To begin the NFL preseason, the Baltimore Ravens came back against the Carolina Panthers to win 22-19.
Cam Newton plays one series
Reigning NFL MVP, Cam Newton, played just one series in the Carolina Panthers’ first preseason game. Newton, though, seemed like to pick things up where left off last season. The Panthers balanced their plays brilliantly, finishing the drive with seven pass plays and six run plays.
Carolina started the drive at the 25-yard-line following a Justin Tucker touchback. Newton connected with Greg Olsen on two consecutive downs combining 13 yards. The Panthers kept marching down the field. Fozzy Whittaker and Mike Tolbert ate up a chunk of yards on the ground as they wore down the Ravens’ offensive line.
The visiting team made it down to all the way to the 10 yard line. But that is where the drive ended as the Panthers.
A.J. Klein picked off the Ravens deep into their red zone. Then, Klein proceeded to run the ball back over towards his own end zone. Unfortunately for the Linebacker, Cam Newton ran onto the field to celebrate and the Panthers were given a foul.
Carolina kept possession and started their drive at the 26 yard line. Five plays later, Derek Anderson completed a pass to Devin Funchess to score the first touchdown of the night.
Ravens come back
After a poor first couple of drives, the Baltimore Ravens finally got on the board. Ryan Mallett threw six passes on the drive in which they scored a touchdown. All of his passes were either between six and seven yards to get into a good scoring position.
Mallett continued to be a force from the pocket as he found Maxx Williams for a six yard gain. Terrance West sprinted in from the one yard -- Tucker converted the extra point to cut the lead to only three.
Carolina muffed a punt near the end of the opening half which gave the Ravens great field possession. On one play, Baltimore got negative two yards when Javorius Allen could not let a running play develop.
But three attempts later, the Ravens found the back of the end zone once more. Mallet found Allen deep down the field for the 19-yard touchdown score.
To begin the second half of play, the Baltimore Ravens milked six minutes and 18 seconds off the clock on a long touchdown drive. Kenneth Dixon began this series with a big play, sprinting up the field for 24 yards. The game plan seemed to be to hit the Panthers with short passes to keep moving the chains. Josh Johnson threw three consecutive passes to combine for eleven yards.
Then, Johnson hit a Darren Waller for 24-yards to really hit the Panthers defense hard. When the Ravens were in the red zone, Johnson went scrambling, and as he was already out of bounds, he was pushed. That gave the Ravens possession on the two yard line. West proceeded to score his second touchdown of the night. On the conversion, Johnson found a wide open Nick Boyle in the end zone.
Coming up
Preseason action continues next week for both of this teams. The Baltimore Ravens travel to play the Indianapolis Colts on Saturday, August 20th. On the same day, the Carolina Panthers continue their road trip where they will face off with the Tennessee Titans.