Ravens News 8/18: Historic Career and more

Twelve Ravens thoughts following Day 15 of open training camp - Luke Jones

The defensive highlight of the day was a Jaylon Ferguson interception return for a touchdown that came on a Chris Westry deflection of a Tyler Huntley pass to Binjimen Victor. Ferguson was merely in the right place at the right time, but that’s what running to the football will do.

Jackson threw a pretty back-shoulder completion to Devin Duvernay with Averett in coverage down the left sideline in an 11-on-11 period. That’s the kind of outside-the-numbers throw the Ravens want to complete more often this season.

After sitting out Saturday’s game with an undisclosed ailment, Patrick Ricard has been active as a receiver over the last two practices. Nick Boyle’s health weighs heavily in the decision to keep a third tight end, but last summer reminds that Baltimore won’t keep one just to do it.

Practice Report: Marlon Humphrey Limps Off With Reported Mild Strain - Clifton Brown

Defensive Coordinator Wink Martindale has complete confidence in Averett’s ability.

“I said in front of the defense last night, to me, he’s the third-best corner we have on the team,” Martindale said. “I think the kid has All-Pro talent. I tell him that every day and he’s practicing that way this year. We’re really seeing everything go from the practice field to games now and you can just see his confidence building. It doesn’t matter who he’s covering, to him. He just goes and covers them.”

Center Bradley Bozeman (ankle) was back at practice after missing Monday, as the offensive line continued to get healthier. All-Pro left tackle Ronnie Stanley practiced for the second straight day and stayed on the field for his longest stint since coming back from ankle surgery. Left guard Kevin Zeitler (foot) also had his second full day of practice.

Tavon Young continued to cover receivers aggressively and looked unrestricted in his movement coming back from knee surgery. As one of the NFL’s best nickelbacks, Young’s return is important to the secondary.

Odafe Oweh on Justin Houston: ‘He’s Yoda, Man’ - Todd Karpovich

“He’s Yoda, man,” Oweh said. “He’s like Yoda. He just knows everything, and I try to ask him questions about different sets, how to approach that, how to attack that, and he’ll have the answer right away. I really appreciate that, because like I said, I’m new to the game, so I’m trying to pick up something different every single time. I try to work with him after practice – hands, just learning.”

“You could tell I wanted it a lot, because I just jumped out of there,” Oweh said. “I was like, ‘Oh, yeah. I’m not letting you go away.’ But, next time, I’m going to try to run through him – rip through, get more stable, in terms of me being upright and everything.

“But I was able to cause a sack for my teammates, and that’s the type of player I am. I like to be disruptive, whether I get the sack or I [help] my teammates get the sack. So, it was a good play for the whole team.”

Ravens QB Lamar Jackson’s status for second preseason game won’t necessarily be determined by injuries - Childs Walker

The Ravens could also be without all of their projected starting wide receivers after Sammy Watkins missed practice Tuesday.

With so little of the starting offense guaranteed to play, would the Ravens risk an injury to Jackson? “Lamar’s making good progress, and we really like where he’s at right now,” Roman said. “But that decision is made somewhat independently.”

Roman said competition for the starting left guard position remains “really wide-open.” With rookie Ben Cleveland sidelined by a concussion and Ben Powers coming off a poor performance in the preseason opener, Roman said “nobody has really grabbed it just yet.”

What we learned about every NFL team in Week 1 of the 2021 NFL preseason - PFF

Undrafted free agent Tony Poljan led all Ravens tight ends in run-blocking grade (69.4) — a key element in this offense — on his limited five-play sample size.

Second-year offensive lineman Tyre Phillips played both left guard and left tackle in the preseason opener, and he struggled in pass protection. Phillips allowed four pressures (tied for most on team) in 16 pass-blocking snaps.

Trystan Colon-Castillo and Greg Mancz fell on the opposite end of the spectrum, allowing zero pressures in 56 combined pass-blocking snaps.

Ben Bredeson played more snaps than any offensive lineman for Baltimore (29 at left guard, 37 at right guard) and he was the Ravens’ highest-graded offensive lineman (72.7) with 70-plus grades in pass protection and as a run-blocker.

Justin Madubuike was dominant against the run (91.9 run-defense grade) in limited action, highlighted by a forced fumble where he worked across the line to get to the running back.

Malik Harrison (75.4 PFF grade) and L.J. Fort (67.0) both played well in the LB2 competition to start alongside Queen.

Chris Westry was targeted five times and allowed just two receptions for six yards on those passes to go along with two forced incompletions.

NFL’s 30 best players over 30 entering 2021 season - Ali Bhanpuri

27. Justin Tucker

Baltimore Ravens · K · Age: 31

One of my greatest regrets from last year’s exercise was not including Tucker. Mistake rectified. Don’t let the taste from Tucker’s last outing sour his rock-solid 2020 campaign and historic nine-year career. The two missed field goals in the Ravens’ Divisional Round loss to the Bills (in windy conditions) were a true aberration … as in, Tucker had literally never missed two kicks within 50 yards in the same game before. That blemish aside, the four-time All-Pro connected on a whopping 54 of 55 extra points last year, bringing his career total to 377 of 381, including the postseason. That’s a 98.9 percent success rate, folks. I can’t even type “success” that successfully. And even with those two playoff misfires, he’s still a respectable 231 of 242 (95.5%) from within 50 yards since entering the league.