The Baltimore Ravens earned another solid preseason win over the Minnesota Vikings to continue the Jesse Minter. Here are a few main takeaways from the victory.
First, being I think the center competition is in a good spot. While Jovaughn Gwyn wasn’t as good as last week and the entire offensive line struggled, I think the tape will show it wasn’t horrendous and a product of Brian Flores being absolutely mad in the head. Ethan Pocic had his first significant action and playing for two entire quarters.
While it was against second and third-teamers, Pocic looked good and healthy, which is the priority right now. You aren’t worried about a veteran of his caliber facing better competition but rather how his body plays and responds. Either way, one of those guys will fill in and hopefully don’t drag the entire unit down to being bottom-five in the league.
Second, the death of the tight end room was greatly exaggerated. The departures of Isaiah Likely and Charlie Kolar are big losses that shouldn’t be understated, but it seems the Ravens have quickly filled the void in the aggregate. Matt Hibner had a great performance last week, opening up the offense with a 29-yard wheel route and finishing with 61 yards on five catches. Josh Cuevas followed it up this week with 46 yards on three catches, including an acrobatic grab. Mark Andrews will do what he does — find the soft spots in zone and be a safety blanket for Lamar Jackson, even if his explosive plays and yards after catch days are done. Durham Smythe will be a solid blocking tight end and fill in where needed. While the ceiling for this room might not be as high as last year, the “fall off” for this unit in a new wide receiver-heavy scheme won’t sink this team like some might have thought early in training camp.
Third, I think it’s hard to put anybody else except for Ethan Burke as the guy to win the fifth edge rusher role. He’s constantly popped on film and looks to be a good player on special teams as well. This isn’t a knock against, Adisa Isaac and Kaimon Rucker for being bad, but more an emphasis on Burke’s play. Isaac was in the right place at the right time against the Eagles to catch a bobbled ball and take it to the endzone for a pick-six. Unfortunately, it was called incomplete and he hasn’t been on the stat sheet otherwise. Rucker has a couple of tackles and a quarterback hit between the two games. Burke has totaled five total tackles, a sack, a tackle for loss, two pass breakups, and two quarterback hits. He’s simply popped more and made more plays.
Lastly, Ryan Eckley is clearly the best punter in the NFL. After shanking his first professional punt against the Eagles, he’s done nothing but bomb punts down the field and pin teams deep. His second punt against the Eagles pinned them at the 10. Against Minnesota, Eckley totaled six punts that averaged 55.3 yards, with a long of 60 yards. Two of those six punts were inside the 20, with one landing at the 4-yard line. All jokes aside, it’s great to see Eckley bounce back from what’s looking like a nerves punt and be a machine since. The Ravens were heavily favored by Jordan Stouts punting last season but Stouts first years in the league were average to below average. Not going back to that would be a huge boon for a team chasing a championship.
