In theory, this was the kind of night the Ravens have dreamed about during the off season.

When their offense is on, and everything is clicking, there is no easy way to shut down the Ravens.

In a strong first half performance played by the starters, the Ravens displayed a strong passing game as they threw for 243 yards and two touchdowns in a final tune up for the regular season.

In the first two quarters, quarterback Joe Flacco completed 20 of 32 passes for 220 yards, and ended the night by completing 21 of 34 for 229 yards. The New York Giants couldn't slow the Ravens down because they didn't have one player to focus on.

In the first half, tight end Todd Heap had six catches and receiver Derrick Mason had five. Receiver Anquan Boldin and running back Ray Rice each had four in an aerial game that was effective and balanced.

The Ravens rushed only 11 times in the first half, and that will increase if the Ravens are to be successful during the regular season, but the Ravens believe they have to significantly improve their passing game from a year ago.

Flacco had a lot of time to throw in the first half, and had some wipe open receivers. But Flacco still has problems completing passes over the middle inside the red zone.

He overthrew a wide open Mason on a short rout across the middle on a third and goal at the 6 midway in the first period. Actually, the pass should have been lower so the only way the defender had a chance of knocking down or intercepting the pass was to interfere with Mason.

In the second quarter, Flacco threw an eight-yard touchdown pass to Boldin over the middle, but the pass was late and behind Boldin who had two steps on the nearest Giants' defender. Fortunately for the Ravens, Boldin made a nice catch.

Flacco, though, did make a nice 13-yard pass over the middle to tight end Todd Heap with 3:52 seconds left in the half.

Where was Jacobs?

Excuse me, but don't the New York Giants have a 6-foot-4 264-pound running back named Brandon Jacobs?

Then why on three straight plays deep in Ravens territory in the first quarter when the Giants needed just 1 yard didn't they give the ball to Jacobs, who has been a Ravens killer over the years?

Instead, New York was stopped on a fourth-and-1 at the 15 after three straight runs to Ahmad Bradshaw.

Earlier in the drive, Jacobs had a 29- yard run. I assume Giants head coach Tom Coughlin wanted to keep Jacobs and his short-yardage offense under wraps until the regular season.

Yeah, right.

Dawan 'Whop' Landry

Ravens strong safety Dawan Landry has been nicknamed "Whop" by his teammates because of his hard hits, but last night he got whopped by Bradshaw early in the first period.

Landry came up to tackle Bradshaw on a running play, and he got stiff-armed into the ground. It was ugly. It wasn't one of Landry's better tackling games, but some other players in the secondary and quite a few linebackers whiffed on tackles.

It might be time to bring back some tackling drills in the secondary this week.

"The Giants ran on us early and we have to tackle better," said Ravens head coach John Harbaugh. "They do have two good backs and one of the best lines. They deserve some credit, too."

Analyzing offensive tackles

The Ravens tackle play on offense from Michael Oher and Tony Moll was almost flawless until late in the first half, especially in pass protection. Oher was outstanding in gaining position and establishing his ground off the snap of the ball and Moll appeared quicker than a week ago when he made his first start in two years.

Suggs, Johnson shine

The Ravens got complete games from outside linebackers Terrell Suggs and Jarret Johnson. As he did a week ago against the Washington Redskins, Suggs got some nice shots in on the quarterback, this time New York's Eli Manning.

Johnson played perhaps his best game of the preseason and was stellar against the run, particularly in short yardage situations. Maybe Johnson was motivated by that little spat he had with the head coach earlier in the week (wink, wink).

Play Nakamura

Regardless if the Ravens are in base, nickel or dime coverage, they need to find a week to get safety Haruki Nakamura on the field. Nakamura picked off one pass last night, and almost intercepted another.

Fight song flops

When the Ravens played their new fight song, which is the old Colts' fight song, early in the first quarter, it drew a rousing ovation of about five people, including band members.

Fans sat on their hands as if they didn't recognize the tune. Maybe the Ravens should have a new contest this week deciding if they should even have a fight song at all.

mike.preston@baltsun.com