BALTIMORE — With nearly all starters sitting out, NFL preseason games give those buried on the depth chart a chance to have a moment, and Emory Jones and Dayton Wade did that for the Ravens in a 13-12 win against the Atlanta Falcons at M&T Bank Stadium on Aug. 17.
Wade used a double move to torch Falcons cornerback Anthony Johnson, and Jones dropped a 56-yard touchdown pass right into Wade’s hands down the left sideline for a 13-6 lead late in the third quarter.
“I’m going to remember that forever,” Jones said.
The Falcons mounted a potential go-ahead drive in the game’s closing minutes, and running back Jase McClellan ran up the middle for a 3-yard touchdown with 36 seconds left. But on the ensuing two-point conversion for the lead, Ravens linebacker Tavius Robinson crashed off the edge and wrapped up McClellan well short of the goal line.
Robinson, the second-year outside linebacker whose roster spot is not in question, was only in the game because rookie Adisa Isaac had left the game because of some cramping.
“If you want to talk about playing like a Raven … just tag it right next to [Robinson’s] name,” head coach John Harbaugh said. “He’s that kind of guy.”
As he did last week against Philadelphia, Harbaugh held out most starters, including quarterback Lamar Jackson, wide receiver Zay Flowers, tight end Mark Andrews, linebacker Roquan Smith and safety Kyle Hamilton.
Andrews, who was in a car accident earlier in the week but was not injured, has not practiced since the crash, but he was on the field before the game playing catch with teammates.
Josh Johnson started at quarterback for the Ravens and played nearly the entire first half. The veteran finished a perfect 11-for-11 through the air, including a 6-yard touchdown pass to running back Owen Wright, who lunged for the pylon in the right corner to give the Ravens a 7-3 lead with 4:10 left in the first half.
The Falcons outgained the Ravens in total offense, 343-301, but Falcons kicker Younghoe Koo, who ranks fourth all-time in NFL field-goal accuracy, missed field-goal tries from 40, 45 and 49 yards.
Here are five observations of the game for the Ravens, who conclude the preseason schedule in Green Bay next Saturday, Aug. 24, after a joint practice with the Packers Aug. 22:
1. A healthy David Ojabo can make an impact.
With Ojabo not previously cleared for game action, and rookie third-round pick Adisa Isaac slowed by a lingering hamstring injury, the depth of the Ravens’ edge group has been called into question this summer.
Finally given the OK for a game — his first since Week 3 of last season — Ojabo showed good moves and burst firing off the edge against the Falcons’ backup linemen. His pressure forced Falcons quarterback Taylor Heinicke to throw a third-down pass that was broken up by Trenton Simpson, and Ojabo also gave a good, clean shot to Heinicke just after he unloaded another pass that fell incomplete.
The Ravens drafted Ojabo in the second round in 2022 knowing he would be slowed most of that season after tearing his Achilles at Michigan’s Pro Day that spring. But then he also lost almost all of last season to a knee injury and has played in five of 34 career games.
The Ravens face questions about their edge rush group after losing Jadeveon Clowney and his 9.5 sacks to free agency. Their hope is that Ojabo, even in limited doses, can help fill that void, but he needs to be healthy for the first time in his three NFL seasons to do that. Against the Falcons, he showed what that might look like.
“He was a factor,” Harbaugh said. “It looked like he was really stout against the run. I thought he set some edges really well. … He had some pressures. He looked good.”
2. There will be growing pains for this offensive line.
The Ravens have lost three starters from last season, and that turnover up front is bound to have some hiccups. A few happened in this game.
The Ravens were playing without starting left tackle Ronnie Stanley and starting center Tyler Linderbaum, who has been sidelined for the past week with a soft-tissue injury, but the three other potential starters were on the field at the start.
The Falcons, who rested their starting defensive linemen, were able to win battles up front and create problems for quarterback Josh Johnson.
On the opening drive, left guard Andrew Vorhees was beaten badly by Falcons second-round rookie defensive lineman Ruke Orhorhoro for a third-down sack. On the next possession, Johnson was rushed into a pass that netted minus-1 yard with the rush bearing down on him, one play after a pitch play to Owen Wright went nowhere.
And the third possession ended in disaster when center Ben Cleveland snapped the ball while Johnson was still motioning to players about pre-snap formation. The ball sailed past the shoulder of the unsuspecting Johnson and was recovered by the Falcons.
“I thought I heard the cadence,” Cleveland said. “That’s completely my mess up. … We’ve just got to figure out how to differentiate that, the quarterback’s voice to everybody else’s voice, and move forward and not let it happen again.”
