The Baltimore Ravens play host to the Carolina Panthers tonight in the latter NFL 2013 week three preseason football game on Thursday night that will air on TV on ESPN. The Ravens have yet to experience defeat since before their Super Bowl run last season, while the Panthers hope to get their offense in gear before the regular season begins. Free live online streaming instructions for this game can be found at the end of this post.
The Ravens took down the Falcons last week in a close game and it took the second and third strings to get the job done. The starters will need to improve on running the ball, gaining first downs and keeping the other team’s offense off the field, all problems that were glaring last week.
How bad was Baltimore’s starting offense? With Joe Flacco at the helm for the entire first half, they only gained 54 yards on 18 plays outside of a 77-yard bomb to Torrey Smith. Take away the big pass and the Ravens couldn’t get anything going against Atlanta.
Carolina lost to the Eagles in a low scoring affair last week to even their preseason record at 1-1. Once again Cam Newton struggled to get his offense going proving they still need a lot more work. On the positive side for Newton and the Panthers, they did score some field goals without 2/3s of their running back corps, and Newton has only one interception in two games.
A bright spot for the Panthers is David Gettis who led the team in receptions for both of their preseason games. The often injured young receiver is making a strong case to make the opening day roster.
Tonight’s Thursday Night NFL 2013 preseason football game between the Carolina Panthers and Baltimore Ravens officially kicks off at 8pm EST/5pm PST on ESPN in high definition (HD). If you have an ESPN subscription then you have the ability to watch a free live online streaming version of the game here at ESPN 3. The alternative is paying $14.99 for the NFL preseason package that lets you stream every game for the remainder of the preseason on a mobile phone, iPad, laptop or other Internet connected device.
I predict the Ravens start slow but ultimately send the Panthers to a losing preseason record while maintaining their unblemished mark with a final preseason game left to play.
