The players missing in action today included: Jared Gaither (ankle); Haloti Ngata (knee); Demetrius Williams (foot); P.J. Daniels (cramps); Ed Reed (undisclosed); Terrell Suggs (protest) Cory Ross (undisclosed), Samari Rolle (bereavement) and Daniel Wilcox (toe). David Pittman returned to practice along with TE Lee Vickers, LB Brendon Ayanbadejo and rookie OT David Hale.
Prior to full team activities as they usually do, the units broke down individually and then a few opposing units hooked up for some one on one combat. The first two units to do so included the offensive and defensive lines. The combatants are asked by the coaches to win the one on one battle and control that area of the line of scrimmage. Here’s how the battles played out…
One-on-One Drills (OL v. DL)
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OL
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DL
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Advantage
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Comments
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Terry
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Cody
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Cody
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Grubbs
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L. Williams
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Even
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Brown
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Gregg
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Gregg
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Yanda
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Bannan
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Even
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Kracalik
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Johnson
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Johnson
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|
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Reitz
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Jones
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Jones
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Jones exploded by Reitz; no contest
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Wiggins
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Solano
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Wiggins
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Solano is the team’s international practice squad player
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Chester
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Talavou
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Talavou
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Weak effort by Chester
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Clarke
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Gordon
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Clarke
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Dominant effort by Clarke
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Dumford
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Jones
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Even
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|
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Terry
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Cody
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Cody
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After some brief full team scrimmaging the various units went their separate ways again except for the linebackers, running backs and tight ends. The linebackers were asked to touch a blocking dummy which was positioned as a quarterback while the RB’s and TE’s were asked to prevent the LB’s from reaching the imaginary quarterback. The entertaining battles went down as follows…
One-on-One Drills (LB v. RB/TE)
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LB
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RB/TE
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Advantage
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Comments
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Scott
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Green
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Scott
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Greisen
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Green
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Greisen
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J. McClain
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Bergen
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Bergen
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Burgess
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Rice
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Rice
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Johnson
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Walker
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Johnson
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Gooden
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Patrick
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Gooden
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Gooden ran right through and over Patrick pancaking him on his way to the QB
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Jones
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Walker
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Jones
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|
|
Lewis
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McGahee
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Even
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McGahee taunted Lewis who initially had no intention of participating in the drill. After the standoff the two trash talked for a bit.
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Scott
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L. McClain
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McClain
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|
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Greisen
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Green
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Greisen
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|
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Ayanbadejo
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Heap
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Heap
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|
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Stills
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Rice
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Rice
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|
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Burgess
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Patrick
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Burgess
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|
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Jones
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Vickers
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Jones
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Jones blows by Vickers easily
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Gooden
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L. McClain
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Gooden
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|
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McCune
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Green
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Green
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|
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Stills
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Bergen
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Stills
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Stills dominant
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Ayanbadejo
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Bergen
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Ayanbadejo
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Greisen
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McGahee
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Greisen
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As Kyle Boller and Troy Smith took turns working with the offensive line and RB’s installing the running plays against a base defense consisting of 9 players, Joe Flacco aired it out with the receivers in one on one drills against the corners and an occasional safety. Here are the results of those battles…
One-on-One Drills
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Receiver
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Defender
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Advantage
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Comments
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|
FLACCO
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|
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From 30 yard line
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|
Mason
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Washington
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Mason
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TD
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Clayton
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McAlister
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Clayton
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TD on ball intentionally thrown behind Clayton
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|
Harper
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Ivy
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Harper
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|
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Figurs
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Walker
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Walker
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Ball dropped by Figurs
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|
Reed
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Pittman
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Reed
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|
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Smith
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Martin
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Martin
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Ball dropped by Smith
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|
McCants
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Washington
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McCants
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|
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Wheelwright
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Prude
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Wheelwright
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|
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Carter
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Ivy
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Ivy
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Pass thrown high
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|
Willis
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Walker
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Willis
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TD on pass initially tipped by Walker
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|
Mason
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Pittman
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Mason
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|
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FLACCO
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|
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From 10 yard line
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|
Clayton
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Prude
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Prude
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|
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Harper
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Washington
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Harper
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TD
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|
Figurs
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Martin
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Figurs
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TD on Slant
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|
Reed
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Ivy
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Reed
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TD on Slant
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|
Smith
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Walker
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Walker
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Sloppy route
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|
McCants
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Pittman
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Pittman
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|
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Wheelwright
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Landry
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Wheelwright
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TD
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Although no clear No. 1 has emerged at quarterback Kyle Boller was the first man up to take snaps in live scrimmaging. His first pass was a 10 yard out to Todd Heap against a zone defense. The pass sailed over Heap’s head and was nearly a gift wrapped interception for Dawan Landry who was beyond Heap in zone coverage. Boller recovered during the series and rifled two rockets on intermediate out routes run by Mark Clayton. Clayton beat Fabian Washington on both plays.
Troy Smith took over after one series and opened his set up with a nice swing pass to Ray Rice who continues to impress. Rice will be a nightmare for linebackers in open space. Smith followed that pass with another to Rice’s backfield mate Justin Green. Green made a nice catch on a ball that was up over his head.
Joe Flacco came in and ran a couple of plays. After two incompletions Flacco’s set ended with a sack by Nick Greisen blitzing from his middle linebacker position.
