Ravens Preseason Takeaways: Electrifying RB is Back With Vengeance

After their pass defense turned things around midway through last season and went from worst to first in most metrics, the Ravens' most glaring weakness and biggest liability was their special teams unit. Not only did future Hall of Fame kicker Justin Tucker have the worst season of his career, but the coverage units regularly sprung leaks and they had a revolving door at punt returner, with everyone they trotted out struggling just to field the ball cleanly.

If their win over the Colts is any indication, their coverage unit still needs some improvement, but they are definitely in a better spot at both kicker and return specialist on both kicks and punts. Rookie kicker Tyler Loop was perfect on all three of his point-after attempts, butpushed the ball just wide left of the uprights on his first field goal attempt because of a technical execution mistake, according to head coach John Harbaugh. He rebounded by drilling a 52-yarder on his next attempt that would've been good from 60-plus.

"I thought Tyler did a nice job," Harbaugh said. "He stubbed his toe on the ground a little bit in that one [kick], and [he] just kind of made the ball move a little bit left. [He was] perfect other than that, but to see him bounce back on the next kick, especially after getting kind of pushed back into the longer field goal, I thought was really a big step up for him."

In the return game, the Ravens got a pair of 50-plus-yard plays from two young players. The first and most electric came from sixth-round rookie wide receiver LaJohntay Wester, who took a punt 87 yards to the house for his first career touchdown on his second NFL touch. The second came just before halftime when second-year running back Rasheen Ali ripped off a 69-yard kickoff return to put the offense in prime scoring position. The 2024 fifth-rounder stood out on offense as well as a ball carrier, further bolstering his case for a roster spot.

Young Pass Rushers Inspire Confidence

With their top three edge defenders sitting out, the Ravens' young outside linebackers got to go hunt and were very impressive. Fourth-year pro David Ojabo got things started by leveling Colt quarterback Anthony Richardson on an unblocked sack and finished with two solo tackles, including one for a loss and a quarterback hit.

Although the box core stats don't reflect it, second-round rookie Mike Green was a disruptive force throughout the game and especially as a pass rusher despite not being credited with a sack or quarterback hit. He generated the pressure to set up one of his teammates for a sack and had a pass rush win rate of 50% on his 14 pass rush snaps.

The player that Green teed up for a sack was second-year pro Adisa Isaac, who was still highly impactful in his own right with four total tackles, including one of a loss and a quarterback hit. Third-year pro Malik Hamm got in on the action, and even though he had a huge sack negated by a penalty, it still resulted in a loss of down for intentional grounding.

Keaton Mitchell is Back With a Vengeance

In a recent appearance on "The Lounge" podcast, the third-year running back shared that toward the tail end of his rehabilitation process from the major knee injury that ended his rookie season, doctors told him that it was potentially career-ending in terms of severity. On Thursday night, the 2023 undrafted gem squashed any shadow of doubt that he wasn't fully recovered and better than ever with his performance against the Colts.

Not only did Mitchell look as fast and as explosive as he did pre-injury, but he also runs with even more power when it comes to running between the tackles and finishing runs once he's in the open field. He finished as the Ravens' leading rusher, accounting for nearly half of their total yards on the ground with a game-high 68 on just nine carries for an average of 7.6 yards per carry and plowed his way into the end zone. His vision, footwork and lateral agility when making cuts are still just as sharp as ever as well.

Quarterback Depth Struggled

Typically, when an offense that isn't the 'Wing T' finishes with fewer than 60 passing yards in a game, they're team is on the losing side. Thankfully, that wasn't the case for the Ravens as their rushing attack, special teams and defense carried the majority of the load while their quarterbacks, not named Lamar Jackson, left much to be desired.

The combined stats of veteran Cooper Rush and second-year pro Devin Leary yielded just five completions on 16 attempts, with only one being completed beyond 10 yards down the field. Neither threw a touchdown and both were intercepted in the first half and sacked once.

While pass protection in preseason games can be poor most of the time, that's still no excuse for the poor decision-making and lack of decisiveness that Leary, in particular, showed throughout the game, but especially on his red zone turnover. Even Rush made a questionable decision on his interception when he tried to throw a jump ball for 5-foot-9 wide receiver Dayton Wade.

"I feel good about Cooper. Devin [Leary] [is a] competitor," Harbaugh said. "[He] fought in there but [the game] just didn't go his way tonight. It just really didn't fall in place for him tonight for whatever reason."

Rookie Inside Linebackers Have Strong Debuts

One of the brightest stars of the game was undrafted rookie Jay Higgins, who proved why concerns about his size and lack of impressive testing were greatly exaggerated. The former All American at Iowa made a pair of impressive plays in coverage to end Colts drives, with the first being an interception and the second, a batted pass at the line of scrimmage to force a turnover on downs.

Although fourth-round rookie Teddye Buchanan only finished with one assisted tackle after giving up an 11-yard reception, what he did that impressed the most was as a communicator. With three-time All Pro veteran Roquan Smith sitting out in street clothes, he got the nod to start at MIKE and wore the green dot, which meant he had to relay the calls from defensive coordinator Zach Orr, a duty he was praised by Harbaugh and teammates for executing well during postgame.

"Teddy looked really good," rookie safety Malaki Starks said. "He has natural leadership skills. He's just a natural when it comes to playing football. Just to be out there and be with him felt really good."

Reserve Defensive Backs Looked Good

Leading the charge in the secondary for the Ravens were a trio of defensive backs who each made some impressive plays. Second-year cornerback T.J. Tampa played the entire game and finished with six total tackles and tied for the team lead in pass breakups with two. Fourth-year pro Jalyn Armour-Davis tied him for the most pass breakups with a pair to go along with a nice solo open field tackle to prevent a first down.

Second-year safety Beau Brade was consistently around the ball and in the right place, finishing with a team-leading seven tackles, including six solos and a pass breakup. While Tampa isn't fighting for a roster spot, all three players are vying for primary backup or even rotational roles on defense.