Yeah that's about right for this game
Takeaway drill: getting off to an inauspicious start in 2009, getting blanked just up the road; offense missing in action, there were no standouts; defense was uneven, Brian Orakpo and Jeremy Jarmon both look like great pick ups; three magic words: no serious injuries.
=====Monday Friday walkthrough: a weak performance with a few bright spots, the defense showed promise and the offense never came out of draft as the Ravens pummel the Redskins 23-0, the Redskins are now 0-1 in the 2009 preseason.
The Redskins got the ball to start the first quarter, their first possession started well with Ladell Bettis (lol) and Chris Cooley resetting the chains twice, Jason Campbell got nervous and overthrew Devin Thomas and Marques Hagans (Wahoowa!) and the first drive ended barely 25 yards downfield. The Raven first possession started with a Redskins defensive jailbreak, Joe Flacco was lucky to get rid of it weakly. Baltimore turned it around pretty quickly as tailback Ray Rice exploited a hole over the middle between London Fletcher and LaRon Landry for a 34 yard catch and run. The Ravens stalled at the goal line and had to settle for a field goal, 3-0 Baltimore. Washington's second possession was a four and out featuring a good looking pass to Antwaan Randle El. Baltimore's second possession was more on than off for nearly forty yards as the first quarter ended 3-0 Ravens.
Baltimore picked up where they left off to start the second quarter and continued to drive ugly for a field goal to push the Ravens lead to 6-0. Washington put Todd Collins in at quarterback for their third drive... and he immediately throws a near interception. Curly R favorite tailback Marcus Mason gets a carry for five yards on the way to a three and out. Baltimore starts their third drive with excellent field position and goes literally nowhere as Troy Smith comes in at quarterback for a three and out. Washington's fourth drive is Marcus Mason and Todd Collins and a three and out. Baltimore's fourth drive starts with a 35 yard bomb by Troy Smith to former Eagles tight end LJ Smith, the Ravens actually go backward from there on a four and out. Todd Collins came out of his two drive coma for the Redskins fifth drive, moving the team 56 yards, the drive almost ended on a Fred Davis fumble, fortunately Fred recovered his own fumble and saved the drive so he could fumble it away five plays later. Baltimore's fifth drive starts with good field position, despite some good defensive line play weak secondary play allows Troy Smith to hook up with some guy named Harper for a touchdown, 13-0 Ravens. Washington got the ball for the sixth time with five seconds left, Rock Cartwright comes in at tailback for one carry to end the half with Baltimore leading 13-0.
The Ravens got the ball to start the third quarter, their sixth possession, Washington started going deep into the roster and the defense got ragged, Baltimore drove 69 yards in almost five and a half minutes to settle for a 39 yard field goal to push Baltimore's lead to 16-0. Colt Brennan came in at quarterback for Washington's seventh drive, it was mainly a dud and ended four and out. Troy Smith stayed in for Baltimore's seventh possession, a drive that featured a near interception and Redskins in the Ravens backfield, a three and out. Washington's eighth drive was moving smoothly with good blocking, six plays into a productive possession and Colt was hit as he threw and it was intercepted. The Ravens eighth possession started with great field position, recognizing their lead they just ran the ball three times and the Redskins third string defense, mainly the line, held for a three and out. The Redskins got the ball for the ninth time... and nothin, three and out on awful blocking. Third string quarterback John Beck comes in for the last two plays of the third quarter as the Ravens start their ninth possession moving twenty yards backwards, third quarter ends with the Ravens leading 16-0.