Willis McGahee was back in action today and had a decent outing albeit not standout. So far this camp the standout on offense at the skill positions has been McGahee’s backup Ray Rice. Rice again today exhibited crafty inside running skills plus the ability to bounce outside and scoot around the end to make something of nothing. It’s hard to gauge exactly how many yards he might run for at times because the coaches often whistle plays dead stopping the action at a certain spot on the field. Under normal game conditions the feeling here is that Rice would be even more impressive, particularly on short swing passes that put him in one on one situations with linebackers – a decided edge for Rice every time.
The joint team sessions included some live scrimmaging in short yardage and goal line situations. With the ball set around the 40 facing third and short, here’s how the action unfolded:
Short Yardage Offense
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Play
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Comments
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3rd & 1
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McClain run right of center, no gain
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3rd & 1
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McClain run left of center, 9 yards
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3rd & 1
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McGahee run, no gain
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3rd & 2
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Boller pass to Clayton, 2 yards, 1st down
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3rd & 1
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Smith pass to Walker, 14 yards upended by Landry
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3rd & 1
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Smith quick pitch left to Rice, run of 10 yards
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3rd & 1
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Smith pass to Harper on slant, 29 yards TD
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3rd & 1
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Flacco run right, 3 yards
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|
3rd & 1
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Green run, loss of 1 (Solano on stop)
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3rd & 1
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Flacco play action, pass to Reed deep right sideline, perfectly thrown ball dropped by Reed, possible TD
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After the TD pass to Harper, Derrick Mason directed a ton of smack talk towards Ray Lewis, the second time during the day that Ray was the target of an offense trying to generate some offensive swagger.
The team then took the ball down to the 3 yard line and in to practice situational goal line plays. This is how it played out…
Goal Line Offense
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Play
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Comments
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|
1-G-3
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McGahee run, no gain
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|
2-G-3
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Waggle right, Boller pass to Heap incomplete
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3-G-1
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McGahee 1 yard run, TD
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4-G-1
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Rice run, no gain
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1-G-3
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Smith naked bootleg 3 yd run, TD
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1-G-3
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Play action Flacco pass to Vickers TD
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|
2-G-2
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Rice 2 yard run TD
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|
3-G-1
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Rice 1 yard dive, TD
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OTHER OBSERVATIONS
Joe Flacco was the recipient of some veteran schooling when Chris McAlister jumped a route and nearly picked the rookie QB’s pass for a pick six. Flacco moved very well outside of the pocket. On one play he recognized that the outside linebacker (UDFA Jameel McClain) was sucked in too far from the right. Flacco showcased surprisingly good speed scampering down field for at least a 20 yard pick up…Troy Smith did get burned for the second consecutive day for a pick six when Corey Ivy intercepted him and pranced towards the end zone while mockingly emulating the Deion Sanders high-step dance into the end zone. Smith looked sharp when he pump faked a pass in the flat to a RB only to pull it down and then find Justin Harper along the right sideline. His pass to Harper for the 29 yard TD v. first team defense in short yardage drills was a perfect…After a solid start during the morning session, Mark Clayton let a perfectly thrown pass from Smith go right through his hands negating a would-be 20 yard pick up…Jason Brown was involved in a skirmish early during practice. Order was quickly restored…The offensive line looks solid in the middle but questions remain at tackle. With Jared Gaither sidelined with what has been said to be a high ankle sprain, needed repetitions will be missing. If Terry assumes the LT position as he did today, someone will need to step up on the right side. Perhaps a veteran free agent with some starts under his belt?
Haruki Nakamura continued his solid play. He’s had several interceptions over the past few days. On one pass play when he was called on to delay blitz, he executed it perfectly blowing by Willis McGahee to get the sack on Smith…Tom Zbikowski continued his rally that started during yesterday’s practices. He nearly picked off a deep sideline pass by Boller intended for Mark Clayton. Clayton did a nice job of playing defender, stripping the ball from Zbikowski…Antwan Barnes had a couple of sacks and continues to show why he’ll be a force as a pass rusher. Perhaps more importantly, Barnes had coverage on Heap who was running to the right sideline. The pass was thrown high, Heap initially had control but Barnes was able to strip the ball from the sure-handed TE before he could tuck it away…Dan Cody went down holding his right knee during goal line drills. He initially wanted to stay in and play but was advised not to. He returned and looked strong sacking Kyle Boller once. Throughout the day Cody was a handful for his frequent combatant this morning, Adam Terry.
Marshall Yanda caught an earful from special teams coach Jerry Rosburg during kick return practice. The two were later seen talking it through after practice…Also during kick returns, John Harbaugh placed one of the neon special teams caps atop his baseball cap and ran the field with the kickoff team a couple of times. Rex Ryan did the same on one kick off but gave himself a 5 yard head start lining up at the 35…Kicker Matt Stover was 4 of 7 today hitting from 20, 31, 40 and 45 yards while slightly pushing his 3 misses to the right from 45, 47 and 52…A fan shouted to Kyle Boller from the grandstand, “Stop looking at the receiver.†It’s tough to complete a pass without looking at the receiver. Are they tailgating before practice at McDaniel?…Rise & Conquer were in attendance today at practice – pretty impressive birds. Apparently they’ve assumed the roster spots of Edgar and Allen who have been cut from the “roster.†Poe has changed his number from 103 to 0.
