Jackson gets long first-half look as Griffin sits.
M&T BANK STADIUM, BALTIMORE – As mothers all over the world have said for centuries, running with scissors is not smart. But to make a National Football League team, it was necessary to do so on Thursday night.
Fringe players on all 32 rosters had to metaphorically ‘run with scissors’ in order to get noticed. The stakes were high, too. Players would cut themselves from the team or force the coaching staff to do it. The reason? The league-mandated cut deadline is 4 p.m., Saturday (ET).
A fortunate few will be on the 53-man active roster when the cutting is done. Several more lucky souls will be named to ten-man practice squads starting at 1 p.m. (ET) Sunday.
In Baltimore, a spate of injuries to rookies and backups provided just enough turmoil to force a few possible shakeups. But the Ravens also got a bit more roster clarity after taking a 30-20 win over the visiting Washington Redskins.
If anything can be gleaned from a game like this, it’s the irony that the Ravens’ first Super Bowl title (2000) came after the team registered three straight unbeaten preseasons.
But with all of the starters customarily sitting out the preseason finale, Baltimore’s attention can finally turn to its home- and season-opening contest against the Buffalo Bills (Sun., Sept. 9; 1 p.m.; WJZ-TV, WIYY-FM).
The Ravens (5-0) are well aware that football’s long offseason–and their own arduous camp and preseason period– has featured questions swirling around a retooled wide receiver corps, more secondary depth, little offensive-line quality, and major intrigue surrounding the quarterback position.
The Ravens haven’t carried a third active-roster quarterback since John Beck in 2009, but first-round pick Lamar Jackson’s development and Robert Griffin III’s mentoring role may break that string. That would give Joe Flacco two backups.
On top of everything else, 11th-year head coach John Harbaugh–who needs just six regular-season wins to reach 100–could see himself and his staff fired if they miss the playoffs for a fourth straight year. The onerous outcome would tie a franchise record for futility (1996-99). It would also be the fifth time in six seasons that Baltimore sat home.
Baltimore, which is a mediocre 41-41 (including playoffs) since winning Super Bowl XLVII, seems confident that it has the players to get back on the postseason stage.
But on this night, only 50 of the 91 active-roster players dressed for the game–four fewer than for a regular-season game. And as expected, no present-day first-stringers took the field on either side of the ball.
It left the Ravens with just six active defensive backs, which proved perilous when Stanley Jean-Baptiste (who has two pickoffs this month), left after the first quarter with what appeared to be a broken right forearm injury.
Courtesy: Baltimore Beatdown
But a future starter did play. Lamar Jackson, the much-hyped first-round pick and the so-called quarterback of the future, not only played, he played well.
In the first three preseason games, Jackson displayed a jittery sense of mechanics and the inability to throw a consistent spiral. But he had a breakout performance last week at Miami and kept that going against the Redskins.
Jackson’s numbers were nine completions on 15 passes for 109 yards with one sack and an 82.4 rating. He also rushed three times for 25 yards and a touchdown.
“It felt pretty good,” Jackson said of his first start. “I felt we should have scored more TDs than we did. We only scored 13 points … that really wasn’t what we wanted. We’ll be better next time.”
Griffin, who played to an 87.8 rating this month, appears to have made the team as a third quarterback, But he didn’t play Thursday night–a strategy to prevent injury or keep him healthy in case other teams are interested in trading for him–as happened this week when LB Kamalei Correa, a former second-round pick, was sent to the Titans for a sixth-round pick next year).
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Jackson came out feisty, completing all four first-drive passes and running twice on an 81-yard, 13-play drive that ended with his own one-yard plunge.
The Ravens outgained Washington (1-3) through one quarter, 99-44, but Kevin Hogan led the ‘Skins on a game-tying 87-yard, 14-play jaunt that culminated with a four-yard pass to Brian Quick.
Jackson answered with a 45-yard seam strike to draft pick Mark Andrews, who was practically the only tight end available. That play led to Kaare Vedvik’s go-ahead, 35-yard field goal. Justin Tucker and punter Sam Koch were among the many Ravens idled for this game.
Vedvik later kicked a 56-yard field goal to extend the lead to 13-7, a kick that was set up by Patrick Ricard’s forced fumble and recovery. It seemed as if Jackson had turned the ball back over when Breshad Perriman (24 yards, three catches), who led the team in preseason catches and yards, didn’t do enough to stop an end-zone interception by Thomas Alexander. But a replay showed that the ball hit the ground. Vedvik’s field goal soon followed.
Perriman is battling draft pick Jordan Lasley and returners Tim White and Janarion Grant for the final receiver spots.
But former third-round pick Bronson Kaufusi seemed to revive his chances, racking up five first-half tackles and two sacks. Kaufusi has moved to his more natural outside linebacker position.
Another outside backer, ex-draftee Tyus Bowser, was called for a questionable roughing-the-passer call. And that call set up a Dustin Hopkins 37-yard field goal try, a kick that hooked wide left.
Backup safety and ex-Cleveland Brown Kai Nacua made another good defensive play by running back an interception 23 yards for a game-clinching score. Later, a Robertson Daniel pickoff led to a 21-yard field goal.
Offensively, the Ravens have tough choices to make at running back. Little-known rookies Gus Edwards (out, foot injury), Mark Thompson (91 yards, 14 carries), and De’Lance Turner (53 yards, ten carries) have all fared well this month.
Will Tim White survive the final cut? (photo, PressBox Baltimore)
But White took another step back in his battle for the return job, letting a third-quarter punt roll too far back, while Grant looked infinitely more confident. With only six active defensive backs, White was pressed into slot corner duty late in the game.
If an undrafted rookie like Grant or anyone else makes the team, it would mark the 15th straight year the Ravens will have such a player on their Week One roster, tied for the second-longest current streak in the league.
“I’m really proud of these guys… From the first play of the Bears game to the last play tonight, these guys played Ravens football,” Harbaugh said.
The win capped off yet another mostly-successful Baltimore preseason. But when the games start to count, here’s the question: Will those scissors rear their head again and cut off the Ravens’ playoff push?
