Ravens Training Camp begins in Westminster
The first day of Ravens Training Camp is underway, and all rookies and quarterbacks were on hand at McDaniel College to take part in the first "John Harbaugh camp."
The first-year head coach is expected to run a more up-tempo, hard hitting camp than his predecessor Brian Billick; and that proved true today, as he already had players in pads and competing in 7-on-7 and 9-on-9 drills.
Despite plans for two hours of field time, the practice lasted just over an hour and a half. Harbaugh said that with only 25 players in Westminster so far, they were all able to get a normal number of reps in the shortened time.
Some observations from the morning practice:
Within the first 15 minutes of practice, two offensive linemen, Joe Reitz and David Hale, had already gotten sick. Whether it was from not being in "football shape," taking a hit to the midsection, or a sub-par breakfast spread -- I'm not quite sure.
In 7-on-7 drills, rookie QB Joe Flacco seemed to be focusing especially hard on his footwork while dropping back from center. Playing under center is an aspect Flacco needs to work on, as he took a large majority of his snaps at Delaware out of the shotgun. The spread offense that the Blue Hens ran allowed him to sit back in the 'gun and get an overview of the defense before the snap, which is a luxury he will not have in Cam Cameron's offense.
Flacco, Troy Smith and Kyle Boller spent a lot of 7-on-7 drills dumping passes down to running backs in the flat. It was unclear if they were tentative forcing the issue down the field that early in the opening practice, or just concentrating on going through their reads.
Talking to other reporters about the quarterback situation, the feeling around the team seems to be that the Ravens lack a "veteran presence" under center. Six-year man Kyle Boller is the most experienced of the three and can pass on some wisdom to Smith and Flacco, but having a Vinny Testaverde or Trent Dilfer-type guy on the roster can only help the development of the younger QB's. New offensive coordinator Cam Cameron is known as one of the top quarterback instructors in all of football, so we'll keep an eye on how quickly his three signal-callers are able to pick up his offense.
Rookie linebacker Tavares Gooden, a third-round pick out of Miami, showed good anticipation on one play, jumping a slant route and nearly picking off Joe Flacco. His sharp reactions drew praise from the coaches.
Also during 7-on-7 drills, Coach Harbaugh stepped on the defensive side of the ball himself for a few plays. The former secondary coach for the Eagles lined up at cornerback, and did not allow a completion to his side of the field. Sign him up.
After 7-on-7's were done, the offensive linemen made their way over, and 9-on-9 practices began. Troy Smith was the first QB to get the snaps today, and the former Buckeye did not have a good showing. Right off the bat, Smith fumbled his first snap, and then threw a INT right into the hands of secondary coach Chuck Pagano, who was sitting in coverage. His second go round didn't go much smoother, as he was picked off by Prescott Burgess.
Boller was next in line, with Flacco taking the third round of snaps. Flacco just missed connecting with Justin Harper going right up the seam with the ball just bouncing off Harper's hands.
During a special teams session, second-round pick Ray Rice and third-rounder Tom Zbikowski both were working on punt returns. Zbikowski, who returned punts at Notre Dame, also got some reps as a gunner on the punting team. For a lot of the guys drafted in the middle-to-late rounds, special teams is where they will be getting most of their time when the regular season rolls around, so that's where they will have to impress the coaches here in camp.
I think the Ravens are gonna go 16-0 this year! Ravens rule!