The next time the Ravens play a game, it will count. They wrapped their preseason with a 30-3 beatdown of the Washington Commanders in Landover that featured few players likely to make a significant impact in the Sept. 7 opener against the Buffalo Bills. With their summer preamble at an end, the Ravens will cut their roster to 53 and begin earnest preparations for the real thing. Here are five things we learned from the Commanders game.

Keyon Martin has made a classic preseason push

Martin wasn’t part of the discussion in late July when we guessed which undrafted free agent might defy the odds by grabbing a spot on one of the NFL’s most star-studded rosters. As a 5-foot-9 cornerback who wasn’t invited to the scouting combine, much less drafted, he faced a steep climb in a secondary fronted by first-round picks.

Season-ending injuries to draft picks Bilhal Kone and Robert Longerbeam gave Martin a sliver of a chance. Lo and behold, he burst through the wall, to the point that fans and writers spent Saturday afternoon figuring out how to wedge him into their final roster projections.

Ravens coaches have said it again and again: Takeaways need to be the lifeblood of their defense. They didn’t produce enough of them last season, and that was a major reason they did not reach their ultimate goals.

So Martin made a compelling closing statement Saturday when he jumped a route to snare an interception and return it for six points. That was after he’d dropped two runners for losses with his aggressive play around the line of scrimmage.

“He keeps making big plays, and that will be accounted for,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. “He played sound as well.”

By that, he meant he was just as excited to see Martin wipe out Washington’s gunner on a punt return as he was about the pick six.

Evaluators will always pick at a fringe prospect’s lack of height or pedigree, but playmaking cannot be denied. Martin has created splash after splash over his last two games. If it’s not enough to put him on the Ravens, another team will probably come calling after rosters are finalized this week.

Harbaugh has said he’d like to start the season with four running backs, and Rasheen Ali gave another solid effort against Washington. There are many serviceable backs in the world. Better to use a roster spot on that or on a slot corner such as Martin who can’t stop making plays?

Or perhaps the Ravens will make a tough decision at another position, given Ali’s importance on special teams.

Harbaugh and general manager Eric DeCosta have plenty to consider, given that half a dozen players have made late charges for those few remaining jobs. Martin, however, has done more than enough to stick.

Tyler Loop put an exclamation point on his preseason

You don’t get much drearier than the last quarter of the last preseason game, but those watching from the press box snapped to attention when Loop trotted out to attempt a 61-yard field goal.

The rookie had long since claimed his starting spot but had missed once in each of the first two preseason games. Could he complete a perfect day against Washington after splitting the uprights from 46 and 52 yards in the first half?

We’ve seen all summer that distance is no problem for Loop, and he hammered that point home, making the longest attempt of his brief career with yards to spare.

Harbaugh wanted to get him a long kick to reinforce his confidence in game situations, and Loop was as pleased that he nailed all three parts of his routine — good plant, good foot position, good swing — as he was with the result.

A preseason thunderbolt won’t protect him from the scrutiny that will inevitably come when he misses for the first time in a game that matters. He’ll be a story all season, whether he’s great, erratic or something in between. That’s the deal when you’re a rookie stepping in for the most accurate kicker in NFL history on a Super Bowl contender.

What’s not in question is Loop’s talent. Ravens kicking coach Randy Brown was gobsmacked the first time he watched the kid strike a ball in person at the combine. Now we’ve all seen what Brown saw.

Jay Higgins is the reason for preseason

Higgins’ physique and sprint times don’t measure up to those of fourth-round pick Teddye Buchanan, a lock to make the team. But the pint-size linebacker has outplayed Buchanan in the preseason (albeit against fewer first- and second-stringers). Higgins earned the highest Pro Football Focus grade of any Ravens defender in the team’s opening win over the Indianapolis Colts and the second highest in a win at Dallas.

He played well again Saturday, backing up Trenton Simpson (who was outstanding against the Commanders) and Buchanan.

It’s a continuation of Higgins’ career at Iowa, where he was one of the Big Ten’s most productive linebackers despite failing to wow scouts with his speed or stature.

