The first day of traditional Training Camp opened this morning. Brian Billick had previously described Friday’s and Saturday’s practices as an extension of OTA’s. Today they turned up the throttle a bit.
After stretching, units broke out into warm up drills. The offense started with the jumbo sled. With Steve McNair under center, the Ravens offensive line took on the sled as McNair handed the ball to Musa Smith and Mike Anderson. Jamal Lewis remains on the PUP list. The team had expected Lewis to be ready for today but the team’s medical staff suggested that they hold back another day. You can hear Jamal Lewis’ thoughts in our Multimedia section on the home page under interviews.
The heat was certainly a topic of discussion today as Bill Tessendorf encouraged anyone within earshot to “stay hydrated.” Early on in the breakout, the LB’s were practiced shedding blocks on running plays. During one of his reps, Bart Scott slipped a block nicely and flattened Mark Carrier who was acting as the running back. The unintentional tackle was greeted by a shout from afar, “Nice hit Bart!” It’s author…an amused Rex Ryan.
While observing the defensive line drills, a few things stood out from my vantage point. Justin Bannan is relentless and a stone cold hustler. His effort and tenaciousness should be a great asset in the Ravens’ rotational DT system. Haloti Ngata is a beast. His leg drive is very powerful. Once he develops some tricks of the NFL trade with his hand work, watch out! During these drills, line coach Clarence Brooks implored his men to, “Knock his ass back two yards…create a new line of scrimmage.”
The first face off between the white and purple shirts took place in 9 on 9 drills. The offense peeled off the wide outs and the defense dropped the CB’s. The intent was to focus on grinding it out offensively and defensively, the white shirts were challenged to stop them. On the second play, McNair fumbled the snap, Ray Lewis tumbled through the line, popped up and scooped the ball and ran it back for a score bringing a cheer from the crowd.
One play later, Ngata nailed Musa Smith on a power sweep left. Ngata as instructed by the coaches pulled up – this wasn’t full contact scrimmaging. Had this been live action and a regular season game, this one would have been a candidate for ESPN’s “Jacked Up” segment. The play fired up Ray Lewis who jumped up on Ngata while shouting, “That’s the way you do it big boy!”
Other observations in 9 on 9: Musa Smith is moving very well, showing a burst through the line when a crease opens and good change of direction skills; Aubrayo Franklin had a nice pop on P.J. Daniels; Daniels did run effectively; Jason Brown jumped on a stutter count intended to create defensive movement; on the next play, UDFA G Kyle Roper did the same thing which didn’t sit well with Brian Billick.
During full squad drills, the offense was slow in the huddle which prompted the predictable chant from Billick: “We’ve got no tempo.” Ray Lewis agreed as he added some smack, “Draw it up in the sand over there!” When the offense did emerge from the huddle, McNair faded back to pass and his intended target Daniel Wilcox dropped the ball. More notable on the play was Haloti Ngata. He pushed Mike Flynn back from the snap of the ball. Had he not pulled up to protect McNair, Ngata could have pushed Flynn right into McNair for a sack.
Kyle Boller took over for McNair and ran a fake reverse to Clayton with a quick opener up the middle to Mike Anderson. On the play, Boller exhibited some very nice ball skills. The play worked well. On the next play, Dan Cody showed nice backside pursuit to make the tackle (simulated) for a short gain.
Brian St. Pierre took a few reps during these drills. He fired a rope to Quinn Sypniewski for a 15 yard gain along the right hash mark. St. Pierre had a nice day throwing the football.
Towards the end of practice again in full team drills, the offense was once more slow in and out of the huddle. They approached the line and then huddled again, prompting Bart Scott to ask, “You can do that?” Brian Billick replied, “It’s like EA Sports. You can put the game on pause.”
The Ravens often featured the tight end in full team drills with McNair finding Heap and Boller finding Sypniewski.
Other notables: Boller threw the ball with authority today with much better accuracy. McNair’s throws weren’t as sharp; Cory Ross skipped most of the practice with what looked like a mild leg injury; Ronnie Prude at this point is ahead of Derrick Martin and clearly out in front of third round pick David Pittman; Pittman has played a bit soft and seems a bit unsure of himself; Devard Darling continues to show improvement and the PUP listed Clarence Moore will have some work to do to catch up. Darling has special teams capabilities as well, something missing from the one dimensional Moore’s repertoire; after a spin move to avoid the block of Adam Terry (LT), Justin Bannan was greeted by a nice pop from Musa Smith; the practice concluded with a very nice ovation from the crowd.
Results of one on one matchups and the PM practice notes coming later…stay tuned!
