Coffee Companion (8/26): Joe Flacco panic! Ravens beat Beck

Each morning, Monday through Friday, I'll hook you up with reading material to skim through as you slug down coffee and slack off at the start of your workday -- that way I'll have an excuse to do the same at the start of mine.

 Running it back:

Bouncing back from having an interception returned for a touchdown on the opening drive, Joe Flacco threw for 219 yards and two touchdowns in Thursday night's 34-31 comeback win over the Redskins. ... In the final tuneup of the preseason, the Ravens may have some tinkering to do with their pass defense. ... Tandon Doss says he broke up a fight Thursday at the Five Guys restaurant at the Inner Harbor. ... Jo-Jo Reyes helped the Orioles pick up a four-game sweep of the Twins. ... Jeremy Guthrie is trying to decide whether he should switch his jersey number to honor the late Mike Flanagan. ... Flanagan's friends said they saw that the former Orioles pitcher was in pain, but they were still shocked he took his own life.

Hitting the links:

1. Mike Preston: It's hard to get a good read on Joe Flacco this preseason [Baltimore Sun]

2. The highs and lows for Joe Flacco [CSN Baltimore]

3. Joe Flacco wants to open things up this year [SI]

4. Joe Flacco was inconsistent Thursday [Washington Post]

5. Ray Lewis played the role of cheerleader for ESPN [ESPN]

6. Five things Kevin Van Valkenburg learned during the Ravens-Redskins game [Ravens Insider]

7. Ray Rice is getting to the next level [ESPN]

8. Sergio Kindle's recovery pleases the Ravens [Yahoo!]

9. Bryant McKinnie will start at left tackle [Ravens Insider]

10. Don't know which NFL team to cheer for? This funny flowchart should help [Buzzfeed]

11. WBAL is standing by its report on Mike Flanagan [Z on TV]

12. All this Flanagan speculation serves no good purpose [The Schmuck Stops Here]

13. A 12-year-old remembers Mike Flanagan [Artie Donovan's Workout Partner]

14. The Felix Pie era might not be over [Orioles Insider]

15. Maryland has fared well with defensive position changes [Baltimore Sun]

16. Maryland athletic director Kevin Anderson says he isn't thinking about leaving the ACC [Baltimore Sun]

17. Who are the best possible athlete endorsers in the Baltimore/Washington area? [D.C. Sports Bog]

18. This is a pretty entertaining photo gallery of the yearbook photos of famous athletes [SI]

Video of the morning:

It's Friday, which seems like a good day to watch Steve Blake fight John Gilchrist in 2002 [via Testudo Times]

Send me your funny and/or interesting links, photos, YouTube videos, blogs, Tweets, comments, emails, ideas, etc. and I’ll give you a plug. You can reach me at [e-mail] and twitter.com/mattvensel.