With most of their starters in street clothes, the Ravens dominated the Cowboys on both sides of the ball in a 31-13 preseason victory Saturday night. Here are five things we learned from the game.

The secondary competition remains spicy

The Ravens are down two cornerbacks with sixth-round draft picks Bilhal Kone and Robert Longerbeam out for the season. Their exits seemed to set the stage for training camp standout Reuben Lowery to seize a roster spot.

But the plot thickened in Dallas, where the Ravens started another undrafted rookie, Keyon Martin, at cornerback. All he did on the Cowboys’ first drive was drop running back Miles Sanders for a 5-yard loss on second down and sack quarterback Joe Milton III for a safety on the next play.

Not a bad way for the 5-foot-9, 170-pound upstart from Louisiana Lafayette to insert himself into the competition.

Lowery, not to be outdone, wiped out a Dallas scoring threat with an interception and covered well all night.

“Reuben, he’s around the ball,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said afterward. “He’s been doing it all camp.”

Harbaugh quickly extended praise to all of the young defensive backs competing to fill the last open spots on a stacked roster. In addition to Lowery and Martin, that group includes safety Beau Brade, who’s playing well but seemingly behind Sanoussi Kane on the depth chart.

In the big picture, none of these guys will play many defensive snaps unless injuries cut down the veteran stars who fill most of the secondary. But this is the roster intrigue we’re left to discuss with a team built to win it all.

The Ravens take pride in their grand tradition of nurturing undrafted players into meaningful contributors. Lowery, with his ability to play nickel and both safety spots and his nose for turnovers, has made a strong case to be the next in that line. Martin is at least breathing down his neck after that breakout series of plays in Dallas.

Quality competition for deep reserve spots is one sign of a healthy franchise, so Harbaugh and his staff have to like what they’re seeing from a position group where injury attrition is always a worry.

Looking for a cool long shot? Get a load of C.J. Okoye

Michael Pierce’s retirement meaningfully diminished the Ravens’ defensive interior. They answered by signing another veteran gap plugger in John Jenkins.

Jenkins, 36, hasn’t done anything this summer to suggest he can’t help in limited snaps, but what if a much larger, much less experienced aspirant shoves past him?

That’s what the 6-foot-6, 370-pound Okoye is trying to do, and he followed up a standout preseason debut with another solid outing in Dallas.

Okoye grew up in Nigeria, and until three years ago he was a wide-bodied basketball center with no inkling that football might be in his future. He knew nothing of the sport when he attended a tryout camp on a scout’s suggestion. Against all odds, he landed a spot on the Los Angeles Chargers’ practice squad in 2023.

The Ravens signed him to a future/reserves deal after last season.

Though he’s very much a work in progress, Okoye has advanced rapidly enough to present an intriguing alternative to Jenkins.

“He’s come light years,” Harbaugh said last week.

Okoye is unusually tall for an interior lineman, but he blocks out the sun and manhandles smaller blockers on his best reps.

“He’s really learning how to come out of his hips and strike and shed, stay square in there and play the run,” Harbaugh said. “He’s gotten some push in pass rush. He’s going to be a pocket pusher. [He’s] making good use of all that size he has.”

The Ravens aspire to win the Super Bowl, so they’re more likely to open the year with Jenkins, who has held his own in the NFL for more than a decade. But, if you’re a fan of cool and different, why not root for the behemoth who has rocketed from novice to roster candidate in just three years?

Corey Bullock grasped what the Ravens needed

Bullock started at center again after taking some first-team reps in practice last week. All indications tell us the former Maryland Terrapin is in the driver’s seat to win a spot on the 53-man roster ahead of 2024 seventh-round pick Nick Samac.

The 6-foot-3, 320-pound Bullock plays with a sturdy base, and the Cowboys’ interior rushers generated little push against him on 17 pass-blocking snaps.

The Prince George’s County native hurt his case with a holding penalty after the Ravens reached the red zone on their second drive, but one mistake won’t obscure his impressive progress.

“He’s fantastic,” backup quarterback Cooper Rush said after the game. “He runs the show.”

With Patrick Mekari now in Jacksonville, the Ravens needed to find a reliable backup to Tyler Linderbaum. Bullock, who started at tackle for the Terps, understood he could enhance his appeal by honing his center skills at an offseason training center in Arizona.

Coaches noticed. Offensive coordinator Todd Monken recently described Bullock as “a very conscientious young man.”

Thanks to his intelligent approach to the offseason, he’s on the verge of earning a promotion from the practice squad.

Rookie guard Garrett Dellinger also played well against Dallas, rendering Samac’s position that much more precarious.

Mike Green continues to jump off the screen

As seamlessly as safety Malaki Starks has fit with a battle-hardened starting defense, it’s Green who has the highest upside to electrify from this year’s rookie class.

For all their sack production in recent seasons, the Ravens have not drafted and developed a consistent game changer off the edge to match AFC North nemeses Myles Garrett, T.J. Watt and Trey Hendrickson. It’s wildly premature to say Green could reach that rarefied level at one of the NFL’s premium positions. But he gives Baltimore fans plenty to dream on, exploding off the line and maintaining his balance no matter how low to the ground he torques his body.

Green was widely regarded as a first-round talent coming out of Marshall. The Ravens got him late in the second because a pair of sexual assault allegations against him in high school and college scared other teams away. Wherever you fall on the moral calculations behind that decision, it’s clear, in pure football terms, Green could immediately give the Ravens tremendous return on investment.

The 6-foot-3, 250-pound rookie is known for his quickness, flexibility and deep bag of rush moves. He also showcased power against the Cowboys, holding his ground against a blocking tight end to stuff Sanders on fourth-and-1 in the second quarter.

Green wasn’t perfect. He missed a potential tackle for loss after bursting into the backfield earlier in the second quarter, and he finished with just one hurry to show for 10 pass-rush snaps. But the bottom line is he’s played two games and has put his stamp on both of them.

Harbaugh answered most of our lingering roster questions

Outside linebacker David Ojabo and running back Rasheen Ali were perhaps the most notable names on the roster heading into the Dallas game, in part because we didn’t know if the Ravens would start the season with four running backs and/or six edge defenders.

Ali, a 2024 fifth-round pick who’s behind Derrick Henry, Justice Hill and Keaton Mitchell on the depth chart, served as the team’s workhorse with 19 carries for 62 yards against the Cowboys. He ran ruggedly if unspectacularly. Harbaugh then effectively removed him from the bubble by saying the Ravens will carry a fourth running back.

If Ali’s to make his mark on this season, it will probably be as a kickoff returner, though Mitchell, who’s dealing with a sore hamstring, is ahead of him there as well.

Ojabo, who said last week that he’s finally “letting it rip” after three injury-marred seasons, did not do anything spectacular in Dallas. But his chance to make the opening 53-man roster skyrocketed with the news that fellow outside linebacker Adisa Isaac had dislocated his elbow. Harbaugh said Isaac will be out a few weeks, so that competition is on hold, not settled for good.

Though Ojabo and Isaac have both popped at times this summer, neither is likely to steal snaps from Odafe Oweh, Kyle Van Noy, Green or Tavius Robinson.

In the least surprising news of the weekend, Harbaugh said Tyler Loop will be the Ravens’ kicker after the rookie made five of six field goal attempts, with two coming from 51 and 53 yards.

Loop has not kicked as consistently as Harbaugh might have hoped in his most optimistic vision, but his leg is as strong as advertised. And, as we said at the start of camp, he was destined to replace Justin Tucker unless he fell on his face. Loop has easily cleared that bar, so now we’ll get to see how he holds up in games that count.