Ravens Defeat Patriots!!!

by Rexx on Aug 8, 2008 7:49 AM EDT

The Baltimore Ravens went into Foxboro, Massachusetts and defeated the NewEngland Patriots 16-15 last night, when the Pats failed to make the decisive two-point conversion late in the fourth quarter. Wait, what? This is preseason? Oh, nevermind.

The first game of the exhibition season went okay for the Ravens, who might have won the game but it was the individual position battles that were of more importance for this time in the season. While Kyle Boller started and looked the best of the three Ravens QB's, Troy Smith has already been tabbed to start the next contest. Rookie Joe Flacco had a forgettable debut, with his first two snaps resulting in an interception and fumble. Neither Tom Brady nor Randy Moss saw action for the Patriots.

Disconcerting was the fact that the Ravens could only manage 35 yards rushing the ball, while former Maryland Terrapin star and now New England Patriot LaMont Jordan gained 76 yards in his debut.

There were a few injuries on the Ravens side of the ball, but hopefully they will be found out in the next few days to be minor ones. The Ravens get back on the practice field on Saturday morning and I am planning to be on the sideline checking out the action and you can count on a report with photos on this blog when I return.

Check out the New England Patriots view of the game over at Pats Pulpit.

In other news, the new addition to our family has been delivered as of yesterday afternoon and has been accepted by the rest of the clan, as evidenced by this photo with the smallest of the other four. Here, Scooter (in white) welcomes Murphy.

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The Oline really struggled, especially in the second half

It’s hard to be to hard on Flacco when his protection is dropping back as fast as he is.

Fabian Washington and Yamon Figurs look great however.

by math_geek on Aug 8, 2008 11:26 AM EDT 0 recs

That's how it is.

I’ve never seen an o-line that looked good in the first pre-season game—high school, college or pro.

Pats’ line was no better, and maybe a little worse. Start worrying if things don’t firm up by #3 and #4.

For you guys, I thought Figurs looked good. He’s very fast. And Rice looks like he might have a shot in this league—Mayo’s hit notwithstanding.

Boller submitted one of his patented “tease” games. Is this the year he develops consistency?

As Mr. Sloan always says, there is no "I" in team, but there is an "I" in pie. And there's an "I" in meat pie. Anagram of meat is team... I don't know what he's talking about. --Shaun of the Dead

by JohnHannahRules on Aug 8, 2008 11:36 AM EDT up 0 recs

Fun game

Why the Pats didn’t hand the ball to LaMont Jordan for that 2 point conversion was a head scratcher. I think Belichick was looking to see how the boys performed with a pass in that situation. The Ravens read it and came up with a good block.

Blogger at SBNation's New England Patriots blog, Pats Pulpit

by MaPatsFan on Aug 8, 2008 11:32 AM EDT 0 recs

Oh, and Rexx:

you’re killing me with these puppy pics. Add that to this nice lavender theme you’ve got going on here, and you’re making Ray-Ray blush.

As Mr. Sloan always says, there is no "I" in team, but there is an "I" in pie. And there's an "I" in meat pie. Anagram of meat is team... I don't know what he's talking about. --Shaun of the Dead

by JohnHannahRules on Aug 8, 2008 11:37 AM EDT 0 recs

O-LINE or NO-LINE

Our O-line stunk it up i couldn’t even get an okay evaluation on flacco cause he had no time to even set his feet. the funny thing is, they did better against the patriots first team “D’ than the third string “d’...
1. troy smith had some time, but failed to impress anyone
2. Now Trust me i’m the biggest kyle boller critisizer but kyle did the best job, even though he threw a pick which was maybe his only mistake… you cant pin the fumble on him, cause the o-line stunk it up on that play….
3. joe flacco gets a pass..sorry…he had no time to throw it, and it was his first game, and you could see the nerves…if he does this week 4 of the preseason then we have a problem.
4.okay i’ll say it on record, and i dont think i will get any arguments WE HAVE THE BET D-LINE IN THE LEAGUE!!!!!!. did u see the way they were tossing the ravens first team O-line around? man trust me Justin bannan is a beast he could start for 95% of the teams in the league, and be a pro bowler.. JJ is also one of the players who i think will be very very good next year. i really like him his pass coverage has gotten sooo good…can you say PRO BOWL?
5. FABIAN WASHINGTON!!!! nothing more needs to be said.. OZZIE my man OZZIE he is a genius. I know its only preseason, but fabian played really well. How he broke on his second pick was Chris Mcalister like..
6. YAMON FIGURS!!!!!!!! will be the second best return man in the league next to that hester guy. and he will be a real contributor on offence look for a lot of deep balls to 16 this year
7. In conclusion. i’m really liking our d… 85 yards allowed in the first half. thats really impressive, with only one starter in the secondary, and about 60 percent of our starters out. we looked really great
8. Guys…i’m Really scared about our O-line this year….i hope they play a-lot better..because its not only QB protection..its opening holes for the RB. Ray rice had no holes to run thru…the tempo on offence was nice..a lot more agresive…..if we get everyone back healthy on offence …...look out guys…...we can be good. i know we only scored 16 but our offence actually looked good if the QBs can get some time to throw, i think we can do some real damage this year really excited about this year.. CAN U SAY DARK HORSE?

AND OH YA does anyone know how long Terry and Gaither will be out? their not letting anyone in on the injuries

by RAVEN'SD#1 on Aug 8, 2008 12:22 PM EDT 0 recs

Fab and Yamon did look great in this game. Klye boller also looked very well making very diffacult throws. Hw made every throw and 2 were droped so he looked real good. Troy smith needs to develop his accurrecy and timing with his WR. Oue o-line looked terrible even tho we didnt have J.G. or A.T.(who will be back next week) Ray had a tough going but he will get better as our o-line start to gel. I cant wait to see troy aganist the Minnasota defense. This will be real great for him if he can do well against the pass rush and coverage.

FEAR THE NEVERMORE DEFENSE!!!!!!!!!!!!

by Benji5203 on Aug 8, 2008 1:57 PM EDT up 0 recs

Don't read too much...

...from this game. I heard Prescott Burgess (LB) broke his wrist and is gone for a long time, if not forever after missing last year as well due to injury. Our defense looks great and if healthy will keep us in every game. However, if our o-line doesn’t improve – a lot, we will be in for a boatload of problems on offense. Figurs looked great, Rice looks serviceable, Fabian Washington looked like the guy Oakland wanted when they drafted him in the first round three years ago, and the QB’s looked, well, they looked like it’s still up in the air, and probably between Boller and Smith for the starting gig come September 7th. More to come from my Training Camp visit on Saturday.

Rexx

by Rexx on Aug 9, 2008 12:12 AM EDT 0 recs

Special Teams and O-line.

There is no doubt about it. Our special teams is going to be a beast. Every time Figurs touched the ball, he ran for 50 yards. Not only that, but our coverage guys recovered that fumble. I’m excited about this. Stout special teams have long been a key to the Raven’s success. It’s good to see that Harbaugh is not only upholding that, but greatly improving upon it.

The O-line was about what I expected in this game. If you go back and watch the game, you will see that our interior O-line held strong. The problem came around the ends. This was because Gaither and Terry are out. It will probably happen less with those guys healthy, but team are definitely going to attack our tackles this year. Hopefully Cameron has some strategies to help these guys out.

All in all, I think that the first game was a great showing. The Ravens have alot of work to do, but the work that they have done so far showed.

by BAL_Hawk on Aug 10, 2008 10:28 AM EDT 0 recs