It was another hot practice in Westminster this morning. Speaking of heat the offense got off to a hot start. Early on in practice, the team went 11 on 11, live on the line, tag on the receivers. The offense was in hurry up mode with Joe Flacco and Troy Smith splitting time.
The mixing and matching of parts on defense has happened for years but now your seeing that with the offense.
One of the Ravens’ four wide receiver sets had RB Ray Rice split out wide left, TE Todd Heap lineup in the left slot, WR Derrick Mason split out wide right with FB/RB LeRon McClain in the right slot. On the play Ray Rice caught an 8 yard slant pass from Joe Flacco.
Another formation included four wide receivers to the right side with Ray Rice lined up as QB and Willis McGahee lined up as the RB. The same formation showed up a few plays later. The first time Rice kept it with McGahee as lead blocker, the next time Rice gave the ball to McGahee on a trap play up the middle.
(The day before in the afternoon practice, the offense worked on their option packages. One of the packages included a wishbone type formation with Troy Smith at QB, two split RBs and then another RB lined up straight behind the QB. A running play ensued using two of the RBs with the Q and third RB faking the option to the opposite side of the play…Also seen was DL Haloti Ngata at RB, with LeRon McClain at FB and up front a two tight end set with a third tight end in an HBack position. In addition, DL Dwan Edwards lined up at TE and caught a pass.)
Flacco was five of five with Smith going three of four including a touchdown pass to a wide-open Justin Harper. Ray Rice had several catches including a very high pass on the sideline, which he brought down and a ball that was well behind him in the seam that he was able to reach around and bring back to his body. Kelley Washington also had several quality catches. One of those catches was in between a linebacker and safety after which he got popped but held on to the ball. TE Todd Heap had a nice reception as he got open on a deep in pattern which was thrown perfectly by Flacco.
In later team action, Joe Flacco threw a 55yd completion to Kelley Washington on a seam route. Washington also had another catch similar to the one he had earlier in practice where he caught a ball in between S Haruki Nakamura and LB Jason Phillips. He would do it yet a third time in a red zone drill.
Domonique Foxworth intercepted Flacco on a pass intended for Justin Harper. The pass needed to be thrown a little further to the sideline. On one play Flacco held on to the ball way too long instead of throwing it away. The play started with Flacco dropping back into but then flushed out of the pocket; he proceeded down field only to retreat backwards where he was tagged by one of the defensive players. Flacco immediately threw the ball down in disgust.
Troy Smith did not look as sharp in later team action throwing several incompletions including two interceptions. He held the ball too long although the second string offensive line had a rough day in pass protection. One of Smith’s passes was intercepted by Ed Reed who returned it for a touchdown.
DE/ILB William Van De Steeg the undrafted free agent out of Minnesota (affectionately called ‘Willy’ by defensive coordinator Greg Mattison) had three INTs on the day when dropping into pass coverage with two off QB Troy Smith. Van De Steeg also gives a very strong bull rush that gives rookie OT Michael Oher a good challenge every time they go up against each other.
In the kicking battle, I had at tally Steve Houska going five for five including two 51 yd kicks. Graham Gano went three for four missing a 51yd kick.
Other Notes:
*Coach John Harbaugh spent the first part of practice watching defensive line coach Clarence Brooks coach up the linemen in techniques against a few different offensive blocking schemes.
*Defensive Coordinator Greg Mattison spent time early on in practice just coaching two of his players, the aforementioned William ‘Willy’ Van De Steeg and DE Paul Kruger on their rush techniques and getting off the ball quickly.
*Also seen in practice was rookie ILB Jason Phillips pass rushing on a few plays. The Ravens this year seem to be taking an even more out of the box approach with their linebackers to get an idea of all they can do or can’t do by having them play inside and out no matter what their specialty and they also have them dropping into coverage and rushing the passer in addition to stopping the run.
*QB Drew Willy, the rookie out of Buffalo was suited and participated in handing off to the RBs in inside drills early on in practice. ESPN’s Mel Kiper was very high on Willy who was first seen in Westminster on Saturday however was not suited up in practice until today. Willy may end up being a practice squad quarterback but it appears that neither he nor recently signed Cleo Lemon are competing for the three spots already held by Joe Flacco, Troy Smith and John Beck.
* Offensive coordinator Cam Cameron made it clear after practice that Lemon and Willy insurance policies for Beck if his injury had been worse than what it has seemingly turned out to be.