The Commanders End The Ravens 24-Game Preseason Win Streak (8-21-23)
By: LegacyMaker Sports Team
Headline Photo Credit: Geoff Burke-USA Today
The last game in Week 2 of the 2023 NFL Preseason went down on Monday Night Football. The Washington Commanders hosted the Baltimore Ravens in the yearly preseason “Battle of The Beltway”. The Ravens came into the game with a 24-game win streak in the preseason. Baltimore’s last loss in preseason play came on September 3, 2015, to the Atlanta Falcons 20-19 in a tight contest. The winning streak didn’t mean that much to Commanders’ offensive lineman Sam Cosmi who said “We will end the streak”.
Ravens would start the game with an impressive 6-play, 75-yard drive. The drive was finished off with a 26-yard touchdown throw from Josh Johnson to Zay Flowers to give Baltimore the early lead of 7-0 after Justin Tucker’s PAT. The Commanders would streak back on the next drive with a 15-play, 72-yard drive. Joey Slye would push through a 21-yard field goal to close the lead to 7-3 and that would be the score heading into the second quarter.
After back-to-back lackluster drives from Baltimore and Washington, the Ravens were driving into Commanders’ territory when Josh Johnson is picked off by Commanders 2nd round pick Jartavius Martin. Martin returned the interception 54 yards to the Ravens 46-yard line. Washington capitalized on the mistake going on a 9-play, 45-yard drive where Sam Howell connected with Antonio Gibson that lead to a Washington 10-7 lead. The lead didn’t last long as Baltimore marched up the field in just two plays and 0:15 seconds. Josh Johnson found Tylan Wallace for a 7-yard touchdown eventually giving Baltimore a 14-10 lead. Right before the half, Washington re-claims the lead with an 11-yard touchdown pass from Sam Howell to his former North Carolina Tarheels teammate Dyami Brown. The Commanders went into the half with a 17-14 lead.
Early in the second half, we saw the Ravens retake the lead on a 10-play, 85-yard drive. Anthony Brown hit Travis Vokolek on a 17-yard touchdown pass to take a 21-17 lead. After a Commanders’ field goal to make it a one-point game 21-20. The score remain that way until the 4th quarter when Brown connected once more with Vokolek to extend the lead 28-20. The Commanders’ next possession would result in a turnover as backup QB Jacoby Brissett’s pass to John Bates was intercepted by Tae Hayes. The Ravens we’re not able to take advantage of the turnover. Later in the fourth quarter, Jaret Patterson would catch a 15-yard pass from Jake Fromm to short the Ravens’ lead down to 28-26. With 0:09 seconds left, Joey Slye knocked down a 48-yard field to win the game for Washington and end the Ravens’ 24-game preseason win streak.
The Commanders’ next game will be August 26th at 6:05 pm EST vs. Cincinnati in their final preseason game. The Ravens hit the road on August 26th to take on Tampa Bay at 7 pm in their final tune-up for the regular season.
