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Ravens Use Turnovers to Beat Winless Falcons, 21-7

They’re certainly glad the exhibitions are over.

Chykie Brown returned an interception 65 yards for a touchdown and Baltimore scored the clincher after another Atlanta turnover, an appropriate way to decide a dreadful game won by the Ravens 21-7 on Thursday night to complete a winless preseason for the Falcons.

Not that this finale was much of an indicator of how either team will look once the score actually matters. Both teams sat out of many of their key starters, including quarterbacks Matt Ryan of the Falcons and Joe Flacco of the Ravens. They were mainly concerned with staying healthy going into the regular season.

Baltimore had the only injury of note, and it didn’t sound like any big deal. Backup quarterback Tyrod Taylor, who started in place of Flacco, sustained a bruised shoulder.

“We will have to see how serious it is, but it looks like it won’t be that serious,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. “If we find out he can’t play, then we will definitely have an issue.”

Atlanta coach Mike Smith didn’t want to sound glib about the winless record. But he’s not placing too much importance on it, either.

“We have a saying: ‘If you play, it’s worth winning,'” Smith said. “Am I disappointed? Yeah. Am I concerned? No. We have a mature football team. We got some things accomplished that we needed to accomplish.”

Most of those who did play were battling for roster spots, or may have been out of the running no matter how well they performed. Given who was on the field, the results were to be expected.

The Ravens (3-1) failed to generate much offense, totaling just 175 yards. Atlanta (0-4) turned it over four times, basically handing Baltimore its two TDs.

Third-string quarterback John Parker Wilson was intercepted twice, including the pick that Brown, a rookie, grabbed right in front of the Atlanta bench and took down the sideline for a touchdown to erase Atlanta’s 10-7 lead with 1:59 left in the third.

After Billy Cundiff kicked his second field goal to stretch Baltimore’s lead to 13-7, the Falcons’ last gasp ended with yet another turnover. Wilson, who took quite a beating, was leveled by Michael McAdoo and coughed up the ball. It was recovered by Jason Phillips at the Atlanta 5 with 2½ minutes remaining in the game.

On the next play, Damien Berry took it to the end zone to finish off the Falcons, who failed to win a preseason game for the first time since 2003.

That year, Michael Vick broke a leg in an exhibition game — against the Ravens, no less — and the Falcons spiraled to a 5-11 record that led to the firing of coach Dan Reeves before the year was done. This team has much higher hopes, coming off a NFC South title and bolstered by the drafting of receiver Julio Jones and the signing of defensive end Ray Edwards.

“There’s definitely not any panic in here,” fullback Ovie Mughelli said. “If anything, it gives us a little extra motivation. If teams are going to sleep on us or take us for granted because we went 0-4, they’re going to be in for a surprise.”

Jones caught a 25-yard pass from Chris Redman on the first snap of the game, and Edwards chased Taylor into the arms of teammate Kroy Biermann for a sack.

The only other highlight for the home team came early in the third, when Antone Smith broke off a 46-yard touchdown run that might help his chances of sliding onto the Falcons final 53-man roster.

Smith rushed for 114 yards on 11 carries and hauled in a 42-yard screen pass. Still, it figures to be a restless night for a second-year back who knows he’s behind at least three others on the depth chart.

“It’s not going to be decided on one game, but I hope it helps,” Smith said. “I’ve always been a guy who’s got one foot in, one foot out. I’m always nervous.”

Taylor, the rookie out of Virginia Tech, broke off a 9-yard run with his first play. But he didn’t stay in very long after hurting his shoulder, completing two passes for 16 yards and having his other throw picked off by Brent Grimes.

Third-stringer Hunter Cantwell went most of the way for the Ravens. He was 13 of 28 for 111 yards and had an interception. The Ravens rushed for only 74 yards, led by Berry with 31 on eight carries.

The defense performed much better, especially third-year linebacker Jason Phillips. He helped his roster chances by coming up with an interception, a fumble recovery, four tackles and breaking up a pass.

“Jason Phillips is outstanding and really stepped up,” Harbaugh said. “He was all over the field making tackles.”

