The optimists will say the Ravens are taking the preseason conservatively. The pessimists will say the team?s flaws have been exposed, specifically after Friday?s 30-7 thrashing at Minnesota. The truth, according to some of the Ravens? players, might be somewhere in the middle.
“Obviously, we?re not where we want to be, but we?ve seen what we?re capable of and we know we can be back to that,” tight end Todd Heap said.
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Ever since quarterback Steve McNair marched his team downfield in glorious fashion to open the preseason on Aug. 11, the first unit has struggled to put points on the board. In the third game against the Vikings, the first unit went scoreless. The team (1-2) says it has not rolled out its entire playbook.
“I don?t really worry about that stuff,” Heap said. “I do worry about what we put in our game plans. Obviously, preseason is different because the starters haven?t played a full game yet, and we won?t in the preseason. But you prepare with all of the plays like you?re trying to, like you would a regular game, and that?s how you have to treat it.”
Publicly, head coach Brian Billick has expressed concern about his team?s failure to execute.
“We can?t dismiss or forget about the way we played in Minnesota,” Billick said. “We can?t slough it off and say, ?It?s only preseason.? It was a miserable performance across the board. We should have played at higher level in the third preseason game.”
Heap said he is not worried, pointing out the precarious nature of predicting too much from the preseason.
“I think the preseason doesn?t have a lot of indicator on how a team does in the regular season,” Heap said. “I don?t know what the stats are, what the records are, how it compares. Obviously, preseason doesn?t give you a lot of indicators. It does give you a lot of film you can watch. That?s what we need to do is go back and watch the film and learn from that.”
The Ravens? offensive line has struggled mightily to run-block and pass-protect so far. Guard/center Jason Brown said the team has to learn a lesson from a 6-10 campaign last season.
“You?ve got to have a certain attitude about you,” Brown said. “This is serious, man. Our last season, of course, you know how it went. I?m not trying to live in the past, but you don?t want to repeat history like that. We don?t want to repeat last year.”
Brown said the team should take their current struggles seriously.
“Execution is execution,” he said. “Every team out there has pretty much the same plays; it?s just which team out there is going to execute the plays the best.”
Fellow lineman Edwin Mulitalo agreed.
“As a professional, we?ve got to take care of our own house, our own individual battles,” he said. “If we can do that collectively as a team, we?re going to be good.”
