Rashaan Melvin Outstanding in Debut

The Ravens continued to lose secondary depth with injuries to Terrence Brooks and Asa Jackson, but an eye-popping performance from Rashaan Melvin made us forget the losses, at least temporarily.

Melvin was activated for his first NFL game despite being on the roster for Tampa Bay in both 2013 and 2014. Let’s review:

• (Q2, 3:39): Melvin replaced Lardarius Webb for a single snap at LCB for his first NFL snap. The pass went left (the opposite side).

• (Q3, 6:38): After Asa Jackson’s injury and the Jag’s successful fake punt, Melvin entered permanently at RCB. Gerhart ran up the middle for 10 yards and Melvin made the tackle.

• (Q3, 6:07): On the next play, Gerhart ran left and Melvin undercut him hard to hold the gain to 5 yards.

• (Q3, 5:39): Rashaan telegraphed the corner blitz by moving off his man early, but the play was a stretch left with zone blocking. Upshaw and Williams contained effectively, but Melvin flew across the formation to take down Johnson for a loss of 5.

• (Q3, 4:58): Melvin had tight coverage on Cecil Shorts between the numbers and left hash and stripped the ball for an apparent interception. The pass was ruled incomplete and confirmed by review. At that point, Melvin had 3 tackles and a PD in his first 5 NFL plays.

• (Q4, 5:14): Bortles threw to Shorts for a gain of 12 (7 + 5 YAC) by the left sideline. Elam and Melvin collided to miss the tackle, but Shorts went down from the contact by Elam. This was his only poor play of the day.

• (Q4, 4:10): Bortles threw to Hurns near the left sideline. Elam and Melvin had containment and Hurns stepped out of bounds for a gain of just 1.

• (Q4, 3:29): On 4th and 9 at the Ravens’ 37, Melvin had press coverage on Shorts, but stayed with him right down the left sideline. Bortles pass was collected by Shorts a yard out of bounds, but Rashaan effectively used the sideline as an extra defender. That snuffed out the Jags’ last real chance.

• (Q4, 1:11): He had soft coverage on Shorts and tackled him in bounds for a gain of 12 to keep the clock running, an excellent situational result.

• (Q4, 0:54): On the next play, Bortles threw to Shorts by the left sideline. Melvin broke on the football and would have had a PD or interception, had the ball not been a little high and off target.

Other notes

• In total, Melvin played 24 snaps in his debut on which the Ravens allowed just 35 yards (1.5 YPPA) and 1.3 yards per pass (17 plays, 22 yards).

• The Ravens had 4 of their 8 sacks when he was in the game, which included at least 2 where Bortles appeared to make reads to the left.

• His 4 solo tackles were tied with Mosley for 2nd on the team.

The Ravens have had some startling defensive debuts in their history:

• Jameel McClain collected a safety with a sack of JaMarcus Russell on his first NFL snap.

• Dan Cody played 14 snaps during which he played an active role in holding the Falcons to -22 yards in 2006. He would never play another non-penalty snap in his career.

• Terrell Suggs had a sack on his 4th NFL snap versus Pittsburgh in the 2003 opener.

• Ray Lewis was defensive player of the week, including an end-zone interception in his first NFL game (which was also the first game in Ravens history).

We can add another performance to this list.

If it’s a real indication of ability, Melvin’s debut could not come at a better time for the Ravens.

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