By Dan Ryans
WASHINGTON–It’s another edition of “Battle of the Beltway” as the Washington Football Team enters the third and final game of the preseason at home against the Baltimore Ravens. Not that it matters much to WFT, but the Ravens have won 19 straight preseason games,m and it’ll be cool to see Washington end that streak. Coach Ron Rivera has stressed more quality of play than getting wins during these tune-ups. The Washington players, however, are more intrigued about this streak. Some were asked about ending the 19-game winning streak for Baltimore. A notable response came from defensive star Chase Young. He smiled, answering that question to the media earlier this week. “Yeah, we’ve heard about it,” Young said. He certainly wants to end that streak, and it’ll be interesting to see if they’ll get the job done.
In order to beat the Ravens, Washington will have to play its starters for most of the game. Throughout the history of the NFL preseason, the third game would feature most of the reps for the all starters, but that was when preseason was four games. Coach Rivera made it clear that we will see Washington’s first team in action on Saturday. We just don’t know how much they’ll play. After all, you don’t want to risk any possible injuries with the season opener two weeks out. At the very least, it’ll be nice to see Washington’s offense go out and have a better performance than they did last week against Cincinnati. Ryan Fitzpatrick did not have his finest moment against the Bengals number ones. If he’s going to be the starter for Week 1, he has to prove his leadership of this offense. Otherwise, WFT might as well start Taylor Heinicke.
This game will also give us another chance to see undrafted rookie RB Jaret Patterson, who has been the MVP of this preseason for the Washington Football Team. More first-team reps in this matchup will only benefit him at this point. He has received nothing but praise from his teammates and his head coach. Another standout game would only solidify his spot on the 53-man roster.
Sammis Reyes is back after missing a week with a concussion. He will certainly get a lot of time out there and prove that he deserves a spot on the final roster.
The Sports Insanity Network 