Knee-Jerk Reactions: Ravens 41 Commanders 3

The Ravens dominated their final preseason game against the Washington Commanders, coming away with a 41-3 victory at M&T Bank Stadium.

There was plenty of good, but one huge issue remains that Ravens fans will be nervous about as the season approaches.

Jason Woolbert

If the Ravens don’t do anything about their kicking situation, their season is going to end with a missed kick from Tyler Loop.

Everything else is peaches and cream after their final preseason game against the Commanders. Tyler Huntley threw a beatiful TD pass to Chris Moore. Joe Fagnano followed up with another fine preseason performance. LaJohntay Wester played well both as receiver and returner. Adam Randall looked explosive running and catching. Jovaughn Gwynn anchored the line. Ethan Burke forced another fumble. David Olajiga had a good sack. Kaimon Rucker had a good series in Q4. Keyon Martin had a good pass breakup. I could go on and on. I am totally behind the new coaching staff at this point.

Everyone looks great for the team right now… except Loop. The score was 24-0 at the half, and it should’ve been 30-0. He has the distance but not the accuracy and if any pressure is put on a kick I have no confidence he’ll make it.

This is a playoff ready team once again.  I therefore implore them – bring in a new kicker before we all suffer another heartbreak in January.

Chris Schisler

I think three things. First, Tyler Loop having no competition for this kicking job is madness. Second, the Ravens should keep three quarterbacks. Third, if this is how good the defense functions with rookies, journeymen and undrafted free agents, I can’t wait to watch Roquan Smith and Kyle Hamilton.

Tyler Loop is a kicker you cannot trust. You need to be able to make field goals over 50 yards. It’s not job preferences, it’s a requirement. He’s not it. The Ravens will lose at least one regular season game because of his inability to be a smooth operator at his one job. They better score touchdowns in the playoffs.

Fagnano earned a job. The Ravens should keep three quarterbacks. Fagnano is a technician. He’s not special, he’s got some average traits, but he looks the part and plays smart.

Finally, it is nice to see the Ravens look organized. The operation is running like it should. They need to prove it in the regular season – but Jesse Minter knows what he’s doing.

Rob Shields

Pretty embarrassing effort by the Commanders, no matter how many players they rested.

The Ravens obviously played very well. The defense continues to dominate and the only reason points were scored by the Commanders was due to an INT. They didn’t convert a third down until the end of the game.

The Ravens offense was humming in both the pass game and the run game.

The issue that comes out of this is how hard it is to trust Loop kicking long field goals. This has been a Ravens team issue for the last two seasons and it appears to be continuing. I don’t know why the Ravens have so much trust in Loop and i don’t know why competition hasn’t been brought in, but i think it needs to happen over these next few weeks.

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