We are heading into the second week of preseason games for the NFL, and the Ravens are traveling to Dallas to play the Cowboys. Head coach John Harbaugh has already announced that the same starters who didn’t play last week once again won’t play again. This gives us the ability to focus on a couple of other storylines for week two.
Daniel Faalele playing right guard
It feels like the same storyline from last year. Daniel Faalele is playing right guard, maybe doesn’t look the best on film. Fans wonder why Ben Cleveland isn’t winning
the job despite seemingly having better film. The Ravens say Faalele is the best option, end of story. Last year, I felt Cleveland won the job in the preseason games on film, but Faalele was the starter all year. This year, it doesn’t even seem to be a competition, and it’s Faalele’s job automatically.
Faalele went semi-viral week one of the preseason, losing a bull rush immediately and then tripping over the center foot and finishing on his back as he gave up a sack. On top of that clip, he had an overall grade of 40.7 in 12 snaps from PFF and finished with a 0.0 pass blocking grade, allowing that sack and a hurry in just five pass blocking snaps. Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Todd Monken quickly defended Faalele the following week. No matter what, Faalele’s starting role is probably safe. But with many media outlets outside of Baltimore picking up the clip, it’s now a story. It will be curious to see if Faalele plays more this week and if more poor play could lead to a job change. All eyes will be on him in the next game.
Inside Linebacker play
There are a couple of different angles to look out for in this position room. The first is Trenton Simpson. Like last week, he probably won’t play much, but he’ll certainly want to make a bigger impact. While he’s likely not in danger of losing the starting spot next to Roquan Smith, he’ll want to nail down the spot and not leave it up to chance or a coaching choice. Another storyline is the play of rookie Teddye Buchanan. Last week, he impressively wore the green dot, showing his knowledge and confidence in the playbook. But otherwise, it was a quiet and unimpressive game for him. He’ll look to improve on his performance and earn himself more snaps in the regular season.
The last thing to pay attention to is Jay Higgins against Jake Hummel. Hummel was a presumed safe bet to make the roster as a veteran special teams ace that the team signed early in the offseason to fill a role. But Hummel has missed a good bit of time and been rather unspectacular in play. Meanwhile, Higgins was the highest graded Ravens defender according to PFF last week and was a priority UDFA for the Ravens in the offseason. The talent and ceiling are shining through. If Higgins keeps this up, he could offer more immediate and long-term value for the Ravens than one-year stopgap Hummel.
Wide Receiver pecking order
Last week left a lot to be desired in the passing game. The quarterback play through the air was generally atrocious, to be nice about it. Cooper Rush was picked off on his first play and only had four attempts. Devin Leary went 3/12 in his extended appearance, also throwing an interception. Because of this, the wide receivers themselves didn’t get much of a chance to show up. The top three on the team are locked in between Zay Flowers, Rashod Bateman and DeAndre Hopkins. The rest of the room is also decided with Tylan Wallace, Devontez Walker and LaJohntay Wester finishing the room, but the actual question is the pecking order for them.
Walker received two targets and made an impressive catch going backwards, but it was far out of bounds without a real chance to be for yardage. Wester had two catches, including a spectacular back-shoulder ball he reeled in. Wallace also brought in his only target. Everybody is making the roster, but there’s a good chance that somebody could be a scratch each week. Wester has an upper hand in winning the punt returner job, so both Wallace and Walker need to show up and earn their roles in the depth chart.
Cooper Rush bouncing back
As mentioned above, the quarterback performances were very underwhelming. Devin Leary is a practice squad candidate and a well-known work in progress. But the Ravens put some significant investment in Cooper Rush, handing him a two-year $6.2 million contract that can go up to $12 million. That’s a lot more than the Ravens have invested in the position in a long time. Rush is a certified winner as a backup, stepping up and going 9-5 in his 14 games as a starter.
The Ravens aren’t panicking yet, and neither should the fans. Rush is a veteran, but he’s in a new system and it’s his first time with a new team. He’ll pick it up eventually. That being said, Rush going out there and performing well against his old team would help calm some of the panic going around the fanbase about the backup quarterback position. It would also help the Ravens more accurately evaluate the wide receivers listed above and help determine roles in actual game situations. The backup quarterback is one of the most underrated positions in the NFL. Even last year, the Ravens’ backup Josh Johnson played in six games despite Lamar Jackson remaining healthy. And if Jackson were to miss a game or two, those games matter, as we saw last year, where one extra win would have meant Buffalo coming down to Baltimore in the playoffs rather than the other way around.
Special Teams unit
Special teams wins games. That’s something that the Baltimore Ravens have believed in for a long time. Last year was a rough year, with Justin Tucker’s ups and downs and the general non-impact from both the kickoff and punting units. The Ravens ranked 23rd last year in special teams DVOA, a far cry from their normal standards. Things look far different so far. The punt and kick return units look electric with LaJohntay Wester and Keaton Mitchell leading them right now. The rest depends on rookie kicker Tyler Loop and fourth-year punter Jordan Stout.
Loop was good last week, the singular miss aside. He was perfect on his extra points, hit the 52-yard field goal after the miss, and the miss was an easily fixable issue where he hit his foot on the ground. Continuing to build off of that performance this week is paramount to a strong rookie season. As for Stout, he had an up-and-down day. He shanked one early and but also hit a 63-yard bomb backed up and hit on inside the 20. Stout is heading into his final year of his contract and hasn’t exactly lived up to his draft status as a fourth-round pick. He’ll look to have an above-average year and earn himself a contract somewhere.
Mike Green Watch!!!
I mean, how can I not mention him? Mike Green delivered in his first performance in the purple and black. While he didn’t finish with a sack, he created a ton of buzz, winning more than 30% of his pass rush reps and showing off a ton of his pass rush moves. He got a patented Baldy Breakdown following the game, and the hype continues to rise for him. So once again, we will be looking at Green and seeing, one, how long the Ravens let him go this time, and two, if he can finally have the highlight reel sack we are all craving for.
