Ravens' 1st QB tonight a tossup

Boller out; Flacco to get call again if illness sidelines Smith

By Jamison Hensley
jamison.hensley@baltsun.com

August 28, 2008

When the Ravens play their preseason finale against the Atlanta Falcons tonight, the only definitive part of their quarterback battle is that Kyle Boller is temporarily out of it.

Boller is suffering from a serious shoulder injury and will miss his second straight game because of it. The 2003 first-round pick had a magnetic resonance imaging this week and is scheduled to undergo more testing tomorrow.

But Boller will not need surgery at this time, general manager Ozzie Newsome said yesterday.

"Kyle Boller could play again this season," Newsome said. "That could change, but this is good news."

But there was still no news about whether Troy Smith could play tonight. Smith has a "50-50 chance," as one team official described it. If Smith is sidelined for a second straight game because of tonsil troubles, rookie Joe Flacco will start again.

The decision to start Smith "could go up to the game," coach John Harbaugh said. "It just depends on how fast he gets his strength back. You'd love to be able to predict it and say, 'Hey, we know what's going to happen,' but there's just no way to know. You'll see as we go. We want him to play, and he wants to play."

Because the Ravens could be down to one healthy quarterback again, they are expected to sign a lower-tier quarterback as an emergency option. A league source said Casey Bramlet, who was recently released by the San Diego Chargers, is likely to join the team today.

If the injury to Boller is more serious - or becomes season-ending - the Ravens would have to consider signing a more experienced quarterback.

It's a thin free-agent quarterback group: Daunte Culpepper, Kelly Holcomb, Tim Rattay, Aaron Brooks, Vinny Testaverde, Jamie Martin and Craig Nall.

Another alternative is waiting for Saturday's cutdown, when a quarterback such as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Chris Simms could become available.

If Smith is sidelined along with Boller tonight, Flacco has a prime opportunity to jump further into the quarterback race.

Harbaugh was impressed by Flacco's poise but wants to see him continue to progress.

"He can build on everything," Harbaugh said. "I think some specific things would be to be more accurate and to get the ball out quickly. Across the board, [he has to] just continue to improve."

Baltimore Sun columnist Mike Preston contributed to this article.

Roster breakdown

This is The Baltimore Sun's projection of how the Ravens' roster is shaping up heading into the final preseason game:

OFFENSE

Pos.	In	Bubble	Long shot
QB	Boller, Smith, Flacco	None	None
RB	McGahee, Rice	Ross, Patrick	Haynes
FB	L.McClain, Neal	None	None
WR	Mason, Clayton, Figurs-x, D.Williams, M. Smith	Harper, Wheelwright, Willis	Carter
TE	Heap, Wilcox	Jones, Bergen, Heinrich	None
OL	Gaither, Grubbs, Brown, Yanda, Terry, Chester, Cousins, Kracalik	Slaughter, Hale	Kraus, Clarke, Reitz

DEFENSE

Pos.	In	Bubble	Long shot
DL	Pryce, Ngata, Gregg, Bannan, Douglas	Parker, Gordon	L. Williams, Campbell
LB	Lewis, Scott, Suggs, Johnson, Barnes, Ayanbadejo, Greisen, Gooden	Stills, J. McClain	McCune
CB	McAlister, Rolle, Washington, Walker, Ivy, Martin	Prude, Pittman	Phillips
S	Reed, Landry, Leonhard, Zbikowski, Nakamura	None	None

SPECIAL TEAMS

Pos.	In	Bubble	Long shot
K	Stover	None	Czech
P	Koch	None	None
LS	Katula	None	None
PR-KR	Figurs-x	None	None

x-listed twice as a receiver and returner

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Ravens' 1st QB tonight a tossup