Redman was 4 of 8 for 58 yards during his limited time. He gave up Atlanta’s first turnover when blindsided by Paul Kruger, the ball coming loose and recovered by Bernard Pollard. The makeshift offensive line had a tough night — Redman was sacked twice, Wilson three times.

When not running for his life, Wilson managed to complete 16 of 33 for 146 yards.

“Everybody is out there as an individual performer,” Smith said. “But it’s a group effort, a team effort. Obviously, we didn’t have the type of performance we wanted to have.”

Even the officials had a rough night. Two calls were challenged by Smith, and both were overturned after the referee checked out the replay.

Notes: Cundiff missed a 57-yard field goal, while Atlanta’s Matt Bryant was wide left on his only attempt from 54 yards. … Both punters got plenty of work, and Baltimore’s Sam Koch had the clear edge. He averaged 49.4 on eight punts, while Falcons rookie Matt Bosher only managed a 37.7-yard average on seven punts.

Falcons Get Their Man, Julio Jones

But for , the engineer of the boldest player transaction in an off-season filled with them, the notion of paying a king’s ransom for one college player who was not the consensus leading pick at his position began brewing soon after Atlanta hired him.

Dimitroff, 45, caught wind of wide receiver Julio Jones in 2008, when he was the Southeastern Conference freshman of the year at Alabama. In time, he grew smitten with Jones’s skills, admiring of his grit, blown away by his humble nature.

“The fact that he was as talented as he was on the field, sans the diva qualities you sometimes have at that position, was very attractive to this organization,” Dimitroff, who has 22 years in player evaluation, five as the director of scouting with the New England Patriots, said last week.

As the approached, with the Falcons picking 27th, Dimitroff began calculating the cost of taking an unprecedented leap toward the front of the line to select Jones. This year’s first-round pick, he figured. Ka-ching. Next year’s, too. Ka-ching. Probably a No. 2. Ka-ching. Some likely middle-rounders.

“We got our heads around it quite quickly, after the initial sticker shock wore off,” he said.

Dimitroff dug into the N.F.L. archives, which reminded him that a one-for-many trade carries risks that can rise to embarrassment. There was the Great Train Robbery of 1989, which involved 18 players but boiled down to Minnesota’s sacrificing eight draft choices to the .

“It eased my mind when we looked at our compensation package and I thought, ‘Ah, ours isn’t that bad,’ ”Dimitroff said.

Ten years later, New Orleans Coach Mike Ditka concocted a swap of all six of that year’s draft picks for the experienced Ricky Williams. The Saints promptly went 3-13 and Ditka was fired, along with his entire staff and the general manager.

A more comparable exchange, at the 2004 draft, sent Eli Manning to the Giants from San Diego for four draft picks.

The Falcons also were undeterred by the foot surgery Jones had in March, by the sketchy legacy of first-round receivers or by the implied advice against a move from a numerical guideline.

The computer-based Trade Value Chart assigns a points total to each spot in the draft. (Example: No. 1 over all is 3,000, No. 32 is 590.) It allows general managers to comparison-shop. Some ignore it. Dimitroff does not. Ultimately, the numbers did not favor the Falcons, but the difference was within a range he found acceptable.

Then there were various analyses, combining statistics and subjectivity, that concluded that waiting until later rounds for receivers is the wiser course. Some cited the Detroit Lions, with one of four receiver draftees in a five-year span panning out. Others reached back to the last quarter of the 20th century, when the Cincinnati Bengals spun the wheel six times on first-round wideouts.

Dimitroff processed the data, sniffed and assembled the package to offer. “We all took a deep breath in saying: ‘This is significant. Let’s make sure we’re doing the right thing,’ ” he said, meaning Coach Mike Smith and the owner Arthur Blank.

They found a suitor in the Cleveland Browns, who were sixth in the draft, and parted with five picks, including two fourth-rounders.

Research had determined that fewer than half of N.F.L. fourth-rounders in the previous five years had been activated for a game.

The Falcons’ daring reflected the here-and-now philosophy of a team that craves another outlet for quarterback Matt Ryan, Dimitroff’s other heavily scrutinized draft-day call.

