vs Falcons

10:01 p.m.:  After Jimmy Leonhard's second pick of the night, which was canceled out by Ayanbadejo's offsides penalty, I'm heading downstairs for post-game press conferences.  Don't forget, we'll have a ton of post-game coverage here on BR.com, so check it out.  Thanks for following the blog during this Falcons/Ravens showdown.

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9:54 p.m.: Punt, punt, punt.  That's about all that each team can muster on the field.  It's evident that the defenses are on another level from the offenses this
deep down the roster.

Still, there are some bright spots for the Ravens.  Linebacker Jameel McClain is all over the field causing havoc.  Safety Jim Leonhard grabs an interception off a bobbled ball.  Allen Patrick is still running hard and looking shifty. 

9:24 p.m.: It's starting to get silly in here.  As with many preseason contests, the final half features mostly young players at the tail ned of the depth chart.  That being the case, there is a lot of posturing going on whenever a routine play is made, like when Atlanta's Glenn Sharpe strutted around midfield after picking off Bramlet, or the Ravens' Brendon Ayanbadejo did a WWE strongman pose after a sack.  Good for them for making plays, but drawing attention to yourself isn't going to win a roster spot.   (although I'd be surprised if Ayanbadejo is cut, by the way)

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9:06 p.m.: Matt Stover is good from 48 yards to pull the Rarvens within one, but that's not the most important part of this drive.  That would go to Matt Willis, who hauled in a 32-yard pass from Bramlet that was a really tough catch with a defender blanketing him.  Willis even got some more yards after the catch. 

Willis has made plays in the preseason, and that catch may have earned him a roster spot. 

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8:56 p.m.:  Back from halftime, and it seems like the Falcons are having no problems carving up the Ravens' secondary.  D.J. Shockley is operating mostly out of the shotgun, and Atlanta is sending multiple receivers downfield. 

A 10-play, 64-yard drive to open the half ended with a field goal from Jason Elam.  How weird is it to see Elam in the Flacons' red and not Broncos blue adn orange? 

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8:31 p.m.:  Tough night for Ronnie Prude.  He just helped the Falcons burrow deeper into Ravens territory when he was flagged for a pass interference call that put the ball on the 20. 

That followed a play where he missed a tackle to let an Atlanta wideout rack up a 31-yard gain.  Prude is another one of those players that needs to do something special to turn heads in this game to make the roster.

On the very next snap, D.J. Shockley hits Brian Finneran over the middle, and he sheds some shoddy tackling on his way across the goal line.  Atlanta 7 - Baltimore 6 at  the half. 

Now, the media is rushing to the cafeteria to get their hands on a crabcake that the Ravens' press box is known for.  Three cheers for free food!!

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8:23 p.m.:  This is going to sound crazy, but Casey Bramlet is looking pretty good.  He just led the Ravens' second scoring drive by going 3-of-5 for 36 yards, with Allen Patrick accounting for a lot of that with his 25-yard catch-and-run. 

Matt Stover capped the march with a 31-yard boot. 

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8:14 p.m.: The first gasp-inducing hit of the night came at Cory Ross' expense, as the diminutive running back was blown up by linebacker Stephen Nicholas and then dropped the ball.

On the play, Ross sustained a right ankle sprain and is going to the locker room for X-rays.  The Ravens now have rookie Allen Patrick in there, and could turn to free agent signee Alex Haynes for the second half. 

This isn't good news for Ross, who is one of those players on the bubble.  The Ravens have used fullback Le'Ron McClain more and more at tailback, perhaps making Ross' job somewhat obsolete.

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8:01 p.m.:  And down does Bramlet!  The brand new Raven had a pass - that actually looked like a good throw - tipped and intercepted by rookie safety Thomas DeCoud.  It was kind of a fluke pick, so I don't think it will discourage Bramlet. 

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7:57 p.m.:  Casey Bramlet is actually in the game!  And he hits tight end Daniel Wilcox for a 21-yard strike on his first throw.  How about that? 

