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Positives, Negatives and More from the Preseason Opener

Football season is officially back, but it opened with a dud as the Redskins dropped their preseason opener to the Baltimore Ravens, 23-3. Here are some of the positives, negatives and more from the game….

Positives

  1. Jonathan Allen – The rookie first rounder certainly looked the part last night. He had penetration into the backfield, including a sack and he appeared quick when he was moving laterally across the field. Granted, he was working against Raven backups, but it was a good showing for his first live action.
  2. Nico Marley – The grandson of legendary musician Bob Marley also made a good first impression. He was flying around, always seemed to be near the ball and had a sack. He faces an uphill battle to make the team because of depth at LB, but it appears he is at least going to make it hard for the team to cut him.
  3. Samaje Perine – He ran with the power and explosiveness we’ve been hearing about since minicamp. He did fumble once (another issue we’ve been hearing about) but ball security can be corrected.

Negatives

  1. First Team Offense – Two drives, six plays, two three and outs. Cousins’ throws were off (his first pass to Terrelle Pryor should’ve been caught – Pryor got both hands on it – but it was a little high and behind him) the offensive line was poor, at best, offering no running lanes for Rob Kelley and providing no semblance of a pocket for Cousins to work from. Offensive Line Coach Bill Callahan said this would be a good test for the line because the Ravens’ front is so physical. Well, they failed that test miserably.
  2. First Team Defense – Had Joe Flacco been in the game instead of Ryan Mallett, it would’ve been 7-0 on the Ravens first drive as a receiver broke wide open down the field with nary a Redskins defender around. As some top backups started getting in the game, a big play was promptly surrendered and then Ravens’ running back Terrance West went right up the middle, almost untouched for an easy TD.
  3. Penalties – 7 for 91 yards to be exact, a few of which kept Ravens’ scoring drives alive.
  4. Ball Security – A Colt McCoy pick right before the half led to three points for the Ravens, courtesy of a Justin Tucker 59-yard field goal. The Redskins also fumbled three times, but managed to recover all three.
  5. Su’a Cravens – Injury aside, he was wearing #30 and free agent addition D.J. Swearinger was wearing #36. Cravens said he wore 36 to honor the late Sean Taylor. I guess even honor has a price (if Swearinger had to pay to get it)

And More

  1. Missed Opportunities – Deshazor Everett had a sure pick six go right through his hands in the first half. For a team that is going to need to force more turnovers, this was an unwelcome, all too familiar scene.
  2. Special Teams – Dustin Hopkins made his lone kick of the night and the coverage teams were generally solid, save for the 46-yard punt return they gave up that lead to another Ravens score.
  3. Matt Jones – Didn’t touch the ball. So much for him trying to work his way back up the depth chart.

Overall, this Redskins team looked much like the version we saw last year. Poor offensive line play in the running game, inconsistent pressure from the defense, too many penalties, missed opportunities for turnovers and a lack of ball security. It’s only the first preseason game and there is plenty of time to correct things before the opener against the Eagles, but the effort didn’t live up to the hype. The team, as has sometimes been the case under Gruden, looked unprepared to play.