Baltimore Ravens Get Off To Stumbling Start Against Colts

Aug 11, 2016; Baltimore, MD, USA; Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh reacts to a call during a preseason game against the Carolina Panthers at M&T Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rafael Suanes-USA TODAY Sports
Aug 11, 2016; Baltimore, MD, USA; Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh reacts to a call during a preseason game against the Carolina Panthers at M&T Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rafael Suanes-USA TODAY Sports /
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Preseason football is often forgettable football. The Baltimore Ravens will actually want to forget how their second preseason game started:

The Baltimore Ravens started their preseason game against the Indianapolis Colts on defense. Andrew Luck got his first preseason action and it was a comfortable entrance to the 2016 season. The Colts marched down the field on a 14 play drive. In typical bend but don’t break style, Dean Pees’s defense held the Ravens to a field goal.

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The defense played awful football in the opening quarter. There were some good performances. Matt Elam made some solid open field tackles. Albert McClellan played strong at the outside linebacker spot. Collectively however, the Ravens defense was terrible.

The defensive line got no push. While the secondary kept Andrew Luck’s receivers in front of them, they certainly didn’t stop them. The opening drive was just what happened last week against Cam Newton and the Panthers. The Ravens offered no resistance until they got backed up into the end zone.

The Ravens offense wasn’t much better to start this game. You had Crockett Gillmore dropping a pass. You had a couple of third and longs not go the Ravens way. It just wasn’t pretty football.

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Things got better in the second quarter but the start of this game was troubling. For the second week in a row, you saw the starting defense fail to get off the field. Field goals after long drives makes for frustrating football.

I’ll wait until the Ravens have their starting quarterback in before I freak out about the offense. The offense looked so intriguing last week too. The defense is concerning though. Two weeks in a row, the defense has given us lots of plays to dissect instead of getting off the field quickly.