The Ravens continued their ninth possession to start the fourth quarter, John Beck connects for thirteen yards on third and nineteen and the Ravens complete the three and out. Washington returns the favor with terrible blocking on their tenth drive on a three and out. Four straight passes for the Ravens on their tenth possession, a three and out. Washington's eleventh drive, things really looking ragged now with no real blocking, four and out. Baltimore's eleventh drive starts deep in their own territory, Washington's defense totally collapses and John Beck hooks up with some guy named Foster for 64 yards before a Cedric Peerman (Wahoowa!) seven year run for a score, Ravens go up 23-0. The Redskins get the ball back for the twelfth and final time, holding, sack, incomplete and then a big four yard completion on third and 25 and the Redskins were punting with 6:44 left in the game. Baltimore took the ball for their twelfth and final time, Troy Smith was back in the game, exhaustion, inexperience and lack of talent was everywheres, the Ravens miss a 28 yard field goal as time expires, game over, Redskins head home from a 23-0 shutout by the Ravens.
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Soapbox: what to say what to say, adjusted for preseason it was not as bad as it looked, because it looked realy bad. I saw some good blocking early on, a lack of depth along the offensive line as the evening wore on and generally excellent play by the defensive front seven. Sloppy play be the secondary reserves and not a lot from the ground game without Clinton Portis.
For the two drives Jason Campbell was on the field, Washington managed no points, I will say though that I saw a quarterback with time to throw and moving through his reads. Progress.
Brian Orakpo was all up in the Ravens backfield.
No serious injuries.
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Chattering class: Mike Wise at the Washington Post is just blah on everything about this game, except Brian Orakpo, Mike actually uses the terms emasculated and frightening to describe what Brian did to the Ravens offensive line.
Michael Wilbon, also at the WaPo writes that... never mind, it's all about Michael Vick, not the Redskins.
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Omnibus: I was out of town for the game, hence the timing of this gamewrap, and set the DVR to record. Either I recorded the wrong feed or the game was not broadcast in high definition, very disappointing.
The broadcast team of Mike Patrick and Joe Thiesmann was nice to see, Joe was always a homer in preseason when he did not have a national audience to show he was not a real homer, now that Joe does not have a national NFL gig perhaps he can be unafraid to speak his mind for better or for worse. Kelli Johnson on the sideline, I like her too, she and Jill Sorenson always seem to be having fun on Comcast SportsNet. Lindsay Czarniak, not so much for me.
Uniform watch: standard road uniform of burgundy jersey and white pants.
Nice work by the Redskins equipment staff, tailback Ladell Betts took the field with his name spelled Bettis, as in Jerome, on the back of his jersey. Great attention to detail guys, Ladell has only been with the team eight years. So I guess we have a new nickname for Ladell, Short Bus? Later as the game wore on I began to wonder, was it intentional? A prank on Ladell?
Mike Patrick reminded us London Fletcher has never missed a game in his eleven year NFL career. Wow.
The Ravens first drive featured a really gratuitous hold by Ravens left tackle Oneil Cousins on Andre Carter, Joe Flacco left the pocket and ran it to fourth and inches, the Ravens went on to score. I know it is preseason and all but give me a break on the no calls refs!
During a commercial break in the first quarter a Larry Michael voiceover commercial for quote very affordable unquote Redskins season tickets ran, I think conventional wisdom is quickly coalescing on the notion that the Redskins twenty year waiting list is long in the rearview. This might be the season the shit hits the fan, I am not yet saying the bee word, blackout, but we might be talking about it at some point this season. In the next break we saw a commercial for the Redskins Virginia Lottery twenty dollar scratch off game. The same commercial ran again in the second quarter, and again once in the third and the fourth.
Nice second quarter totally legal falling out of bounds hit on Ravens receiver Marcus Smith by safety Reed Doughty, pass incomplete. This after Reed fell down earlier on the same Ravens drive but then got up to make the play.
Joe Theismann was right, the Redskins offensive line did not look awful for that first drive, let us hope that is the line we see going forward.
More poor preparation and or lazy execution: as the Washington offense took the field for their first drive of the second quarter Mike Patrick announced our new Redskins quarterback was Kerry Collins. Uh no that would be Todd Collins, Kerry is the other incredibly old dude still playing in the NFL, for Tennessee.
Ha! Kelli Washington in a second quarter sideline spot with tailback Clinton Portis asked why Ladell Betts' jersey read Bettis, Clinton then said Brant must have been drinking, is Brant the Redskins equipment manager? Matt Terl help me out here.
