Ravens vs. Panthers: 3 Winners and Losers

The Baltimore Ravens won their preseason opener, 22-19, over the Carolina Panthers. Let’s take a look at the biggest winners and losers at this point of the preseason.

The Ravens started the 2016 season off with a win, something they did not get to enjoy much of last year. It also came against a quality opponent in the defending NFC Champion Carolina Panthers.

Baltimore trailed early in the contest, but used the second and third quarters to take the lead. The Ravens starters played alright in their first action of the year, allowing Cam Newton and the Panthers to move the ball downfield with ease.

Preseason football is not necessarily about a winner and loser in terms of the score. A win during preseason is escaping without injury and seeing the development of the younger players. The Ravens and Panthers managed to do both on Thursday.

However, there are certainly winners and losers as the Ravens look to form the best 53-man roster available to them. Here are three players who helped and hurt their cause after the first preseason game.

Biggest Winners

Terrance West: The talk of camp lived up to the hype. The reports that he looks more explosive are true and he showed his toughness on a one-yard touchdown in the second quarter. He showed great vision, and the ability to plant his foot and hit the hole hard. He scored his second touchdown of the game on what looked to be a loss in the backfield, but West switched fields and outran the Panthers defense for the score. He was by far the Ravens most impressive player of the night.

Zach Orr: The Ravens are searching for someone to take the inside linebacker job next to C.J. Mosley and Orr was flying all over the field. He flew into the backfield to stop Mike Tolbert on one play, and Tolbert is quite the load to bring down all alone. He looks to have the inside track at the starting gig.

Terrence Brooks: Made back-to-back big plays on the Panthers final series of the first half. He broke up a pass over the middle in one-on-one coverage against former Raven Ed Dickson. He had a huge hit on the next play that drew some cheers from the fans. He is in a battle with Matt Elam for a roster spot, and tonight certainly helped his cause.

Biggest Losers

Shareece Wright: He was picked on numerous times on the Panthers scoring drives as he simply could not cover the size they have at receiver with Kelvin Benjamin and Devin Funchess. The latter caught a back shoulder touchdown with Wright in coverage, and the Ravens corner was simply overmatched.

Kaelin Clay: A muffed punt deep in Ravens territory resulted in a Panthers field goal. He cannot afford to make those types of mistakes as special teams is likely the only way he makes the roster.

Ravens Special Teams: It’s hard to pinpoint one player to blame for the special teams struggles. The aforementioned muff obviously hurt, but the Ravens also committed a running into the kicker penalty and allowed two long returns on kickoffs. John Harbaugh made his mark as a special teams’ coordinator, so you know he is not happy about their effort tonight.

Next: West Scores 2 TDs in Ravens’ 22-19 Win over Carolina

It was a good night for some, and a bad night for others. The most important part of the night is that the Ravens got the win and suffered no major injuries in the process. They take the field again next Saturday in a road game against the Indianapolis Colts.