Bizarre but true: Ravens still don't know their Week 1 opponent

The Ravens will play their second preseason game, against the Washington Commanders, on Monday. Baltimore opens the regular season against the Houston Texans next Sep. 10, in less than three weeks. So far, they don't know who will be standing at the other end of the field that Sunday.

It is still early in the preseason with Week 2 yet to be completed as the Ravens have to play the Commanders before we move on to Week 3 next weekend. Even then, it's about time for teams to start having a solid idea of, at the very least, who will be their starters.

That's not the case in Houston.

The Texans, who had the no. 2 pick of the 2023 NFL draft, picked QB C.J. Stroud to man their pocket starting this season... or not.

As captured by Aaron Wilson of KPRC2, Texans' head coach DeMeco Ryans is still unsure about who will be playing QB1 and starting against the Ravens when the regular season gets rolling in a few weeks.

While rookie quarterback Stroud is the leading candidate to start for the Texans, Houston could decide to throw veteran Davis Mills into the fire to begin the season. Mills, who is currently the QB2 in the Texans' depth chart, was a third-round pick in the 2021 draft.

"We’ll have a starter in Baltimore," Ryans said with a straight face. "It’s the same as I said previously. You guys will see the starter when we get to Baltimore." Sheesh...

Ryans is not under any obligation of disclosing his plans before the game, mind you, but it'd make sense for him and his players to know who is going to lead them on the field against the Ravens.

Stroud has played in the first two games of the Texans' preseason having a horrid debut (2-of-4 for 13 yards, one interception) and then improving in his second game as a summer-pro (7-of-12 for 60 yards).

Baltimore, as is its wont, has already made supremely official and clear that Lamar Jackson will be their QB1 and starting the game against Houston. Here's to hoping the Texans can learn something from the Ravens' transparency and honesty.

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