Young Ravens flash some potential in mundane preseason opener

BALTIMORE — With so many key veterans not even suited up, there wasn’t much to take away from the Ravens’ 22-19 win over Carolina to begin the preseason.
There was some good, some bad, and plenty of “meh” over the course of the night, which is what you expect in the first preseason game when starters might not make as much as a cameo appearance. But head coach John Harbaugh made it clear earlier in the week that he wanted to see something from his younger players after a 5-11 season in which nine different losses were decided by one possession.
He was looking for some game-changing plays.
“You just don’t know until you see something happen,” Harbaugh said. “Now [that] we have this game behind us, we can watch the tape and have a sense of, ‘OK, this is kind of our beginning, this is where we start.’ Some of these young guys, we drafted them for a reason, and I think they showed up tonight. But they have to keep getting better if they’re going to win games in the National Football League against top-flight guys.”
A few players flashed that ability despite the Ravens having just one play of 20 or more yards, a 29-yard completion from No. 3 quarterback Josh Johnson to tight end Nick Boyle in the third quarter.
Starting at rush linebacker in place of Terrell Suggs, Za’Darius Smith provided the first game-changing play of the night when he blew past reserve tackle Daryl Williams to sack and strip Panthers backup quarterback Derek Anderson, allowing defensive tackle Carl Davis to recover the fumble deep in Carolina territory. The Ravens offense would give the ball right back to Carolina a few plays later, but creating turnovers has been a bigger point of emphasis than normal this year after the defense had just 14 takeaways in 2015, the lowest single-season total in franchise history.
With Suggs and Elvis Dumervil each on the wrong side of 30, Smith developing into an impact pass rusher would go a long way in helping the Baltimore defense. It was also encouraging to see draft picks Matt Judon and Willie Henry be disruptive in their first preseason action.
On the offensive side of the ball, a trio of young running backs showcased their potential with Terrance West rushing for two touchdowns, Buck Allen catching a 19-yard score, and lightning-quick rookie Kenneth Dixon carrying nine times for 44 yards and picking up the longest run of the night, a 19-yard sprint behind superb blocks from John Urschel and Vlad Ducasse. West’s 25 yards on nine carries didn’t look like much on paper, but the jump cut he displayed to move the chains on a third-and-2 run in the first quarter and his acceleration while changing direction on a 2-yard touchdown in the third quarter reinforced the improvement he’s shown in practices this summer.
Those offerings were probably enough to make starter Justin Forsett eager to get back on the field after he was among the veterans to receive the night off on Thursday. With the Ravens coming off the most disappointing season of the Harbaugh era, that kind of competition is a good thing.
“I’m just trying to win [over] every guy in that building and show the Ravens [organization] that they can count on me,” West said. “Accountability. I am just trying to come out here and work hard and show these guys that they can depend on me.”
Of course, there was much not to like on Thursday, ranging from the lackluster performance of the secondary to shaky special teams. Veterans Jerraud Powers and Kyle Arrington did nothing to quell concerns about the nickel cornerback job while Kaelin Clay’s muffed punt reflected how unimpressive the return specialist competition has been.
The Ravens remain a work in progress, but a team needing some young players to step forward saw a few flashes of promise in an otherwise mundane preseason game.
“Those are the plays that win you games, the game-changing-type plays,” said safety Eric Weddle of Smith’s strip sack in the opening quarter. “You can watch the film. There’s 60, 70 snaps, [and] there will be four or five plays. You either make them and you win the game or you don’t and the other team does and they win. We want to be on the right side of that and win a bunch of games.”
After being on the wrong side all last year, Baltimore is hoping to flip the script in 2016.