The Ravens laid another egg on offense last Thursday Night against the Falcons.  Joe Flacco got another start and he completed 8 of 13 passes for 72 yards.  Casey Bramlet finished up this game and he was awful completing 7 of 21 passes for 100 yards and throwing 2 pickoffs.  Rookie running back Ray Rice led the Ravens in rushing in this game with 37 yards on 7 carries (5.3 ypc).  Allen Patrick was also busy with 30 yards rushing on 13 carries (2.3 ypc) and he also caught 2 passes for 35 yards (17.5 avg).  WR Mark Clayton led all Ravens’ receivers in this game with 4 grabs for 38 yards (9.5 avg).   The Ravens finished up with 88 yards rushing on 29 carries (3.0 ypc) and they also completed 15 of 34 passes for 159 yards.

Linebacker Nick Griesen led a solid effort by the Ravens’ defense with 10 tackles.  The Falcons finished up with 135 yards rushing in this game on 32 carries (4.2 ypc) and they also completed 11 of 26 passes for 121 yards.  The Ravens finished the preseason with a 1-3 record and things are not looking too promising for the 2008 season.

The Ravens looked terrible on Saturday against the Rams in St. Louis.  The only healthy QB on the Ravens’ roster was rookie Joe Flacco so he played the entire game and looked a little overwhelmed.  He completed 18 of 37 passes for 152 yards with a 15-yard TD pass to WR Derrick Mason.  Fullback LeRon McClain led the Ravens in rushing with 41 yards on 8 carries (5.1 ypc).  Rookie RB Ray Rice also had a solid game with 5 carries for 20 yards (4.0 ypc).  Derrick Mason led all Ravens’ receivers with 6 catches for 85 yards (14.2 avg) with a TD grab.  The Ravens finished up with 70 yards rushing on 18 carries (3.9 ypc) and they also completed 18 of 37 passes for 139 yards.  The Ravens only had possession of the football for 23:00 in this football game and it’s very hard to win that way.

The Ravens’ defense was not much better than the offense in this game.  Safety Jim Leonhard and linebacker Robert McCune led the way for the Ravens in this game with 7 tackles apiece.  Safety Tom Zbikowski also had a decent game pitching in with 4 tackles and a interception.  The Rams finished up with 113 yards rushing on 34 carries (3.3 ypc) and they also completed 29 of 41 passes for 298 yards.  This is shaping up to be a very long season for the Ravens.

The three headed battle for the starting QB job has resulted in the Ravens really questioning who they should go with.  Kyle Boller would have easily won the job if he just played well this preseason but he hasn’t.  Boller has completed 19 of 27 passes (70.4%) so far this preseason and he has 142 yards passing with 0 TD passes and 2 pickoffs (51.8 QB Rating).  Boller still appears to be making rookie mistakes in what is likely his last season in Baltimore.  Troy Smith has played even worse than Boller this preseason in my opinion.  Smith has completed 8 of 17 passes (47.1%) this preseason for 99 yards with 0 TD passes and 1 interception (41.1 QB Rating).  Smith has also carried the football 6 times for 41 yards (6.8 ypc) this preseason.  If neither of the veterans show anything in the next two games maybe the Ravens should just throw rookie Joe Flacco to the wolves.  It’s not as if the Ravens are a playoff team anyway so why not get a early look at the QB of the Future?  Flacco has completed 10 of 18 passes (55.6%) this preseason for 74 yards with 0 TD passes and 0 interceptions (65.5 QB Rating).  The fact that the Ravens don’t have a TD pass through two games should really have the coaching staff and fans of the Ravens scared.  Still, it’s just the preseason so don’t push the panic button quite yet.

2nd round pick Ray Rice has taken full advantage of Willis McGahee missing a lot of time this preseason.  He has carried the football 14 times for 89 yards (6.4 ypc) with 1 TD run.  Rice has also caught 7 passes for 34 yards (4.9 avg) this preseason.  If Rice continues to play well into the regular season he could possibly take Willis McGahee’s starting job from him.  If Rice does win the starting job eventually, the Ravens would probably move McGahee to another team as they are starting to tire of his antics.

