ATLANTA - -To finish the preseason perfect, the Ravens had to beat a quick turnaround and illness.
More importantly, their backups had to beat the Atlanta Falcons' starters.
With only two starters making a first-quarter cameo, third-string quarterback John Beck and the rest of the Ravens' junior varsity stepped up in a 20-3 win over the Falcons at a nearly empty Georgia Dome. Beck's two touchdown passes led the Ravens to their first 4-0 preseason since the 2000 Super Bowl season.
"Our goal was to play like Ravens tonight," said coach John Harbaugh, whose team opens the season against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sept. 13. "I think we are the best Ravens we could be right now. What that means or how good we are, we won't know until the regular season starts. But this is where we want to be."
The Ravens, though, had to do it the hard way. The team not only had to travel for its second road game in six days, but some players also wore masks on the plane because they were experiencing flu-like symptoms.
The Ravens' resilience showed in the first quarter, when their reserves outplayed the starters from the Falcons, who were a playoff team last season.
Beck, who played four series in the first three preseason games, drove the Ravens' second-team offense down the field against Atlanta's first-team defense, capping a length-of-the-field series with a 5-yard touchdown pass to fullback Jason Cook. There were so many empty seats that a crowd of two-dozen Ravens fans in one end zone could be heard cheering.
"It was more than encouraging. It was exciting," Harbaugh said. "That group could play with and whip anybody in the league."
The 91-yard drive was the Ravens' longest of the preseason. With starter Joe Flacco and backup Troy Smith watching from the sideline, Beck looked better than he did all of training camp, completing all five of his passes on the possession for 50 yards.
Beck, who was signed by the Ravens when the Miami Dolphins released him after the draft in April, completed 16 of 28 passes for 232 yards. His play had been limited in the preseason because he suffered an injury to his throwing shoulder in the opener.
"It's been a while since I've played a whole game," Beck said. "So I wanted to make the most of it. I had a lot of fun."
The tone of the game was set by the Ravens' defense. With only two starters (linebackers Terrell Suggs and Tavares Gooden), the Ravens stopped quarterback Matt Ryan and running back Michael Turner on the opening drive of the game.
