Ravens Training Camp: Monday Edition
Injury Status Updates: Terrell Suggs is wearing a boot on his foot and should be okay in a few days or so. Mark Clayton tweaked his hamstring and the coaching staff just want to take it easy on him as he has been prone to those injuries. Davon Drew’s right ankle is wrapped and he is not participating, courtesy of a solid hit by LB Prescott Burgess in yesterday’s one-on-one blocking drills. Antwan Barnes suffered a mild concussion yesterday but is on the field today.
In today’s early action, in passing drills Joe Flacco looked right and threw left to Edgar Jones in the flat, who then after hesitating, ran down the sideline for a long gain. I could have sworn Jones was looking to see if LB Prescott Burgess was going to cream him like he did yesterday morning on a similar play. Next Flacco hit LeRon McClain on a swing pass for a good gain. Troy Smith hit Marcus Smith over the middle, as it was good to see Marcus out there after having issues with his fluids and cramping up the past day or so.
The 1st team defense is collapsing the 3rd team offensive line’s pocket and would have easily had a sack if it was allowed. Flacco then threw long to Demetrius Williams over Chris Carr, which drew the loudest cheers and applause from the fans in attendance.
Wth Flacco throwing to his hreceivers in one-on-one drills with the defensive backs, he connected twice with Derrick Mason for TD passes. Ray Rice made a sweet one-handed grab in the end zone, which the crowd loved. When Domonique Foxworth intercepted a pass, he yelled to the crowd, "what we make an interception, don’t we get no love? He threw the ball into the ground as the fans cheered. Todd Heap got into the action, getting by Dawan Landry for an over the shoulder TD catch. Derrick Mason and Frank Walker were jawing with each other and laughing.
Walker got up on the line against Kelly Washington but the coaches backed him off. Walker said, "he’s scared," to which Washington responded by telling him to "get back up here." The two fought for the ball in the end zone and as it fell incomplete they went helmet-to-helmet pushing and jawing to the delight of the fans as well as the players around them. The defense is starting to step it up.
Flacco hit Demetrius Williams with a nice TD pass. To celebrate, Williams ran to the goal posts, jumped on the padding and then saluting before dropping off to the laughs and cheers of the fans.
11-on-11 Drills:
1st defense vs. 3rd offense has LB Tavares Gooden bearhugging RB Matt Lawrence then slamming him to the ground. On the next play, QB John Beck rolled right and threw right into LB Jarret Johnson’s hands for an interception.
On goal line drills, Willis McGahee ran around the right side for a TD, then proceeded to bull his way around the left side for another. Ray Rice ran up the middle but did not get in the end zone as the defense swarmed to push him back. Rice finally went airborne and over the top for the TD.
Jalen Parmele ran left but was stopped just short of the goal line and then again caught from behind.
The offense is on the sidelines yelling, "run at Ray," while Lewis yells right back, "please do it. I live for that!"
Placekicker Graham Gano lined up for field goals and hit consecutively from 20, 29, 47, 33, 45 and also 53 yards. Meanwhile LeRon McClain just squirted me with the water hose, making me wonder if it was an accident or was he just playing with me?
Back to passing drills. Justin Harper beats Lardarius Webb for a long 30 yard TD pass in the corner of the end zone. Marcus Smith comes over for the jump-bump to celebrate. Webb then knocks down a similar pass for D-Will. Meanwhile, Kelly Washington is very talkative, animated and enthusiastic with his teammates. Webb breaks up another pass from John Beck in the end zone, this time knocking the ball away from 6’3" Eron Riley..
McGahee just dropped a short easy pass from Flacco crossing over the middle. Perhaps he thought that the Pittsburgh Steelers’ safety Ryan Clark was there, as he was on that thunderous collision in last season’s AFC Championship Game.
Troy to Harper for a 20 yard TD pass over the middle and then Flacco to D-Will from the same distance in front of Ed Reed at the goal line. Troy hits Parmele, who is then horse-collared by Fabian Washington, although the referee on site said Parmele’s knees were already on the ground so the penalty would not have been called.
Flacco to Derrick Mason for a 10 yard TD pass but the ref ruled Mason out of bounds, drawing a cold stare from Derrick and Marcus Smith to yell at the ref, "you’re fired!" Finally, Flacco made agreat play when he couldn’t find anyone open, rolled left then right and left again before hitting a sliding D-Will for an 8 yard TD pass who had slipped away from Dawan Landry.