The Baltimore Ravens looked bad on both sides of the football against the Vikings on Saturday Night.  Troy Smith got the start against the Vikings and he didn’t play well.  He completed 3 of 5 passes for 25 yards with 1 interception.  He also carried the football 3 times for 35 yards (11.7 ypc) in this game.  Kyle Boller also was pretty bad in this football game as he completed 8 of 12 passes for 40 yards with a interception.  Rookie Joe Flacco was the most impressive QB of the night for the Ravens as he completed 10 of 15 passes for 74 yards.  Rookie RB Ray Rice was the best football player on the Ravens in this football game.  He carried the ball 8 times for 77 yards (9.6 ypc) with a 6-yard TD run.  He also caught 3 passes for 17 yards in this game.  WR Ernest Wheelwright led the Ravens in this game with 37 yards receiving on 5 catches (7.4 avg).  TE Adam Bergen pitched in with 6 catches for 35 yards (5.8 avg) on Saturday Night.  The Ravens finished up with 126 yards rushing on 16 carries (7.9 ypc) against the Vikings.  They also completed 21 of 32 passes for only 111 yards.  The Ravens only had possession of the football for 25:25 on Saturday Night and they won’t win any games that way.

Safety Dawan Landry and DT Amon Gordon led the way for the Ravens’ defense with 6 tackles apiece.  CB Derrick Martin pitched in with 3 tackles and he intercepted a pass from John David Booty that he returned 22-yards for a TD.  The Vikings finished up with 133 yards rushing on 38 carries (3.5 ypc) on Saturday Night.  They also completed 19 of 38 passes for 206 yards.  The Ravens have a lot to work on before September rolls around.

I know that the Ravens’ front office was tiring of Brian Billick but they should have chose a different guy to replace him.  John Harbaugh has never even been a co-ordinator at the NFL level and now he’s in charge of the whole show in Baltimore.  He was the defensive backs coach for the Eagles last season after serving 9 years as their special teams coach.  I just don’t think he’s qualified to be a head coach in the NFL and I have serious doubts that he can even win the 5 games that Billick won last season.  This was a big mistake that the Ravens will have to deal with for a few years before coming to their senses.

The Ravens have signed 37-year old fullback Lorenzo Neal to a 1-year contract.  Neal is a blocking machine as he keeps his running backs pretty clean.  He played in 13 games last season for the Chargers and he carried the ball 13 times for 32 yards (2.5 ypc).  He also caught 8 passes for 23 yards (2.9 avg) with 1 TD grab.  It’s unclear at this time whether or not the Ravens will let Neal compete with 2nd year fullback LeRon McClain who the team likes.  Neal has now played in 223 games in his NFL career and he has carried the ball 214 times for 782 yards (3.7 ypc) with 6 TD runs.  He has also caught 192 passes for 1,051 yards (5.5 avg) with 12 TD grabs in his career.  This was a good signing for the Ravens.

The Ravens have placed running back P.J. Daniels (shoulder) and linebacker Prescott Burgess (wrist surgery) on the Injured Reserve List ending their seasons.  Daniels has yet to play in a NFL game so the Ravens won’t likely miss him.  Burgess played in 8 games last season as a rookie and he made a whopping 4 tackles.  The Ravens did have high hopes for Burgess but they will have to wait at least a year to see if he proves them right or not.

The Ravens won last night in Foxboro but it wasn’t that impressive as the Patriots didn’t play many of their regulars.  Kyle Boller started the game and he was the only QB that was remotely effective for the Ravens.  Boller completed 11 of 15 passes for 102 yards with 0 TD passes and 1 interception.  Troy Smith was not good last night as he completed 5 of 12 passes for 74 yards.  Joe Flacco made a brief appearance and it was a rough one.  He went 0 for 3 passing and he was sacked two times.  Rookie RB Ray Rice was busy as he carried the football 6 times for 12 yards (2.0 ypc) and he also caught 4 passes for 17 yards (4.3 avg).  Derrick Mason was the leading receiver on the Ravens with 3 grabs for 54 yards (18.0 avg) last night.  The Ravens could only muster 35 yards rushing against the Patriots on 21 carries (1.7 ypc).  The Ravens also completed 16 of 30 passes for 169 yards last night. 

Linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo led the way for the Ravens defense last night with 9 tackles and a sack.  Fellow linebacker Nick Greisen pitched in with 5 tackles and a sack.  CB Fabian Washington was really effective in coverage as he finished with 2 tackles and 2 interceptions.   The Patriots did rush for 133 yards on 34 carries (3.9 ypc) last night which explained why they held the ball for 34:39.  The Patriots completed 17 of 33 passes for 103 yards but that’s not hard to do when Tom Brady wasn’t playing.  It’s nice to win the opener of the preseason but it was not that impressive due to the fact that the Patriots sat a lot of their good players.