The Baltimore Ravens offense hasn’t shown much progress in the preseason, but that could be a bit misleading:
The Baltimore Ravens offense will not resemble that of the New England Patriots or the Green Bay Packers. That is an echelon that seems out of reach for the battered and beleaguered offense of the purple and black. While the offense has looked less than functional during the preseason, that may not mean much when the regular season rolls around. The Ravens have had missing pieces in every preseason game to date. Tonight’s preseason game is irrelevant in this discussion as the starters won’t play at all.
The Ravens offense needs to be functional, that’s the keyword. We haven’t seen the offense at full strength. It is important to note that Joe Flacco outclasses Ryan Mallett and Josh Woodrum every day of the week (especially on Sunday). The Ravens haven’t had the same offensive line configuration for consecutive games this preseason. Ronnie Stanley is a huge key to success, as is a healthy Breshad Perriman and Danny Woodhead. It’s starting to look like the Ravens will have Flacco, Perriman and Stanley available for the season opener, and that’s a big deal.
Mike Wallace and Jeremy Maclin didn’t get a ton of playing time. When they did play, they had Ryan Mallett throwing them the football. With Mallett under center, the Ravens could have an explanation for their lack of wide receiver production. How fair is it to judge the people catching the ball when the person throwing the ball is inadequate?
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At full strength the offense isn’t expecting to be a juggernaut. However with their key players actually on the field, they should lean toward the middle of the pack. This is all the Ravens need to get wins. The defense has more depth than ever before and the starting unit is lightning fast. Good things are going to happen when the Ravens don’t have the ball. The only doubt comes with the offense.
Joe Flacco will most likely come out of the gates rusty. He is a player that is prone to a bone headed play or two when he’s been practicing. The Ravens running game will have to get going and there is no guarantee that it will. Taquan Mizzell is leading the Ravens in yards per rush with just 3.3 yards per carry. Was that because of the turmoil on the offensive line or is there just a lack of explosiveness in the Ravens running game?
The Ravens offense has been given a built in excuse this preseason. The offense will go into the season not being tested as a whole. Surely, some players were able to get themselves ready for the regular season but many of them could not.
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The moral of the story is that we don’t know what to expect. All we know at this point is that without the full arsenal to work with, the offense did little good. Expectations shouldn’t be high, however they probably shouldn’t be as low as the preseason performance suggests. One way or another, this defense better be good.