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Baltimore Ravens vs. Philadelphia Eagles: Preview and Prediction

By Joe Serpico

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The Baltimore Ravens and Philadelphia Eagles will finally get to hit each other and it actually mean something when they square off in the second preseason game for each team on Saturday night.

The Ravens have been practicing in Philadelphia for the past three days leading up to the contest at Lincoln Financial Field. The practices allowed the teams to get reps against players not on their own squad that sometimes can become monotonous because teammates do not want to injure one another. Both teams have been fortunate to escape the practices without serious injury, and maybe more importantly, no fighting.

Baltimore enters the second preseason game coming off a 30-27 win over the New Orleans Saints. The Ravens were impressive on offense for most of the evening, but the defense had too many lapses. That could just be a case of first game jitters for most of the backups, but they will need to step it up against an opponent of the caliber of the Eagles.

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Philadelphia took it to the Indianapolis Colts in their preseason opener, defeating the reigning AFC North champions, 36-10. The Colts kicked a field goal in the middle of the first quarter before Chip Kelly had his team score 26 unanswered points. It was a dominating performance over a team that many feel is a favorite to win it all this season.

The starters for each team figure to play a quarter or more depending on the outcome of the game. The Eagles have yet to announce whether quarterback Sam Bradford will play in the game, but that means little to the Ravens. If Chip Kelly is constantly in attack mode, then Defensive Coordinator Dean Pees should go right at them as well. It’s going to be fun to watch one of the best offenses in football against one of the top defenses.

As always, the most important thing about these games is walking away healthy. These are just preseason games after all, but as long as they are keeping score, we are making predictions.

Prediction:

54. 24. 26. Final. 27

The Ravens are in for a challenge against the Eagles. There are few teams (if any) that run an offense like Chip does. His team’s tempo is one of the team’s greatest assets and even a few days of practice won’t get the Ravens acclimated to just how fast the Eagles operate.

The major difference between the two teams is the quarterback play. Kelly said that Joe Flacco is one of the elite quarterbacks – there is that debate again – and Flacco will easily be the best signal caller on the field Saturday. The problem is the Eagles might four quarterbacks on their roster that are better than Ravens backup Matt Schaub. Bradford, Mark Sanchez, Matt Barkley and Tim Tebow are all capable of running Kelly’s offense effectively.

We highlighted five keys to a Ravens victory, but it will also be important that the Ravens defense does a good job of containing the Eagles ground game. Kelly brought in DeMarco Murray and Ryan Mathews because he wants to run the ball more, and the Ravens have historically been one of the best run defenses in the NFL.

The Ravens starters will hold their own against the Eagles first team. Philadelphia had the 31st pass defense a season ago, and made several moves this offseason hoping to address the problem. Marc Trestman should test the Eagles secondary early and often.

In the end, it does come down to the quarterbacks. The Eagles will likely use Tebow in the fourth quarter, a player who has started in the NFL and is capable of making things happen with his legs as well. Baltimore will counter with Bryn Renner who was out of football a year ago. The Eagles depth at quarterback is why they get the win this week.

Then again, this is preseason. Does it really matter who wins or loses?

Next: Practice Intensity Increases Before Preseason Game

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