The Ravens are in the midst of finding their starting quarterback, even though they drafted Joe Flacco, the future of the franchise, three months ago. But he's a rookie, and as these things go, it takes time to make the transition from college (particularly Division I-AA) to the NFL. Which means former future of the franchise Kyle Boller, and second-year player Troy Smith are the front runners for the job. According to the Baltimore Sun's Don Markus, Smith struggled during yesterday's practice, and Flacco, well, looked like a rookie. Which is to say, he was all over the place. Yesterday's big winner? Boller, who was the most consistent of the bunch.
Still, nothing has been decided, so the race is still wide open. But with a slew of injuries along the offensive line, it's not clear who will be blocking for the eventual starter.
With both Jared Gaither and Adam Terry out with injuries, it has been left second-year player Mike Kracalick to fill the spot left vacant by perennial All-Pro Jonathan Ogden. Kracalick definitely has the size (6-8, 340), but he needs work on his footwork.Hmm. You think there's a drop off from Kracalick to Ogden? On the upside, at least we won't have to watch the already-fragile Steve McNair take repeated body blows every Sunday, so there's that.
The regular season is more than a month away, so there's plenty of time to get everybody healthy, then it'll be just a matter of getting everybody on the same page. Plus, it could be a lot worse.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-31-2008 @ 11:43AM
Big Sam said...
It's simply a question of who will be wearing Mario Williams in week 2...
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8-06-2008 @ 10:20AM
JWills said...
Not so fast. Check this monring's camp update from the Baltimore Sun, entitled "Boller fails to capitalize." He looked like the same ol' terrible Kyle.
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8-08-2008 @ 9:45AM
Dave said...
hate to stir up old issues from last year, but I feel I have to. Was it just me, or did every single call go the Pats way?? I'm really not sure what game the refs were watching. The fumble that should have been a TD... ok I'll give them that only because it's preseason for them too, but tack on the Smith catch along the sideline and a few of the other calls, and it seems to me once again that the Pats are the NFL's favorite child. Yes I know that Pats were hit with more penalties (7 for 40) than the Ravens (6 for 50), but it went their way whenever it really mattered, and all I can think about is game winning touchdowns that really never happened.
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8-11-2008 @ 8:52AM
Dave said...
ohh and as far as Boller goes, yeah he looked great in the opening drive. For a second I thought wow, he actually could lead the team this year. No sooner after mentioning this to a friend, good old Kyle returns and fumbles. Give him 5 sec to drop back and pass, and he looks like a pro-bowler (ok maybe a little bit of a stretch), but realistically, how many times will an NFL defense allow that to happen? With an unproven line this year, we need to go with Smith who seems to have the pocket presence to get away from trouble and can make amazing throws on the run. Think he's too short? Can't get it done? He's got a Heisman trophy back at home that says otherwise. As far as Flacco is concerned, I hope he starts against the Rams or at least gets significant playing with the first/second string. He gets an A+ though for not getting killed amidst all that pressure NE's D was bringing.
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