Tony Lombardi Analyzes Ravens Dress Rehearsal
Tony Lombardi with the Russell Street Report joined the Scott Garceau Show with Jeremy Conn today to talk about Raven injuries; possible changes to the preseason, and a recap of Saturday night's win over the Lions.
The Ravens won their third straight preseason game on Saturday night against the Detroit Lions 30-9 but in doing so lost three players to injury. TE Benjamin Watson (out for the year), RB Kenneth Dixon (expected 4-6 weeks) and CB Kyle Arrington (out for the year). After the game John Harbaugh suggested the NFL should play less preseason games or even no preseason games at all to avoid debilitating injuries. He suggested the NFL rather just have more scrimmages and padded practices before the start of the season. Tony Lombardi didn't exactly disagree with coach Harbaugh, "You'd think with all the money invested in these players and the league wanting the best quality of players out there at all times. That means having the best players out there at all times. I don't know if having less contact during training camp hinders or helps the players in terms of health...but maybe there's a way of getting the same kind of work in a different way to help prepare these guys for the regular season."
As far as on the field for the Ravens on Saturday night; he talked about how nice it was to see Joe Flacco back on the field and connecting with newly acquired wideout Mike Wallace, "you have to like the way that rapport is developing between those two guys and the thing I liked seeing from Wallace was that he ran patterns that weren't just 9's down the sideline." He also praised Jeremy Butler's effort in not only Saturday night's game but throughout the preseason, "he had a great catch in the end zone. The guys done everything they've asked from him to make the team and he contributes on special teams...so he's really making a strong case to be that 7th receiver."
Listen to the rest of Tony's analysis and see if he thinks that the Ravens have a chance at signing former Raven, Paul Kruger here:
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