More FLAGRANT sponsor tie in, Papa John Schnatter himself had a full segment in the booth with Mike and Joe as the game went on silently behind them. At least they had the courtesy to run that bit when the Ravens had the ball. Dan $nyder.
The penalty on the Ravens in the second quarter to start Baltimore's fourth drive reminded me: this game featured a match up of the Redskins actual first round pick and the first round pick many Redskins fans were hoping for, offensive tackle Michael Oher. Having him up the road, it will be easy to measure how they measure up in terms of development and contribution.
Marcus Mason has switched his number from 23 to 24. DeAngelo Hall now owns number 23.
Three times in the first half cornerback Justin Tryon was beaten badly, twice on an inside slant route and once on a middle out route. Twice in the first half Fred Davis fumbled. Twice late in the second quarter rookie cornerback Kevin Barnes gave up big passes, including a touchdown.
Todd Collins had three drives, looked awful on the first two and terrific on the third. He seemed to be in sync with the receivers, Malcolm Kelly, Devin Thomas, Fred Davis, Eddie Williams and Marcus Mason all caught passes on that drive. Too bad Fred fumbled it away. OH WELL I guess that is why we have Chris Cooley and Todd Yoder.
GREAT halftime segment on Sammy Baugh, lots of action footage and interview snippets from late in Sammy's life, the thing he was most proud of in the NFL was the game in which he intercepted four passes on defense and threw four touchdowns on offense.
I fully understand the second half of the first preseason game is going to drop off, but come on guys, it got real ragged real quick when the team started going deep into the roster. Doug Dutch, Robert Henson and Lendy Holmes all came out and made mistakes quick. Two false starts by and a sack allowed on reserve left tackle Devin Clark, not impressive.
Colt Brennan's interception in the third quarter came on a cornerback blitz by a rookie who dashed through a hole between Devin Clark and D'Anthony Batiste big enough to drive a truck through. Sloppy.
Around the end of the third quarter everyone started looking ragged, that ninth Ravens drive that crossed from the third into the fourth quarter blew up from their own bad blocking and penalties.
Being that the two local teams were playing in Baltimore, Kelli Washington helpfully pointed out that six former University of Maryland players were among the two rosters. Probably will not be that way on opening day though.
Things did not get any better later in the fourth quarter, Kevin Barnes and Michael Grant both gave up big plays, man the Ravens were doing themselves in with poor blocking, all the Redskins had to do was not give up the long plays and the front seven would have taken care of it. Yes I know it is preseason, I still get annoyed.
Great look by rookie defensive end Jeremy Jarmon, he seemed to jump three feet in the air to bat the ball down. Two plays later Jeremy got around the right tackle and chased John Beckj out of the pocket and helped end the Baltimore drive. Plenty of athleticism there, he looked good in what I saw.
Colt played the entire fourth quarter, fourth string quarterback Chase Daniel never got into the game.
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Shooter: two drives for Jason Campbell, no points, six passes attempted. Jason did not look bad, did not look terrific, and got the hook after one quarter.
Fat Contract Albert: new acquisition Albert Haynesworth did not play though he did give a hilarious sideline interview with NBC's Lindsey Czarniak, this guy is going to be good for a quote and does not seem to shy away from media. So far.
OH CRAPPO: rookie first round pick Brian Orakpo was awsum, he was all over the Raven backfield, I know he is looking to move to linebacker, he looked pretty damn good lining up at end.
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Washington Post recap, photos. NFL recap, box score, full play by play, Gamebook (PDF), photos, video highlights.
Next up, the Steelers and Big Ben Roethlisberger, along with the Ravens an annual preseason opponent in one form or another. It was two years ago that Steelers defensive end Brett Keisel came in on a dirty and low hit on Jason Campbell's knee that earned Brett a $12k5 fine.
Ladell Betts Bettis uniform from here, Ben Roethlisberger from here.
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