Maybe If We All Stopped Thinking About Who Should Be the Ravens’ Quarterback…

…maybe the whole problem would just go away. The Birds lost their second straight preseason game on Saturday night, and not coincidentally, it was the second straight game that family commitments have blocked me from conducting the locally-famous Ravens live chat.

But I apparently didn’t miss much. The St. Louis Rams looked effective against the Ravens on both sides of the ball, and gave some Ram rookies time to shine in the 24-10 defeat of the Ravens.

We knew that the quarterback question in Baltimore was one that wouldn’t be likely answered until opening day, and Flacco’s performance just made the question a lot more complex. He still shows signs of rookie indecision, but emerged from the game with his first career passing touchdown, and no interceptions. Troy Smith, who was expected to start and play the entire game, missed the contest with what the team called a “viral infection.”

But of more concern in this game was the defensive output, or lack thereof. Corey Ivy, a veteran cornerback with the Ravens was repeatedly burned in coverage by a multitude of receivers, and the Rams rushing game got low for 113 yards overall on 24 carries. Not good for the Ravens defense, no matter what string of players is on the field.

The Atlanta Falcons have named Matt Ryan their starting quarterback, and that franchise is in far more dire straits than the Ravens. Perhaps the Ravens should adopt that philosophy of thinking in the long term.

But we’re not going to think about that now, are we?

Schedule