“We have thought for the last three years that we’d love to have a 1 and a 1-A receiver, not a 1 and a 2” that characterized the Falcons squads, he said.

Jones was not apprised of the steep price he bore until news media interviews the night of the draft. His first thought, as he recalled this week: “They really want me.”

Jones is trying to tamp down expectations that accompany someone who prompted Dimitroff to “bet the farm” on him, as one analyst wrote.

“I’m human,” said Jones, no shrinking violet to contact, which leads to his theory why many first-round receivers flop.

“Guys ain’t used to hitting and getting hit,” he said. “Some can’t really handle that.”

N.F.L. Reduces Three Big Fines for Hits to the Head

, the former defensive coordinator, who oversees player appeals of fines, reduced Robinson’s fine from $50,000 to $25,000, and reduced Meriweather’s fine from $50,000 to $40,000. Then Cottrell decided to revisit the $75,000 fine on Harrison for on Cleveland receiver Mohamed Massaquoi, a punishment that upset Harrison so much that he . With the support of Commissioner , Cottrell reduced that fine to $50,000.

The reductions are sure to ignite questions about whether the league — which had also threatened suspensions for repeat offenders — is going soft on players who make the dangerous hits and who have been angered by the fines, some of which have been levied even if the plays did not draw penalties during the game.

But the person with knowledge of the league’s disciplinary system offered a different explanation: Cottrell, the person said, was convinced by the players that they now understood the rules and had made sincere efforts to alter their style to avoid those types of hits.

JETS FINED FOR TRIPPING The N.F.L. fined the Jets $100,000 for violating league rules when the assistant coach Sal Alosi tripped Miami’s Nolan Carroll on the sideline during a punt return earlier this month.

The Jets were fined because Alosi “placed players in a prohibited area on the sideline to impede an opposing team’s special teams players and gain a competitive advantage.” The N.F.L. called it a competitive violation as well as a dangerous tactic.

The discipline was in response to the actions of Alosi, the Jets’ strength and conditioning coach, and comments made by the special-teams coach Mike Westhoff, who accused other teams of employing similar tactics.

“We will comply with the league’s decision,” the Jets said in a statement. Five inactive players were ordered by Alosi, the team’s strength and conditioning coach, to stand together nearly shoulder-to-shoulder on the sideline in the Jets’ 10-6 loss to Miami on Dec. 12.

Alosi was first suspended without pay for the season and fined $25,000 for tripping Carroll, before being suspended indefinitely by the team after acknowledging that he ordered the players to form the wall. (AP)

SANCHEZ TO START is ready to go for the Jets.

Coach announced that Sanchez would start in the team’s regular-season finale against Buffalo, but Ryan is uncertain how long he will stay in the game. It is possible Sanchez could play a few series or a few quarters before giving way to and Kellen Clemens. “We’ll go ahead and start Mark this game,” Ryan said. “How long he plays, we’ll determine that as the game goes.”

Ryan said Sanchez, dealing with a sore right shoulder, showed some zip on his passes in practice and looked good enough to make Ryan feel comfortable about starting him for the playoff-bound Jets (10-5). (AP) FAVRE STATUS UNCERTAIN At the end of a long, difficult season, ’s status for the finale is again in doubt. The want him to give it one more try and start Sunday at Detroit, but by N.F.L. concussion rules he first must be cleared by the team’s medical staff — and time is running out. The interim coach Leslie Frazier said Thursday that Favre hadn’t passed the first stage of the standard post-concussion testing. (AP)

AROUND THE LEAGUE missed practice because of a leg injury and is unlikely to play Sunday when the Eagles host Dallas. Kevin Kolb, the starter in Week 1, would make his fifth start this season in Vick’s place. … Coach said receiver Marques Colston had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee and may not be able to play in Sunday’s finale against Tampa Bay. Also, the Saints placed kick returner Courtney Roby on injured reserve, officially ending his season three weeks after he sustained a concussion against St. Louis … Jaguars quarterback David Garrard had surgery to repair a torn ligament in his right middle finger. (AP)