-FM).
