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[diamondbull424]

Baltimore Ravens




Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Where: Raymond James Stadium
When: August 08, 2013- 7:30 PM EST
TV: WBAL and CSN Baltimore
Weather: 86° GT (High of 95°)- There should be showers throughout the day as well as thunderstorms.

Feature: The first football action since a power outage kept us from dominating the Super Bowl. Don't expect too many offensive wrinkles to be revealed, nor any complex blitzes or coverages. But we'll get a chance to see talent on talent, vanilla on vanilla (what?). Just three seasons ago Josh Freeman was supposed to be an MVP candidate and Joe Flacco was a guy who the defense was carrying to the playoffs year in and year out. As both players are trying to build a bit of a groove with their respective offenses, we might actually get a full quarter out of them in this game... perhaps a little more even. But make no mistake, tonight will be all about the rookies and young guys. Elam, Brown, Williams, Simon, and Juszczyk should all see plenty of playing time out there.

Key Competitions:
Center
Gino Gradkowski and AQ Shipley are apparently locked in a great battle, gladiator shields and swords and all. Both should see a half of play.

ILB
Such a stacked competition. I wouldn't read too much into what pair of ILBs start. I'd expect it to be Bynes and McClellan as they're the longest tenured guys and will likely be given the first crack at starting. But it will be interesting to see how much Daryl Smith has left in the tank and just how far along Arthur Brown is and whether his athleticism/instincts compensate for his lack of experience at this point.

Corner
Webb likely won't see much time. But this should be a great battle between the next in lines. We should see plenty of Corey Graham, Jimmy Smith, and Chykie Brown. This is now or never time for Jimmy to prove that not only is he not a draft bust, but that he can be a lockdown corner in this league.

WR
A little bit like the corner competition, except without the high profile 1st rounder from a few years back that needs a strong preseason. But like Webb, Smith shouldn't play much. We'll likely see plenty of Doss and Thompson through the 1st half, potentially into the 3rd quarter even as they seem to have a stanglehold on the 3rd and 4th WR spots at this point. David Reed and LaQuan Williams will likely round out the position play with maybe Streeter and the Godfather getting a few series of play in the end of the 4th with Caleb Hanie quarterbacking.

Safety
Definitely a competition that gets a little lost amongst the bevvy of competitions as there are just three guys vying for two spots... and while it's a "competition" it seems much more like Ihedigbo is simply being given a courtesy of competing vs. really having a shot to beat out Elam or Huff. I'd suspect Elam to play much of the game, but Ihedigbo and Huff to start.

TE
Well there aren't too many bodies left to "compete", but the position will be featured nonetheless. Shianco will likely see plenty of reps throughout the first half to get properly acclimated within the offense. I'm sure Bajema will see plenty of opportunities throughout the game as the #2 TE in the first half and the #1 TE in the 2nd half... and I'd suspect Furstenburg to replace Bajema as #2 TE throughout the second half to give him a look.

DL
I suppose I'd be remiss if I didn't place the DL as a competition... seems I've just listed every position on the team as competing, but with 9 departed starters... it'll do that for your squad. It'll be interesting to see how much Terrence Cody plays vs. Brandon Williams. Ngata shouldn't see more than a series or two, so the competition at NT should be heavily featured.

With so many veterans stacked at DE, it will also be interesting to see how the playing time is broken down to give each guy a proper shot at the position. Obviously the DE spot will likely see a heavy rotation all season, the DL in general, but how the starters are determined will be interesting to see no less.

So what do you guys expect to see tonight? And which competition do you think you will be following the most?

[DontTazeMeBro]

Finally here!

Mike Glennon is getting abused by our second team defense.
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[sp6488]

Omar brown is involved in at least one turnover. Book it.

That being said, I will probably be watching the wr competition most intently. I feel that that's the one that is the most "wide open."

[diamondbull424]

[coordinator0]

My Streak for the Cash is riding on the Ravens winning. I have faith in Baltimore's depth to keep my streak going.

[DontTazeMeBro]

[Mancunian Raven]

[BaltimoreTerp]

Goddamit gonna have to find a stream or else watch the damn Redskins instead tonight.
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[SnA ExclusiVe]

I AM SO EXCITED LETS GOOOO!!!!!

I really can't wait to see Matt Elam play tonight and watch our defense completely crap all over the Bucs offense. It's going to be wonderful!
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#FireDeanPees...and Chris Hewitt....and Matt Weiss

[ravens5520]

[bmorecareful]

Been quiet all offseason time to turn up. We gon dominate this season

[sp6488]

[Dark ops]

Looking forward to the WR battle. I think our D will be insane this year.
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BALL SO HARD UNIVERSITY!!!!!

[sp6488]

[SnA ExclusiVe]

Does DirecTV not carry the NFL Sunday ticket package for preseason games? I'm scrolling through and can't find any NFL channels, which means unless I can find a stream of this game (if you have one, PM me???) I can't watch
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#FireDeanPees...and Chris Hewitt....and Matt Weiss