Week One against Jacksonville did not show much about where we are as a team but it sure looked good to me.  Even though the Jaguars didn’t use all of their offensive starters the Ravens defense stepped right back into the #1 ranking.  Not only did the Ravens not allow Jacksonville to score one point,  they didn’t cross the 50 yard line into Ravens territory the entire game!  Lamar had more playing time than expected, and it looked like he needed the extra reps.  Lamar stuck to the game plain by handing the ball off to the running backs and throwing short passes to mostly the tight ends.  Lamar’s passes were accurate but still look like a wobbly duck trying to fly away from a bunch of eastern shore hunters.  Last week’s stand outs were Safety 32 Deshon Elliott who looked like a beast but will have a tough time making the 53 man rooster and Wide Receiver 14 Sean Modster, you just got to love a little guy who goes across the middle with no fear. The coaches are not going to show the good stuff until the regular season but last week was a good start.

Preseason Week 2:  Packer vs RAVENS

The real test will be this week against the Green Bay Packers who will play their starters including Aaron Rodgers.  Look for more of the Ravens starters to play but don’t look for our first round pick WR Marquise Brown who was not had a full practice, the trainers have not let him go full speed since his foot surgery.   This week our focus should be on the Ravens offensive line,  mainly at left guard.  We don’t know who will be the starter at left guard and the weird part is, that player may not be on the team right now.  The Raven are $13 million under the salary cap and could trade for or pick up a cut player from another team.  I don’t think we can execute a run first offense with the line we have now.  The Packer offense will be a better test for our defense.  Last week against the Jaguars we were a little bit blitz happy, I don’t think we can do that against Aaron Rodgers.  The Ravens will play a basic defensive package with our starters, but if it can shut-down the Packers, that will be a good thing.

So, keep an eye out for #32 (formerly Eric Weddle very sad) and #14 let’s see if they can keep up the strong performance.  They are both fighting to make the team.

Enjoy the game and hope no one get hurt!

GO RAVENS!!!

And that’s just The View From 151

GO RAVENS!!!