BALTIMORE — One aspect of what the Baltimore Ravens did in their 24-7 thrashing of the Philadelphia Eagles in their preseason opener Saturday night was a clear carryover from practices over the past three weeks at the Under Armour Performance Center.
Rookie third-round pick Ja’Kobi Lane was front and center for two big plays. In his NFL debut, Lane had three catches for 38 yards, including an 18-yard connection with Tyler Huntley and a 16-yard second-quarter touchdown reception from undrafted rookie quarterback Joe Fagnano.
“I’ve done it a bunch of times during training camp, OTAs,” Lane said. “That just goes to show it’s no different on game day.”
Other aspects from Saturday were welcome developments because they hadn’t been happening regularly during training camp. The tight ends have been involved, but struggled to create big plays. That changed Saturday, as rookie fourth-round tight end Matt Hibner caught five passes for 61 yards, including a 29-yard reception.
Rookie fourth-round wide receiver Elijah Sarratt has been relatively quiet in practices over the past couple of weeks. He wasn’t Saturday, as he had a game-high six catches for 66 yards, the one blemish to his night being a third-quarter fumble as he fought for extra yards.
“Playmakers make plays,” Sarratt said. “I think we did a pretty (good) job of that tonight.”
Top Plays from Eagles @ Ravens
The biggest takeaway from the Ravens’ dominant win over the Eagles was impressive showings from Baltimore’s rookie pass catchers. It may not immediately quiet the outside talk that general manager Eric DeCosta needs to go out and get another receiver and/or tight end, but the performance was at least an affirmation of the belief the team’s decision-makers have shown in the young pass catchers.
“Great to see a ton of young players get an opportunity, especially our young playmakers on offense,” Ravens coach Jesse Minter said. “I thought all those guys really showed some good stuff, and it’ll be a good initial step for them to continue to build on.”
Overall, 20 of the Ravens’ 30 receptions were hauled in by rookies. The Ravens also went with an all-rookie running back rotation, and the trio of fifth-round pick Adam Randall and undrafted rookies Elijah Tau-Tolliver and Dontae McMillan combined for 128 rushing yards on 31 carries. Randall also scored a 4-yard touchdown run, bouncing off three tackle attempts in the process.
Asked about the rookies, Huntley said, “They came ready to play and showed their talent today.”
Rocky start for Loop
Minter wanted to look at the tape first. His first thought, though, was that he was pleased with how second-year kicker Tyler Loop responded after missing his first kick, a 49-yard attempt that sailed wide right.
Saturday’s miss came on Loop’s first attempt in a game since his 44-yard kick in Pittsburgh in January also went wide right, ending Baltimore’s 2025 season and triggering months of talk that the Ravens needed to go find a replacement for Loop or someone to at least come in and compete for his job.
The Ravens, however, have consistently supported Loop and downplayed the need to bring in another kicker. Will that change after Saturday? The team’s decision-makers will at least have to consider the possibility.
However, when asked if Saturday’s happenings changed Baltimore’s outlook at kicker, Minter said, “Not really.”
“He bounced back well,” Minter said. “We’ll look at the tape and see if there was anything. It was also Ryan (Eckley’s) first time holding in that situation, so we’ll kind of look at all that, see how the operation was. But again, very happy with how he was able to bounce back from that.”
Loop made a 42-yard attempt later in the game and was 3-for-3 on extra-point tries.
“I feel like training camp has been great. We were, up to this point, 40-of-42 on field goals with the team,” Loop said. “Training camp is all about setting building blocks, and tonight obviously, I had a miss, but felt foot-to-ball was really good. Ryan Eckley did great holding — good job stepping in on our operation, which was awesome. It is all about how you respond. Missed my first kick, but who cares, (I’ve) got to go make the next ones. I felt good about the rest of the hits that night.”
After missing his first attempt Saturday night against the Eagles, Tyler Loop redeemed himself with a 42-yard field goal in the third quarter. (Stephanie Scarbrough / Associated Press)
Minter plays it safe
For all the questions about how Minter’s first training camp has differed from John Harbaugh’s, the first-year head coach handled the first preseason game much like his predecessor — with extreme caution.
The Ravens only had 61 of their 89 players in uniform for Saturday’s game, and the only projected sure starter in action was rookie right guard Vega Ioane. Danny Pinter, the front-runner to be the starting center, and outside linebacker Mike Green, who will likely be in a rotation with Tavius Robinson opposite Trey Hendrickson, also played.
Baltimore held out 12 offensive players and 16 defensive ones. Minter has acknowledged that the two sets of joint practices, starting with next week’s two days of work against the Minnesota Vikings, would give the starters game-like reps.
Rewarding first win for Minter
Minter wasn’t necessarily worried about the final score. What he really wanted Saturday night was the Ravens to play clean football and embrace a certain style. The Ravens did that, committing only three penalties for 25 yards (the Eagles had 10 for 96), limiting their mistakes and controlling the line of scrimmage.
Offensively, things went smoothly before the snap, and the quarterbacks mostly had time to make plays downfield. Defensively, the Ravens flew around and tackled well, knocked out the run game and put a lid on the Eagles’ big plays.
“We want to own the pre-snap operation really in all three phases,” Minter said. “Huge point of emphasis for just how we operate. Especially for the first game with a bunch of guys, definitely pleased with that. Even the couple we had — those are good learning experiences, things to learn from. But overall, man, tough, disciplined performance from our guys that we can build on.”
As far as debuts, this one went about as well as Minter could have hoped, minus the two turnovers and the missed field goal.
Cornerback Keyon Martin, who played a strong game, was speaking for the defense when he said, “We do it the next two games, and that’s going to translate to the regular season.”
However, he might as well have been speaking for the team as a whole.
All eyes on Ravens standout rookie receiver Ja’Kobi Lane
Jeff Zrebiec
Odds and ends
• Inside linebacker Jay Higgins IV left the game in the second quarter with a concussion. With Carl Jones Jr. still sidelined and Teddye Buchanan ramping up slowly after being activated from the physically unable to perform list Friday, the Ravens are thin on available inside linebackers. They may have to make a move there in the next couple of days.
• Like Loop, Eckley also had a rocky start to his night, sending his first punt just 27 yards.
• Center Ethan Pocic, who continues to work his way back from Achilles surgery and learn the Ravens’ offense, didn’t enter the game until the fourth quarter Saturday. Pinter started at center, and then Jovaughn Gwyn came in and saw the crux of the action.
• The Ravens outgained the Eagles 440-159 and possessed the ball for 41:17 compared to 18:43 for Philadelphia.
• Fagnano, the undrafted rookie quarterback out of UConn, hadn’t started getting regular reps in practice until Skylar Thompson’s injury this past week, but he was really sharp beyond an ill-advised cross-his-body throw late in the second quarter that was intercepted by Kelee Ringo. Fagnano finished 22-of-28 for 224 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
