The Ravens' first-team offense didn't have a great showing Thursday night against Atlanta.
Not including a 77-yard touchdown on a quick slant from Joe Flacco to Torrey Smith, the Ravens ended the first half with 54 total yards. Flacco also had an interception, a pass he forced into tight coverage that ricocheted off Falcons safety Thomas DeCoud's thigh and into Asante Samuel's arms.
The Ravens had a tough time running, getting just 13 yards on 10 carries. They also committed five penalties worth 42 yards.
"We kind of beat ourselves with penalties, and certain miscues, and it's tough to play from behind," Smith told reporters afterward. "When you're not playing many plays, it's tough to recover from that, but we'll be fine. We know what the mistakes were that we made, and you can't make penalties, so obviously we need to correct that."
The Ravens avoided embarrassment with the 77-yard touchdown play. Flacco hit Smith, who turned the jets on past the Atlanta secondary. Not many receivers make cornerbacks like Samuel look slow. Smith did on that play.
Other than that, the Ravens were stagnant and out of sync. Flacco and the offense recognized that, indicating as such after the game.
"We were just sloppy, obviously," Flacco said after the game. "First-and-25 on the first drive; second drive we score, third drive where we're backed up, we false start, and then didn't get out of there. We completed a pass there but short of the first down. We were sloppy, and we didn't run a lot of plays because of that. We were just unable to get into a rhythm. You love the one-play touchdown drives, but at the same time, it would have been nice to get a little bit of a rhythm."
The offense has had some problem during the first two weeks of the preseason. But as Ray Rice pointed out in the postgame locker room, these aren't regular season mistakes.
"You’re calling them struggles – I’m calling them preseason work," running back Ray Rice said. "That’s what you work on in the preseason. If you don’t have things to work on in the preseason, then obviously you’re the greatest team in mankind. All 32 teams got to work, but it was proven tonight that our young guys have the ability to come in and get a win, and it was pretty amazing."
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