The Ravens expect Linderbaum to be at center once the regular season begins, but both Cleveland and super-sub Patrick Mekari saw action in that role in this game. Vorhees is the likely starter at left guard, and Daniel Faalele and rookie Roger Rosengarten or Mekari will start on the right side.
The Ravens remain high on all of them in those roles, but Vorhees and Rosengarten have yet to play in an NFL game, and Faalele until this summer had never played guard. The more this group plays together, the better, so all this experience, even in the form of a blown assignment or a lost 1-on-1 battle, will be viewed as progress.
3. Josh Johnson isn’t done yet.
The Ravens have maintained their support of Johnson as the team’s backup, even after drafting Devin Leary in the sixth round and watching the Johnson-led offense scuffle at times in the first week of camp with quarterback Lamar Jackson sidelined by illness.
Against the Falcons, again playing without any of the top receivers, Johnson was efficient and accurate. Johnson had to deal with a lot of pressure at times, but he finished 11-for-11 for 120 yards, including a 6-yard touchdown pass to Owen Wright.
Johnson’s best pass might have been a third-down throw down the middle to Tylan Wallace that covered 31 yards and set up his touchdown pass to Wright. Earlier in that drive, he had completed a fourth-and-2 pass to Malik Cunningham.
All any team wants is for the backup quarterback to be able to capably step in and move the offense. It doesn’t have to be spectacular or flashy. It just has to be purposeful and functional. Johnson, who turned 38 in May, showed he can do that, and he put distance between him and Devin Leary in the race to be the team’s backup quarterback.
“I think I can handle everything that’s expected of me [with] regards to the operation of the offense,” Johnson said. “My style of play may not be as exciting as Lamar, but in terms of making the plays that are necessary, I can do that.”
4. The Ravens’ competition for wide receiver roster spots will continue.
The Ravens have three sure things on their roster at the receiver position in Zay Flowers, Rashod Bateman and Nelson Agholor. (And let’s face it, Bateman’s health is a lingering concern.) Rookie Devontez Walker should be safely on the roster as well as a fourth-round pick, because this team just doesn’t cut fourth-round rookie draft picks, but Walker has been dealing with a rib injury and has shown little in training camp. He played just a couple of snaps against Atlanta.
Receiver Deonte Harty, who has been sidelined much of the summer, made his preseason debut as the Ravens’ return specialist. His production was modest, with two kick returns that averaged 18.5 yards and two punt returns that averaged 11, but the Ravens still view the former Pro Bowl pick as one of the top options in that role.
Tylan Wallace showed on this game how he can contribute as a receiver and has been a stalwart on special teams throughout his career. If the Ravens keep both Harty and Wallace on the 53-man roster, that would give them six receivers. It seems unlikely they would keep more given that they will keep four in the tight end/fullback genre with Mark Andrews, Isaiah Likely, Charlie Kolar and Patrick Ricard and might want an extra lineman or defensive back.
Walker would seem to be the wild card here. Will he be ready to go in Week 1, and have the Ravens seen enough to put him out there? Is that rib injury enough to start him on IR this season? If so, maybe a roster spot opens up for someone such as Anthony Miller or Keith Kirkwood, who played 13 games for the Saints last year and had a 26-yard catch against the Falcons, or Wade, who had the highlight reel catch in this game.
The competition for final receiver spots, with the return role in the mix, could continue right up until cutdown day Aug. 27.
5. The Green Bay joint practice will be the preseason for the starters.
Most projected starters sat out again in this game and figure to do so again next week against the Green Bay Packers. (One who did play was inside linebacker Trenton Simpson, who continues to look ready to seamlessly replace Patrick Queen.)
But the Ravens and Packers will hold a joint practice in Green Bay next week before the game, and, for many teams, joint practices have become the de facto preseason.
Ravens starters will go against Packers starters, albeit in scripted situations. The goal is to give starters quality, game-simulated action but in a controlled environment that should reduce the chance of injuries.
Top players will look forward to competitive reps against top players from another team, and for most Ravens starters, that will be the closest they get to a game until they kick off the season at Kansas City on Thursday night, Sept. 5.
The fear, of course, is the team is not quite ready for game speed when Week 1 begins, and for the Ravens, that comes at the reigning Super Bowl champs. It’s worth noting that the Chiefs have played their starters in the preseason; quarterback Patrick Mahomes went 8-for-14 for 93 yards over two drives in their preseason game against Detroit this week.
But Harbaugh’s approach to the preseason clearly changed after he watched running back J.K. Dobbins be carted off with a torn ACL in the preseason finale in 2021.
Now, Lamar Jackson, Roquan Smith and others will get some action against the Packers in practice next Thursday, and then they will point to the highly anticipated, nationally televised opener in Kansas City.
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