Ravens @ Buccaneers: First Half Notes

Aug 8, 2013; Tampa, FL, USA; Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco (5) throws the ball during the first quarter against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

These will mostly be second quarter notes. The Starters played nearly all of the first quarter so to see my notes on them, follow this link.

– Penalties. Lots of them. The Ravens fell just 3 yards short of being penalized 100 yards in the first half. Part of that is just rusyness from the preseason, but most of it was….

-Chykie Brown. WTF man. brown looked really promising last year, but that first half was dreadful. He was picked on constantly and gave up 2 PI penalties worth almost 60 yards on one drive. Both times Brown was just flat out beat by his man and grabbed and ran into him to prevent a catch. horrible showing for Brown.

-Blocked Punt! gotta love it. Brynden Trawick blocked a punt in the waning seconds of the first half and Laquan Williams recovered it(more on Williams in a second) for the Ravens second TD in the last 2 minutes of the quarter. Awesome way to make an impact and always one of the most exciting and unexpected plays in sports. Trawick isnt making the roster, but it was an awesome play and probably will be the highlight of his career, nice job man.

-Laquan Williams, what a half man. Williams is one of the players fighting for a roster spot and he showed why he should be considered as having an early edge. Williams was a special teams stud, he made one tackle, had good discipline on kickoff coverage and recovered 2 loose balls. one a muffed punt and the other the blocked punt TD. Williams is perhaps the Ravens best special teamer.

-Daryl Smith looked good. Smith is expected to be the Ravens day one starter and he showed why tonight. He was all over the field making plays. he had a few tackles, batted a pass and was excelent in forcing runners outside. He is going to be a very good signing.

– The Ravens receivers are an issue. The Ravens starters were pretty much non-existant tonight. Torrey Smith had 2 receptions for 16 yards…that was it…for the entire position group. Jacoby Jones looked sloppy and out of place and no one else really got a shot. They must fix this. Im not a huge Brandon Lloyd fan, but he is better than what they have right now, sign him now.

-Offense still has a ways to go. a big part of this was missing Yanda, but the line wasnt gelling well, the receivers, as i mentioned, were useless space eaters and the starting TE dropped 2 passes. not a good start. they did show some promise, but they have got to clean things up in the coming weeks.

-Bobby Rainey is a preseason machine. all this dude does is make plays in August. Rainey had 2 great runs and a 58 yard kick return(though he does lose points for being taken down by a kicker). Rainey was the Ravens biggest stud of the preseason last year, and he looks like he will do the same this year.

-Justin Tucker is money. Enough said.