The encore presentation of the 2015 Ravens offense didn't come across nearly as well as the premiere.
Quarterback Joe Flacco and the starters saw three series of action in Saturday's matchup with the Eagles, but the group was unable to put up any points or even get across the 50-yard line. The biggest issue was turnovers, as Flacco threw interceptions on the Ravens' first two drives. The Eagles then quickly turned those miscues in a 14-point lead.
"We like to come out here and put our best foot forward every single game and we didn't do that tonight," Flacco said.
The two interceptions occurred on very different situations.
On the first, Flacco took a deep shot at wide receiver Kamar Aiken down the sidelines and Eagles cornerback Walter Thurmond came up with the interception after the pass was deflected. The second interception was overthrown by Flacco. The pass sailed high over the head of the wide receiver Marlon Brown, who was open on the play.
"We had a guy wide open with Marlon, and he's a 6-foot-5 wide receiver and I overthrew him by five feet," Flacco said about the second interception. "You just can't have that. … I made a terrible throw."
Flacco said he felt good about the decisions he made, and would make the same passes again if given the opportunity. What he would change is his execution.
"Decision-wise, as of right now, I would say I think we had shots, I just didn't make the throw that I needed to," he said.
The interceptions spoiled what could have been a solid second outing from the offense.
The group opened the game moving the football on the ground with running back Justin Forsett. He had 23 rushing yards on his first three carries, and the Ravens picked up three quick first downs to get the ball to midfield before Flacco attempted the deep pass to Aiken.
"You can't turn the ball over if you want to play well," Flacco said. "I think we ran the ball pretty decent early on and you just can't turn the ball over."
Flacco and the Ravens had one more opportunity after the two interceptions, but then the injuries on the offensive line started to take their toll. Starting right tackle Rick Wagner (foot) didn't play, and his replacement James Hurst suffered a concussion. Hurst's replacement, undrafted rookie De'Ondre Wesley, then went down with a leg injury.
Suddenly the Ravens were out of options at right tackle, so they moved Marshal Yanda from guard to try to keep their franchise quarterback upright. When the third drive stalled, the Ravens had nine linemen nursing injuries so they decided to bring Flacco over to the sidelines.
"Obviously [the line is] a big part of the football game and you want your best guys to play," Flacco said. "We have a lot of guys that we can really rely on up and down the lineup, but getting them all hurt is obviously not ideal."
"I think we executed on a lot of things," Forsett said. "But, turnovers, we cannot do that and we got some injuries that we definitely did not need to happen for us."
Flacco and the starters will get a chance to bounce back next week against Washington, which is the final preseason game most of the first-team unit will see.
"We just have to move on and try to learn from the stuff that we did not do well," Forsett said.
