The Ravens/Redskins Preseason Matchup Featured Dirty Hits, Fights, And Father/Son Bonding

Saturday’s preseason showdown between the Washington Redskins and Baltimore Ravens was your typical meaningless game for the most part. The Skins walk away the winner 31-13 and showed that they might be capable of putting up some offense without RG III behind center. But the real highlight of the night came following the somewhat cheap hit you see above. Keenan Robinson essentially decides he wants to get Tough Enough and join the WWE by driving Ravens’ receiver Kamar Aiken into the ground. This did not sit well with the Ravens and plenty of shoving took place, with Steve Smith Sr. getting much of the spotlight according to ESPN:

Smith and Culliver grabbed each other’s jerseys and engaged in a shoving match after the teams converged with 30 seconds remaining in the first quarter, when Ravens receiver Kamar Aiken was lifted and thrown down headfirst into the turf by Redskins linebacker Keenan Robinson.

No punches were thrown, but there is a new rules emphasis on fighting this year.

Smith took a bow before exiting the field and received a standing ovation from several fans at M&T Bank Stadium.

You can see said bow below when we return to Smith and his story following the ejection. The highlight for me, as seen in the full clip and the Vine below, is John Harbaugh getting into it with Jay Gruden, seen here during an early guest appearance on American Dad. The two shook hands after the game, but I like to think that both will continue this rivalry into next year’s preseason match up and beyond. Maybe off the field, at a Dave And Busters, where real men show their worth.

But the true star of this contest was Steve Smith and his son Peyton. Smith took his bow when leaving the field following his ejection, showing why he will be sorely missed after he retires at the end of the season (not everybody feels the same, but so what).

Peyton sorta live tweeted and responded to the ejection on Twitter, capping it off with the silver lining to the entire thing: he got to finally watch a game with his dad. Isn’t that nice?

If this is the only meaningful moment we get out of either team this season, it will be worth it for this alone. I’m sure there will be plenty of embarrassment, though. Most of it due to the each team’s respective quarterbacks. Hut, Hut! Pizza Hut!

(Via SB Nation / ESPN)