Ravens defensive coordinator Zach Orr had plenty of reason to smile. The excitable Orr hopped around the sideline after rookie linebacker Jay Higgins forced a fumble for the Ravens’ second takeaway of the night, and Orr’s defense pretty much started and ended the game with sacks as the Ravens rolled to a 31-13 win over the host Dallas Cowboys in Week 2 of the preseason Aug. 16.
Dallas didn’t score an offensive touchdown, with the Cowboys’ only scores coming on an interception return touchdown and a pair of field goals.
With just two projected defensive starters suited up, the Ravens held Dallas to 176 yards of offense and seven first downs and took a 2-0 lead when undrafted cornerback Keyon Martin dropped Cowboys quarterback Joe Milton for a safety on the Cowboys’ third offensive snap.
The Ravens, who rested quarterback Lamar Jackson and every projected skill position starter on offense, just as they had in the preseason opener last week, got touchdowns from Keith Kirkwood and D’Ernest Johnson and five field goals from rookie kicker Tyler Loop to roll to the victory.
Cooper Rush, who had started eight games for Dallas last season, started at quarterback for the Ravens. He played the first half and finished 20-for-30 for 198 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. The first of those was returned for a touchdown that gave the Cowboys’ their only lead at 7-5 late in the first quarter.
The Ravens took the lead for good when Rush hit Kirkwood on a 1-yard touchdown pass, and Loop’s third field goal gave them an 18-7 halftime lead.
The Ravens have essentially one more week of practice and one more preseason game – at Washington on Aug. 23 — before the 53-man roster must be set on Aug. 26.
Here are five quick impressions of the preseason Week 2 win at Dallas:
1. Undrafted rookies continue to make noise.
Reuben Lowery drifted back from his safety position, read quarterback Joe Milton all the way, reached up and grabbed the end-zone interception. The play came one play after the Ravens had turned the ball over on an interception, and it continued a strong summer for Lowery, who has been around the ball throughout OTAs and training camp. He got extensive run alongside Sanoussi Kane at safety in this game, suggesting he might have hurdled Beau Brade on the depth chart.
The Ravens have kept an undrafted rookie on the initial 53-man roster in 20 of the past 21 years, and Lowery might be the leading candidate to be that rookie this season.
But he wasn’t the only undrafted rookie to make a splash. On the Cowboys’ third offensive snap, slot corner Keyon Martin shot through a gap on a blitz and sacked Milton for a safety and the game’s first points. The sack came one play after Martin, from Louisiana Lafayette, had dropped running back Miles Sanders for a 5-yard loss back at the 3-yard line.
Martin, starting along with corners T.J. Tampa and Jalyn Armour-Davis in the Ravens’ nickel defense, finished with three tackles.
Meanwhile, inside linebacker Jay Higgins had a strip-sack in the fourth quarter, his second takeaway in as many games. Higgins, who played collegiately at Iowa, had an interception in the preseason opener against Indianapolis.
Higgins led the Ravens with six tackles in this game, including two on special teams. The Ravens have a long history of finding and cultivating undrafted inside linebackers. Orr was one himself, and Higgins hopes to be the next to join a list that includes Bart Scott, Jameel McClain, Dannell Ellerbe, Patrick Onwuasor and Orr, among others.
Every undrafted player faces tough odds to make the team, but these players have at least put themselves in the conversation.
2. Adisa Isaac’s injury might clarify the edge picture.
Head coach John Harbaugh said after the game that outside linebacker Adisa Isaac has a dislocated elbow and will be out “for a few weeks at least.” Isaac was injured on a kickoff in the second quarter. With the regular-season opener less than a month away, it seems Isaac could be a candidate to start the season on injured reserve, with the ability to return later in the season.
That’s a tough break for Isaac, a third-round pick last year whose rookie season was essentially scuttled by a pair of hamstring injuries. But it also might solidify David Ojabo’s spot as the fifth outside linebacker behind Odafe Oweh, Kyle Van Noy, Tavius Robinson and Mike Green. There’s been speculation that if the Ravens opted to keep just five outside linebackers on the 53-man roster, then Ojabo, whose career has also been slowed by injury and is set to hit free agency next spring, could be edged out by Isaac.
But the Ravens still see upside in Ojabo, a former second-round pick, and an injury to Isaac should put Ojabo on more firm footing.
Ojabo, who said last week that he was as healthy as he has been in any offseason in his four-year pro career, started against Dallas and recorded two tackles.
3. Rasheen Ali states his case for a spot.
Running back Rasheen Ali has been considered precariously on the roster bubble as the fourth running back behind Derrick Henry, Justice Hill and Keaton Mitchell. But Mitchell, who has shown his pre-ACL burst this summer, has been dealing with a hamstring injury for the past week, giving Ali an extended chance to convince coaches he’s worth keeping on the 53-man roster.
It might be working. Harbaugh said after the game that the plan tentatively is to carry four running backs. Ali carried 19 times for 62 yards against the Cowboys and had one kickoff return for 25 yards. He did, however, have a ball glance off his hands for an interception.
Still, the Ravens have said they like having running backs as returners in the new kick return format, and the Ravens could use both Mitchell and Ali as the two deep returners. And if Mitchell’s hamstring injury lingers, Ali could be in line to be the No. 3 back.
Carrying four running backs means going short at another position, but Isaac’s injury could factor in that equation as well. Ali’s roster status looks stronger now than it did a few days ago.
4. Tyler Loop looks ready.
Tyler Loop had already pretty much secured the kicker job when the team released undrafted rookie John Hoyland earlier this month, but Loop still had to deliver in game situations to show the Ravens could entrust their kicking game to a rookie. That worked with Justin Tucker in 2012, and Loop, the first kicker ever drafted by the Ravens, is determined to show that it can work again in 2025.
Kicking against Dallas in front of family and friends not far from where he grew up in Lucas, Texas, Loop made five field goals, including two from outside 50 yards. He did, however, miss from 50, making him 6-for-8 in two preseason games. He hit from 52 and missed from 46 last week against the Colts.
Loop also was flagged for two penalties in this game, with one kick out of bounds and one that landed short of the “landing zone.” Harbaugh never likes to see penalties, but those might be chalked up to Loop, kicking coach Randy Brown and special teams coordinator Chris Horton experimenting with different kickoff options in the preseason.
Regardless, the Ravens liked Loop’s live leg coming out of the draft, and he’s decisively won the job this summer. When the kicks matter for real in Buffalo, Loop will be kicking them.
5. The virtual measurement system is underwhelming.
The Ravens and Cowboys got their first look at the NFL’s new virtual measurement system, which is being instituted this year and relegating the “chain gains” to backup status. The league is using Sony’s Hawk-Eye technology, which, much like in tennis, uses several cameras designed for optical tracking of the position of the ball. Doing so can determine, without the use of the “chain gang,” whether the offensive team has reached the line to gain for a first down.
According to the league in announcing the new technology, the virtual measurements will take just 30 seconds, saving up to 40 seconds compared to a chain crew coming onto the field to measure. Let’s just say the new technology seems to be in preseason form.
When the virtual measurement system was called upon to determine whether the Cowboys had achieved a first down on fourth-and-1, officials chatted with Ravens head coach John Harbaugh and players milled about in a process that appeared to take considerably longer than it would have with a chain crew. Ultimately, the virtual system determined that the Cowboys were short — by precisely 15 inches — but let’s hope this technology can operate more quickly than that when the games count.
Photo Credit: Kenya Allen/PressBox