Knee-Jerk Reactions: Ravens 24 Eagles 7

The Ravens defeated the Philadelphia Eagles, 24-7, in the preseason opener for both teams. RSR staff react to the game here.

Chris Schisler

The story of the game was locked in place by the fourth quarter. It was Jesse Minter’s first game, and the Ravens looked sharp. While you obviously didn’t get starters and stars, you saw better communication and readiness on defense. Everyone was where they should be. You had a lot of moving personnel and young talent and it looked more put together than the regular season football from last year.

My hot take is that we saw more of a snapshot at the 2026-2027 Ravens then you think we did. Hibner is going to be making an impact on Sundays. The Ja’Kobi Lane hype train is justified. The young wide receiver corps in general, that’s what the Ravens have to work with outside of Zay Flowers and Rashod Batemen.

It’s preseason. It’s easy to make too much of it one way or another, but the fact that Minter saw his team control the game and function well into the reserves of the roster is a positive.

Special teams is my major concern. Tyler Loop missed a 48-yarder. Confidence in him is hard to find. The punt return unit didn’t provide much blocking for LaJohntay Wester. I did like to see Elijah Sarratt get a chance to return a punt.

Overall it was a very positive night. From The young receivers and tight ends, the decent quarterback play throughout the game for preseason standards and the stingy and organized defense, it was a great start.

John Hughey

Tyler Huntley showed again why he’s locked in at QB2. A 6/7 performance, with 76 yards through the air, is a great start to his preseason.

— The Ravens defense was flying around, playing with what looked like a new mojo. Coverage was tight, and Jay Higgins looked real comfortable with the green dot on defense. The young guys looked comfortable out of the gate, including a called-back pick-6 for Adisa Issac, who you love to see making plays after two injury-riddled seasons to begin his career.

— Ja’Kobi Lane carried his strong camp into Week 1. His 18-yard catch was a great over-route on a pass that was a little late from Huntley. Lane would cap it off with a great dig route, finding the end zone for a 16-yard TD. The WR3 competition might be all locked up after tonight.

— Matthew Hibner showed a solid ability to catch with his hands and get upfield for extra yards. Mark Andrews has had a rough start to camp, so getting Hibner and Cuevas going early should be important to the Ravens ability to involve their TEs.

— The Ravens rookie class was very impressive tonight. Vega Ioane finished a defender off violently; Lane and Elijah Sarratt combined for 104 yards and a touchdown, while Hibner finished the night with five receptions and 61 receiving yards.

— Joe Fagnano had himself quite a debut. The UDFA out of UConn finished 22/28 for 223 yards, a touchdown, an INT, and a 96.9 passer rating. With Skylar Thompson done for the year, Fagnano can potentially solidify himself as the emergency third QB with another impressive performance.

Rob Shields

Until the final TD drive for Philly, this was total domination by the Ravens. Heading into that drive, Philly had run 31 plays for 80 yards. The Ravens were at 63 plays for 387 yards.

Neither team was obviously playing many starters, but Philly never had a place to go with the ball. There were no running lanes. There wasn’t any space to throw the ball.

The Eagles also did not convert a single third down.

The Ravens got to see a lot of good tape with the rookies, including camp standout Ja’Kobi Lane and TE Matthew Hibner.

The only things you hated to see tonight was the missed FG by Tyler Loop and the fumble by Elijah Sarratt. Otherwise, this was a pretty flawless game and a great first step for this new coaching staff.

Derek Arnold

We don’t want to overreact to a preseason game. But it was nice to see some of the constant observations from training camp translate to a game against another NFL team. Namely, the defense dominated just as they have been at 1 Winning Drive, Vega Iaone is ready to step in Week 1, and Ja’Kobi Lane looks very much the part.

The Eagles obviously weren’t playing Jaylen Hurts or Saquon Barkley, but Andy Dalton has been doing this for a long time. That he couldn’t even pick up a first down against the Baltimore backups raised some eyebrows. Jesse Minter and Anthony Weaver will have these guys ready for Indianapolis.

On the other side, Hibner looked good, Lane displayed the traits that have helped him generate so much Hype this summer, and both Snoop and Fagnano commanded the offense. Declan Doyle’s system looks like one that…well, let’s not overreact. Suffice to say I am excited to see Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry in it.

The concerning thing: does Minter need to bring in some competition for Tyler Loop? As Minter noted post-game, it was also rookie punter Ryan Eckley’s first time holding in a game. A rookie holder and a second-year kicker though? It doesn’t inspire confidence.

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