Baltimore’s backups dominate from start to finish as Washington’s skeleton crew struggles across the board at M&T Bank Stadium
NFL Preseason Week 3 | Final: Ravens 41, Commanders 3 | M&T Bank Stadium, Baltimore | Friday, August 28, 2026
The Commanders vs Ravens preseason finale lived up to none of its billing as a potentially competitive tune-up game, with Baltimore’s reserves thoroughly outclassing a Washington roster that had already been stripped down to its final layer. The Ravens closed out their preseason with a 41-3 rout, riding a dominant first half that buried the Commanders early and never let up.
How It Happened
Baltimore wasted little time asserting control. Quarterback Tyler Huntley played just the Ravens’ opening offensive series, going a perfect four-for-four through the air and capping the drive with a 25-yard touchdown strike to Chris Moore that made it 7-0 before Washington’s offense had even found its footing.
Washington’s misfortune compounded immediately after. On the Commanders’ first offensive snap, running back Kaytron Allen fumbled, handing Baltimore the ball in prime field position. Backup quarterback Joe Fagnano needed just one play to cash in, scoring on a 1-yard sneak to push the lead to 14-0.
The Ravens weren’t finished. With 3:46 remaining in the second quarter, wide receiver LaJohntay Wester reached back with one arm to haul in a 10-yard touchdown pass from Fagnano, extending Baltimore’s advantage to 24-0 heading into the half. By that point, the Ravens had outgained Washington 274 yards to 60 — a gap that told the story of the game as clearly as the scoreboard did.
Second-Half Continuation
Washington’s second half offered little in the way of a response. The Commanders finished the game having been held to a mere three points, with their only scoring coming late and their offense managing just three first downs on the entire night — all of them coming on the game’s final drive. Baltimore, by contrast, finished with a commanding 26-7 edge in first downs and a 456-177 advantage in total yardage.
Individual Performances
Baltimore’s ground game got meaningful contributions across its running back room. Ward led the way with 53 yards on seven carries, while Rasheen Ali added 28 yards on nine attempts. Adam Randall contributed 25 yards on five carries to go along with three catches for 45 yards, giving the Ravens’ coaching staff a well-rounded look at their backfield depth heading into final roster decisions.
The one blemish on an otherwise clean night for Baltimore came from kicker Tyler Loop, who connected on field goals from 51 and 24 yards but missed attempts from 51 and 58 yards — a mixed performance that could factor into how the Ravens evaluate their kicking situation going into the regular season.
For Washington, the night was defined more by what didn’t happen than what did. With 41 players held out of the game entirely, the Commanders were always going to be undermanned, but the complete absence of offensive rhythm — 0-for-5 on third down in the first half alone — will give the coaching staff little to feel good about as the calendar turns toward Week 1.
What It Means
Washington’s decision to sit the vast majority of its roster reflects a coaching staff confident in what it already knows about its top players and unwilling to risk injury in a game with zero regular-season stakes. That approach makes the final score largely irrelevant from a competitive standpoint, even if it does little to soften the disappointment of a 38-point defeat.
For Baltimore, the win caps a perfect run through this specific fixture and offers a strong final data point for a coaching staff finalizing its own roster decisions. Both quarterbacks who saw action — Huntley in a brief cameo and Fagnano across an extended workload — gave the Ravens’ staff clean, efficient tape to work with, while the running back rotation showed enough to settle any lingering questions about backfield depth.
Looking Ahead
With the preseason now complete for both franchises, attention shifts immediately to roster cuts, with all teams required to trim to 53 players by Sunday. Washington opens its regular season on the road against the Philadelphia Eagles, while Baltimore begins its campaign at Indianapolis — both games arriving on September 13, just over two weeks removed from Friday’s lopsided finale.
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Commanders vs Ravens Preview | NFL Preseason Week 3 | Friday, August 28, 2026 | M&T Bank Stadium, Baltimore | Kickoff: 6:00 PM ET | TV: NFL Network, WBAL-TV, WUSA9
The Commanders vs Ravens preseason finale carries none of the drama of a playoff race, but for the roughly 90 players fighting for a spot on two 53-man rosters, Friday’s game at M&T Bank Stadium is as consequential as any contest either franchise will play this year. This breakdown looks at the matchup through the lens most useful heading into cutdown weekend: who’s likely to play, who isn’t, and what the numbers say about each team’s roster construction heading into the regular season.
By the Numbers: Setting the Table
Washington enters Friday’s Commanders vs Ravens matchup at 1-0 in the preseason, while Baltimore sits at 1-0 overall and 1-0 at home. Neither record means much on its own — preseason win-loss totals rarely correlate with roster quality — but the underlying usage patterns from each team’s first two exhibition games tell a more useful story about roster philosophy heading into this final tune-up.
The two clubs met earlier in the week for a joint practice session in Baltimore, giving both coaching staffs an extended look at starters and roster-bubble players outside the artificial structure of a live game. That practice, more than Friday’s actual score, is likely to carry more weight in final roster decisions — a pattern that’s become increasingly common across the league as teams try to limit starter exposure in the preseason finale.
