Baltimore Beatdown
We are heading into the second week of preseason games for the NFL, and the Ravens are traveling to Dallas to play the Cowboys. Head coach John Harbaugh has already announced that the same starters who didn’t play last week once again won’t play again. This gives us the ability to focus on a couple of other storylines for week two.
It feels like the same storyline from last year. Daniel Faalele is playing right guard, maybe doesn’t look the best on film. Fans wonder why Ben Cleveland isn’t winning the job despite seemingly having better film. The Ravens say Faalele is the best option, end of story. Last year, I felt Cleveland won the job in the preseason games on film, but Faalele was the starter all year. This year, it doesn’t even seem to be a competition, and it’s Faalele’s job automatically.
Faalele went semi-viral week one of the preseason, losing a bull rush immediately and then tripping over the center foot and finishing on his back as he gave up a sack. On top of that clip, he had an overall grade of 40.7 in 12 snaps from PFF and finished with a 0.0 pass blocking grade, allowing that sack and a hurry in just five pass blocking snaps. Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Todd Monken quickly defended Faalele the following week. No matter what, Faalele’s starting role is probably safe. But with many media outlets outside of Baltimore picking up the clip, it’s now a story. It will be curious to see if Faalele plays more this week and if more poor play could lead to a job change. All eyes will be on him in the next game.
There are a couple of different angles to look out for in this position room. The first is Trenton Simpson. Like last week, he probably won’t play much, but he’ll certainly want to make a bigger impact. While he’s likely not in danger of losing the starting spot next to Roquan Smith, he’ll want to nail down the spot and not leave it up to chance or a coaching choice. Another storyline is the play of rookie Teddye Buchanan. Last week, he impressively wore the green dot, showing his knowledge and confidence in the playbook. But otherwise, it was a quiet and unimpressive game for him. He’ll look to improve on his performance and earn himself more snaps in the regular season.
The last thing to pay attention to is Jay Higgins against Jake Hummel. Hummel was a presumed safe bet to make the roster as a veteran special teams ace that the team signed early in the offseason to fill a role. But Hummel has missed a good bit of time and been rather unspectacular in play. Meanwhile, Higgins was the highest graded Ravens defender according to PFF last week and was a priority UDFA for the Ravens in the offseason. The talent and ceiling are...
