Earlier today, the Baltimore Ravens released their official 53-man roster. Two of the bigger names not included on that list are quarterback Troy Smith and kicker Shayne Graham.

There had been rumors that the Ravens were comfortable carrying only two quarterbacks to start the season.

Those rumors came to fruition when odd man out Troy Smith was waived. Ravens' management has confidence that starter Joe Flacco and backup Marc Bulger will be sufficient to carry the team at the start of the season. 

Ravens GM Ozzie Newsome said that the release of Smith was strictly a numbers game. "The competition to make our team was very heated, and we decided to keep a position player rather than a third quarterback." 

This Ravens have carried only two quarterbacks in the past. In 2006 Steve McNair was backed up by Kyle Boller.

The battle for the kicking position went down to the wire between Billy Cundiff and Shayne Graham. Cundiff had the edge during training camp hitting his field goal attempts at 85.4% compared to Cundiff's 80.5%.

The nod went to Cundiff in preseason field goal attempts; he went 3-for-3 compared to Graham's 2-for-3.

In the end, the Ravens went with the incumbent, Billy Cundiff over Graham, the fourth most accurate kicker in NFL history.

Other players waived today:

TE - Davon Drew

CB - Travis Fisher

DB - K.J. Gerard

WR - Justin Harper

CB - Chris Hawkins

DB - Brad Jones

G - Bryan Mattison

OLB - Albert McClellan

T - Joe Reitz

WR - Eron Riley

RB - Curtis Steele

T - Devin Tyler

WR - Demetrius Williams