Starter Usage: A Clear Signal
Washington’s offense has been conservative with its top players throughout the preseason, and that trend is expected to continue Friday. Quarterback Jayden Daniels has played sparingly in each of Washington’s exhibition games, a workload pattern typical of a team confident in its starting quarterback’s readiness for Week 1 and unwilling to risk exposure in games that don’t count. Expect a similarly light snap count for Washington’s core starters across the board Friday, with backup and roster-bubble players carrying the bulk of the offensive workload.
Baltimore’s approach has historically mirrored this conservative philosophy in preseason finales, and this year figures to be no different. The Ravens’ locker room has become accustomed to a preseason finale that functions more as an extended evaluation period for younger players than a genuine tune-up for the regular season.
The Historical Series
The all-time preseason series between these two AFC-and-NFC neighbors favors Baltimore significantly — the Ravens hold a 12-4 advantage across 16 preseason meetings. Last year’s edition of this exact fixture went firmly Baltimore’s way, a 30-3 result in which running back Rasheen Ali posted nine carries for 36 yards and a touchdown, while undrafted rookie linebacker Jay Higgins IV recorded six tackles in a performance that helped him make Baltimore’s regular-season roster. That’s the template for how these games actually matter — not through the final score, but through individual performances that shift roster calculus.
Key Position Battles to Track
Washington’s offensive line depth. Injuries at left tackle and center have been a persistent storyline throughout Washington’s training camp, and the club’s depth at center specifically has drawn concern from close observers of the team. Friday’s game offers one of the final opportunities to evaluate how the backup offensive line handles pressure before rosters are finalized.
Baltimore’s center competition. On the other side of the ball, Baltimore has an unresolved question at center, with the coaching staff still evaluating which player moves closer to locking down the starting job. Snap counts and performance in Friday’s game could be the deciding factor in that competition.
Undrafted and late-round hopefuls. Both rosters carry players whose entire NFL futures could hinge on Friday’s performance. Last year’s example — Higgins making the Ravens’ roster off a strong preseason finale — is exactly the kind of outcome scouts and coaches will be watching for again this year.
What the Injury Report Tells Us
Beyond individual competitions, the injury report heading into Friday’s game is itself a data point worth tracking. Teams that rest healthy starters in the preseason finale are signaling confidence in their evaluation of those players; teams that play banged-up starters for extended snaps in a game that doesn’t count are typically either desperate for more film or managing a roster with less depth than they’d like. Washington’s persistent offensive line injury concerns make this an area worth monitoring closely as the final injury report comes out.
Tactical Considerations
Even with backups on the field for the majority of snaps, the tactical approach each coaching staff takes still offers useful information. Washington’s coaching staff will likely use this game to test specific packages and personnel groupings that didn’t get full run-throughs during joint practice, particularly along a offensive line that has dealt with instability all preseason. Baltimore, meanwhile, will use the extended snap count for backup players to finalize its depth chart at several positions, with special attention on the linebacker corps and secondary depth behind Baltimore’s established starters.
What to Watch
Beyond the individual position battles already outlined, keep an eye on defensive line rotations for both teams — this is traditionally where preseason finales reveal the most about a roster’s true depth, since offensive line and defensive line evaluations benefit most from extended live-game reps rather than practice-only settings. Special teams performance is another area worth tracking, given how often preseason finale performance in that phase directly correlates with which fringe players make the final 53.
Coaching Philosophy Entering Cutdown Weekend
Every decision a coaching staff makes in a preseason finale is filtered through the reality that roster cuts land within 48 hours of the final whistle. That timeline shapes everything from how long starters stay on the field to which special teams units get extended run. Washington’s staff has already signaled through two preseason games that its evaluation priorities lie almost entirely with the bottom half of the roster — a philosophy that tracks with a team confident in the health and readiness of its top-tier talent heading into the regular season.
Baltimore’s staff operates under a similar framework, but with the added complexity of an unresolved center competition that carries real regular-season stakes. Unlike bubble players fighting for a 53rd roster spot, the center battle affects a starting position group, which means Friday’s evaluation period carries more weight for Baltimore’s coaching staff than a typical preseason finale roster battle would.
Why This Game Still Matters
It’s tempting to dismiss preseason finales as meaningless given how few core starters typically play extended snaps. But for the players whose NFL careers hang in the balance — undrafted rookies, third-string running backs, depth linebackers — Friday’s game is the single most consequential 60 minutes of their year. Both Washington and Baltimore have used this exact fixture in the past to make final roster calls that shaped their regular-season depth charts, and this year’s edition figures to be no different.
Prediction
With both teams expected to rest the bulk of their starters, Friday’s outcome will likely come down to which team’s backup and roster-bubble talent performs better in extended run. Baltimore’s recent dominance in this exact fixture, combined with the Ravens’ track record of developing overlooked talent in preseason settings, gives Baltimore a slight analytical edge heading into kickoff.
Score prediction: Ravens 24, Commanders 17
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