Also, the Ravens' second-team offense is now out there.

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7:55 p.m.: Matt Ryan has left the building.  D.J. Shockley, the former Georgia signal-caller, is now under center for the Falcons. 

And, Shockley's team isn't doing him any favors.  The Falcons got a huge return - 46-yards - after Stover's field goal, but a holding call negated the return.  On the next play, tight end Jason Rader jumped offsides to push Atlanta back even further. 

From the 6-yard line, the Ravens brought out the heat, and wouldn't you know it, a punt ensued.

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7:46 p.m.:  After Lorenzo Neal springs Ray Rice fora 23-yard gain, the Ravens are within striking distance, but can't convert the touchdown when a fade to Demetrius Williams falls out of bounds.  I like the call, though.  Flacco placed a perfect ball to No. 87, but he couldn't haul it in on the dive. 

Matt Stover does his thing to cap a seven-play, 63-yard drive with a 25-yard field goal.  Flacco was 3-of-4 for 40 yards on the march.  Not too shabby.

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7:42 p.m.:  As the first quarter comes to an end, the Ravens are mounting an impressive drive against the Falcons' second team D.  Flacco hits Mark Clayton for a pinpoint 12-yard gain, and then Demetrius WIlliams gets a bullet from 22 yards over the middle. 

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7:36 p.m.: Ray Rice is running hard.  He's really trying to churn out the tough yards, but the Falcons' defense is swallowing him up pretty quickly.  It's clear that Atlanta is doing a great job of taking on blocks with their huge front four - and Grady Jackson's not even in there.  Playing tackle is 353-pound Rashad Moore, and absolute mountain.  I feel bad for Jason Brown and Marshal Yanda.

Meanwhile, the Ravens take more of their starters out of the game on defense.  Bart, Sizzle, Trevor and Haloti are all sitting.

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7:22 p.m.:  With fourth-and-1 on their own 41-yard line, the Ravens punt, much to the chagrin of the fans and team.  Manay members of the offense were calling for John Harbaugh to say, "Go for it."  He didn't. 

Random jersey sighting:  Ok, I'm perplexed.  I know that there are going to be some Falcons fans here, but do you really need to wear a Mike Vick jersey?  Come on, man sitting three seats in front of the press box. 

Also, I caught an Orlando Pace jersey (yes, the tackle for St. Louis) and an Eli Manning No. 10 (Giants quarterback).  For the record, I'm completely against wearing a jersey for a team not participating in the game to the game.  Although, I do subsrcibe to the thought that you must not wear a shirt of the band that you're going to see to the concert.  Call me a hypocrite if you must.

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7:18 p.m.: Jimmy Leonhard returns the first Falcons punt.  Hmmm.... Yamon Figurs is down on the sideline, so I wonder if he'll play.  Keep an eye on No. 16.

About the the Ravens' first defensive series: They really brought the heat to quarterback Matt Ryan.  He didn't have any time to throw, as Trevor Pryce got into the backfield past rookie left tackle Sam Baker.  Terrell Suggs got past Justin Blalock.  And, Bart Scott blew by right guard Harvey Dahl. 

The Ravens were helped on one play by some great coverage skills by linebacker Jarrett Johnson, who shadowed tight end Ben Hartsock step by step and deflected a pass.

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7:06 p.m.: After losing the toss, the Ravens get the ball to start things off.  But before I go there, first some thoughts about the intros:

It was the defense.  I was expecting Tom Zbikowski in the starting lineup (what the original inactive sheet told me), but instead we got Jimmy Leonhard, which is what I expected.  The biggest applause from this sparse crowd came for linebackers Bart Scott and Terrell Suggs.  I was a little disappointed Sizzle didn't do that thing where he raises his arms with the fire that spouts up from the pyro cases, but it's cool.  He's not trying to impress little old me. 