Back to 11-on-11 drills, where Mason catches a short sideline pass from Flacco but breaks away from Frank Walker for a long TD. Ray Rice was running a pattern away from the ball and was shoved hard by rookie LB Jason Phillips in his first action after coming off the PUP List today. On that play, Flacco rolled right and threw an interception to Haruki Nakamura, his second pick of camp. John Beck hit a nice long pass after a pump fake that was caught between Fabian Washington and Ed Reed for a 30 yard gain. Beck again, this time to Harper for 10 yards more. Then Troy came in and hit a sliding Kelly Washington on the ground, which was nice to see him involved with the offense.
A short pass to TE Isaac Smolko was popped up into the air due to a big hit by undrafted free agent LB Dannell Ellerbe, who then snatched the ball out of the air for an interception. Ed Reed was leading the cheers of "Let’s go defense!"
The afternoon session was limited to Special Teams' drills and the other players had a well deserved break from the heat.
See the sidebar FanPost for my interviews with Marcus Smith, Tavares Gooden and Prescott Burgess, which should be up shortly.
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Comments
Man I can’t wait for this year. Starting to get anxious, I can’t take it anymore!!
by bigmac1124 on Aug 3, 2009 7:36 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
How's Joe Flax doing?
Everyone is giving him a hard time, does he really look like he’s going to have a sophomore slump? Reason I’m asking is apparently he’s thrown 6 interceptions or so in training camp…oh noz!
Ravens...who else?
by The Instigator on Aug 3, 2009 8:46 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Possible explanation
So, we got the league’s best defense going against an offense that is mediocre at best judging by last seasons statistics. Most Ravens fans would expect the defense to dominate almost any NFL offense, including our own. Offensive struggles in training camp should not be a surprise. They should even be expected. But thats not the whole story. Its clear that NFL offensive and defensive schemes are pretty complex, but there is a fundamental difference between the two that makes defenses easier to master in a short amount of time. As a defender, a player’s ultimate responsibility is to read and react to what he sees in front of him. But the offensive player plays in a system in which he needs to perfect his timing and rhythm to match that of the rest of the team, as well as read and react. That extra element suggests that it may take a lot longer for an offense to grow into its full potential than for a defense.
So, give it some time. If the offense starts holding its own and winning half the battles against the defense by the end of the preseason, we’ll know this is a special team.
They say the empty can rattles the most...
by Massacre on Aug 3, 2009 11:46 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Defense Always Dominates
In the beginning of the season. Usually takes the offense ’til week three or four to catch up. I am not saying that for the Ravens, I mean every NFL team.
by vlad755 on Aug 7, 2009 12:08 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
so hard to judge a qb and coach in even the first 3 years. a kick returner, LB, CB, REC., OT, DE etc. is a whole easier to get a bead on in a year or two. a qb and coach have massive amounts of info to uncover and pray that the other players perform or run the right routes. i expect harbaugh to improve more as a coach than flax does at qb this year. joe will have to wait until his new receivers catch up to him. hoepfully his 3rd year will establish him. i just hope for a strong D effort this year and a servicable joe keeping the picks to a minimum. that might take the division. pitt. can’t possibly have the amount of luck they had last year.
by raven on Aug 4, 2009 12:06 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
This is just practice.
These interceptions are thrown because there are so many passing drills going on every day. If you knew the number of completions the QB’s were making, then it probably would be very proportional to what we should expect. Who cares if he throws 10-12 interceptions this season if he also throws for over 3,000 yards and 25 TD’s, right.
No such thing as a ‘sophomore slump’ in football, just baseball. Pitchers get the learn the rookie hitters and hitters get to learn the rookie pichers so the next season there are no surprises. That said, the Ravens will not have anybody sleeping, thinking they’re the pushover they were in 2007. However, Flacco will be even better in 20009, no question.
aka 'Rexx'
by Bruce Raffel on Aug 4, 2009 8:22 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
not worried about joes practice stats at all. it’s just a fact that he’s working with unproven talent all over the place. it will be hard to improve because his game depends on them knowing what their doing. clayton and mason are it. i’m not sure how much these other guys can catch up with in a month and play against the steelers, colts and pats. forget the browns, bengals, chiefs and all that garbage. anyone could grab some balls then. i’m looking for guys to get us over the hump.
by raven on Aug 5, 2009 12:08 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
1. Mason 2.Clayton
the other WR’s will show what they’re worth in camp.
For me, winning isn't something that happens suddenly on the field when the whistle blows and the crowds roar. Winning is something that builds physically and mentally every day that you train and every night that you dream.
by iLL on Aug 6, 2009 12:02 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

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