BALTIMORE — Lamar Jackson watched from the sideline, and so did Mark Andrews, Marlon Humphrey and nearly every other Ravens starter. The reserves who took center stage delivered, though, and the Ravens scored the final 16 points to record a 23-10 win against the Tennessee Titans in the preseason opener at M&T Bank Stadium on Aug. 11.
Tyler Huntley started at quarterback and played the first half, going 16-for-18 for 109 yards, and his 7-yard touchdown pass to rookie wide receiver Shemar Bridges with 35 seconds left in the half gave the Ravens the lead for good at 14-10.
“Tyler played great. His numbers were off the charts,” head coach John Harbaugh said. “He really ran the offense well.”
Nearly every projected Ravens starter sat the game out, with offensive lineman Ben Powers and defensive lineman Michael Pierce two of the few exceptions. Outside linebacker Odafe Oweh suited up but played just one snap before calling it a night.
Justin Tucker was in midseason form, hitting three field goals, including a pair of 47-yarders, for all the scoring in the second half as the Ravens held the Titans scoreless after halftime and pulled away.
The last time the Ravens played a preseason game, they lost starting running back J.K. Dobbins to a season-ending injury. They didn’t appear to suffer any significant injuries in this game, though receiver Tylan Wallace left early in the first quarter with what Harbaugh described as a minor knee sprain.
Here are five quick impressions of the win, which extends the Ravens’ preseason winning streak, already an NFL record, to 21 games:
1. Don’t expect to see Lamar Jackson this preseason.
Quarterback Lamar Jackson didn’t play in this game, and while John Harbaugh hasn’t made any public pronouncements about the rest of the preseason schedule, the belief is that Jackson won’t take a competitive snap before the regular season.
Last season, Jackson was held out of the first two preseason games, then played one offensive series, a total of 10 snaps, in the preseason finale. The final two plays of that series included J.K. Dobbins tearing his ACL and Jackson getting sacked.
That is probably all Harbaugh had to see to realize the juice isn’t worth the squeeze in games that don’t count in the standings. And if you are Jackson, who is in a contract year, what is to be gained by playing in the preseason, compared to what is to lose if he suffers a major injury like Dobbins did last preseason?
Tyler Huntley and No. 3 quarterback Anthony Brown (10-15, 117 yards) both played well, and they figure to be the primary quarterbacks in the final two preseason games as well.
2. The Ravens have stressed takeaways on defense, and it showed.
The Ravens last year finished with 15 takeaways, the second-lowest total in history, and both general manager Eric DeCosta and head coach John Harbaugh have stressed that they must improve in that area this year.
They came through in this game with three takeaways, one of which set up their first score of the game. Malik Harrison stripped Titans running back Julius Chestnut, and rookie safety Kyle Hamilton pounced on the ball at the Titans’ 22-yard line. Four plays later, running back Mike Davis bounced outside for a 4-yard touchdown run.
In the third quarter, the Ravens stuffed a Titans drive when cornerback Daryl Worley, a practice squad player last year who re-signed with the team just a few days ago, picked off an underthrown pass from Logan Woodside at the Ravens’ 2-yard line.
Then in the fourth quarter, inside linebacker Josh Ross broke up a pass and safety Geno Stone caught the deflected pass near midfield. Stone, who figures to have a reserve role this year behind Hamilton, Marcus Williams and Chuck Clark, had a strong game. He broke up two passes and his safety blitz forced a fourth-down incompletion on the Titans’ last offensive snap.
“I feel like every time I go on the field, it’s just an opportunity to show what I can do,” Stone said.
It’s unlikely that Worley will be on the field in the regular season, but Harrison, Hamilton and Stone could be, and the Ravens have to be encouraged to see them create turnovers that proved so elusive last year.
3. Isaiah Likely looks more and more like he will be a factor this year.
Tight end Isaiah Likely has been one of the offensive standouts in training camp this summer, but coaches are always to eager to see whether rookies can carry that momentum into action against other NFL players.
The 6-foot-4, 235-pound Likely showed the physical ability and range that he has shown all summer. He went high to make a contested catch and maintain possession despite an attempt to wrestle the ball away from him, drawing cheers from Lamar Jackson on the sideline nearby. Later, Likely made a tough sliding catch that was originally ruled incomplete but then overturned on replay review. Likely led the Ravens in the first half with four catches for 44 yards.
It wasn’t perfect for Likely, a fourth-round pick who admitted to a “jitter or two pregame” as he looked around and prepared to play in a stadium more than twice the size of his home field at Coastal Carolina.
He was called for two holding penalties on running plays to the outside, and he acknowledged that, “There’s things I gotta clean up,” but it’s an encouraging debut for a player that both Lamar Jackson and Mark Andrews have said remind them in some ways of a younger Andrews.
4. Shemar Bridges has put himself in the wide receiver discussion.
Jaylon Moore and Binjimen Victor had seemingly risen to the top of the competition for the No. 5 receiver, but Shemar Bridges, an undrafted rookie out of Fort Valley State in Georgia, showed he is right in the mix.
On a team that features three receivers listed at 5-foot-11, Bridges’ 6-foot-4, 207-pound frame stands out, and he used all of it to make a pair of big catches in this game. Bridges high-pointed a fade route for a 14-yard touchdown late in the first half, and then in the third quarter, he elevated once again to grab a 38-yard catch down the left sideline. He finished with four catches for a team-high 62 yards.
Bridges had flashed early in training camp and then quieted down, but during one early practice, his downfield blocking sprung a long gain down the left sideline and that will surely score with coaches.
“He’s a big, physical guy,” head coach John Harbaugh said. “He goes up and gets the ball. He posts a lot of good speeds in practice, and plays hard on special teams in practice.”
Bridges said he met with a Ravens scout at the HBCU Legacy Bowl, and then he was aggressively pursued by the Ravens as an undrafted free agent. The team made clear that his size appealed to them, and Bridges saw an opportunity in Baltimore, which had just four receivers coming back from last season. One of them, Tylan Wallace, caught just two passes.
Wallace left this game early, and Harbaugh announced that James Proche is dealing with a soft-tissue injury, so receivers such as Bridges are likely to get increased opportunities during the next couple of weeks.
5. The Ravens’ left tackle situation remains one to watch.
Ja’Wuan James started at left tackle, his first game since 2019 and the first game he’s played at left tackle since high school. James opted out of the 2020 season because of COVID, and then tore his Achilles last spring before he was signed by the Ravens.
James played the entire first half, and the Ravens also used Tyre Phillips at left tackle, as they probe for options if Ronnie Stanley’s recovery is slowed again this year. Patrick Mekari could be another possibility, though he started at center in place of injured rookie Tyler Linderbaum and played just briefly.
“It was good for Ja’Wuan to get back and play some football,” head coach John Harbaugh said. “He hadn’t played in quite a while.”
The Ravens allowed three sacks, with two of them coming late in the fourth quarter, one of which led to the Ravens’ only turnover.
Stanley remains on the PUP list, and until he returns and shows he is ready to play — which clearly never happened last year — the Ravens have to see what else they have at the position. They might not have definitively answered any questions tonight, but James’ performance was encouraging, and they will continue to look hard at this group the next few weeks. Lamar Jackson’s blind-side depends on it.
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