Now, we're a few minutes gone in the first quarter, and the Ravens have offered a steady dose of Ray Rice to move the ball down field.  Also, Mark Clayton came up with two key first-down grabs.  Still, Joe Flacco is looking a little slow in his reads out there, and the Ravens are forced to punt.

Oh, we also had Todd Heap on the field with the first string, which was completely unexpected.  Regarding the wideouts, Demetrius Williams was out there, as well.  He lined up opposite Clayton on the edges, while Derrick Mason took the slot in three-receiver sets. 

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6:23 p.m.:  Here's a list of who will NOT play:

Ravens
S Ed Reed, CB Chris McAlister, CB Samari Rolle, RB Willis McGahee, CB Derrick Martin, CB Fabian Washington, LB Tavares Gooden, LB Ray Lewis, WR Marcus Smith, NT Kelly Gregg.

Also, the Ravens added Marques Douglas at defensive end along with Bramlet.  Bramlet got a roster spot at the expense of kicker Piotr Czech.

The Ravens will start Justin Bannan for Gregg, Frank Walker for McAlisster, Corey Ivy for Rolle, Tom Zbikowski for Reed and Nick Greisen for Lewis.  Zbikowski is actually a surprising call, considering Jim Leonhard has been playing so well lately. 

Falcons
C Alex Stepanovich

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6:15 p.m.:  Casey Bramlet is out on the field throwing passes with Joe Flacco.  He's wearing No. 8, which prompted my boss, senior vice president of public and community relations (and author of this blog) Kevin Byrne, to joke, "Hey, there's Trent Dilfer."   

Now, I don't really think Bramlet can lead this team to the Super Bowl like Dilfer did, but he does have a World Bowl ring to his credit, leading the Hamburg Sea Devils to the NFL Europa championship in 2007. 

The Casper, Wyo., took the red-eye flight out to Baltimore and got his physical this morning.  He then participated in a walk-through at the team hotel today.  That's the extent of his practice time with the Ravens.

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5:57 p.m.:  On a damp, gray late-August evening, the Ravens are set to take on the Atlanta Falcons at M&T Bank Stadium.

I hope the fans show up better than the St. Louis faithful supported the Rams last week. That place was a dead zone. I’m betting that the crowd here tonight is much better, and here’s why:

- We don’t know who the quarterback of this team is… still. I’m pretty sure the guy under center tonight isn’t going to be Troy Smith. I haven’t seen him all day in a few trips through the locker room, and Joe Flacco was the main one tossing balls to wideouts during pre-game warm-ups.

I’m sure that guy isn’t going to be Kyle Boller, who has a shoulder injury that will keep him out indefinitely. And, I’m going to guess that guy isn’t Casey Bramlet, the journeyman signal-caller that was signed today as an extra arm. He has a lot of experience with Cam Cameron’s offense, so he may get some playing time against the Falcons. 

We’ll see…

Casey's wearing No. 8, by the way.

- There are a few roster spots and a lot of player vying for them. Every year, we have a few surprises about who makes the team, and I would think fans want to check out the bottom of the depth chart in person. There are the players that have really fought hard to get to this spot, but the unfortunate reality is that not all of them can make it. Keep an eye on undrafted free agent linebacker Jameel McClain and seventh-round draft pick Justin Harper, both of whom are one the bubble, but I think could slip on to the 53.

- It’s a cool night in downtown Baltimore, and it’s close to Labor Day weekend. I don’t know about you, but I’d love to quaff a beer and catch some football on a starry Thursday.

- Also, I’m looking forward to watching third-overall draftee Matt Ryan sling balls for Atlanta. He’s been anointed their Week 1 starter and had a solid preseason. It will be interesting to see how he does against a banged-up Ravens secondary.

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So, we’re nearing the 7 p.m. kickoff, and the stands are pretty empty at this point. If you’re reading this at home, I suggest heading down to M&T. Should be a fun one. If nothing else, the cheerleaders are wearing new uniforms. Hey, there’s another reason to come right there!

Back in a bit with inactives.