Who better to appreciate Higgins’ story than defensive coordinator Zach Orr, who once upon a time made the Ravens as an undrafted, 6-foot, 237-pound linebacker out of North Texas?

“He was a great player in college,” Orr said. “His résumé speaks for itself. He should have been drafted, but measurables probably knocked him down. He’s definitely athletic enough, fast enough to play at this level. You combine that with his IQ and playmaking ability. He keeps it going, there’s no reason why he shouldn’t play a long time in this league.”

With Roquan Smith, Simpson, Buchanan and special teams ace Jake Hummel likely pegged for roster spots, the Ravens might feel hard-pressed to keep a fifth inside linebacker. Smith will be the only one on the field for significant chunks of the regular season. So it would make sense for them to choose a defensive back — Martin or safety Beau Brade — over Higgins.

On the other hand, Higgins’ instinctive, dogged style suggests he’d help immediately on special teams, and there’s no more direct route to Harbaugh’s heart. Could he follow Orr’s path, playing 80% of the team’s special teams snaps for a couple of years as he gradually makes a case to start at linebacker?

It’s not impossible, and that’s an argument for the utility of the preseason, irrelevant as it feels much of the time. These games provide a canvas for guys like Higgins, who were never destined to pop eyes at the combine but come alive when it’s time to play.

The Ravens’ roster depth never stops impressing

We all had our share of fun chronicling the Ravens’ 24-game preseason winning streak, which ended two years ago on the same field where they clobbered the Commanders on Saturday.

It was one of the greatest meaningless sports records of the last decade.

Or perhaps we were a touch too glib in declaring its lack of importance. The hidden meaning of the Ravens’ preseason streak was the story it told of just how many good players they bring to camp every summer.

Stack the last 30-35 guys on their roster against the 30-35 from most other teams, and it’s often a mismatch.

We’ve seen that again the last two weeks, when they’ve thumped the Cowboys and Commanders while using maybe half a dozen players who will meaningfully impact their offensive and defensive performance this season.

Does their 61-16 margin against two NFC East opponents say anything about how far they’ll go at the end of this season? Probably not much. What it does say is that the scouting operation funneling talent to Baltimore remains sharp. And that helps explain the Ravens’ staying power in the NFL’s upper ranks.

Real games are around the corner and not a moment too soon

More than almost any other team in the sport, the Ravens just needed to get through the last five weeks.

Their visit to Northwest Stadium revived memories of the moment four years ago when J.K. Dobbins’ knee gave out after he took a preseason handoff from Lamar Jackson. Harbaugh planned to play his starters only a series or two on that Saturday evening in Landover. But it took just one play to change a contender’s season outlook.

That was the last time we saw the team’s stars take the field for preseason action, and it’s difficult to argue with Harbaugh’s cautious turn. For a team built to go all the way, the downside of risking injury on meaningless snaps is much greater than the upside of a little fine-tuning.

The downside for the rest of us is that we won’t get to judge the Ravens as anything other than an on-paper entity until that Sunday night date in Buffalo.

It’s diverting enough to talk kicker battles and undrafted free agents, but the players who will determine how far the Ravens go have been idling in the garage.

What did we learn from training camp and the preseason? Loop won the aforementioned competition to succeed Justin Tucker in about two weeks. Andrew Vorhees never lost his grip on the one open offensive line job. Top draft picks Malaki Starks and Mike Green lived up to the hype. Injuries cleared spots for veterans David Ojabo and Jalyn Armour-Davis, who could have fallen on the wrong side of the roster bubble.

In other words, what little intrigue there was fizzled quickly.

All of that is in the rearview. We’ve made the final turn, and the next time the Ravens suit up, Jackson and Derrick Henry and Kyle Hamilton and Smith will be at the controls, with Josh Allen & Co. on the other side.

Seven months on from the Ravens’ latest crushing playoff disappointment, in Buffalo no less, they’re back, largely intact. Can they finally author a story that ends in a rain of confetti? We’re about to find out.