Wednesday is “media day” around the facility – typically the day where most of the action happens. While much of the talk was about the pending trade with the Jacksonville Jaguars for left tackle Eugene Monroe, I found myself raving about the addition of buffalo chicken pizza from Papa Johns. With 30 or so media members present on Wednesdays, it’s custom for the Ravens to treat everyone to the official pizza of the NFL. Peyton Manning’s stock portfolio and our waistlines see similar increases. In total, roughly 20 pizzas or so are ordered on a weekly basis.
Now, onto some football.
Overall, the mood was quite somber at the facility, and this team means business come Sunday in Miami following an embarrassing 23-20 loss to the Buffalo Bills. The wheels fell off of the offense, and even though the coaching staff and players are too prideful to tell you so, their actions spoke louder than words with the news of the pending trade for Monroe.
Harbaugh on Eugene Monroe
The deal is all but done, but as of early afternoon on Wednesday, the trade had yet to be completed. Ravens coach John Harbaugh explained at his podium session. “As I understand, there are a couple of conditions to be met, but it should not be an issue,” said John. Harbaugh also went onto praise the addition on Monroe.
“He’s going to bring us a high quality football player,” Harbaugh said. “It makes us better almost immediately in terms of adding a football player with that quality to the team.”
Harbaugh also stated that “Eugene is here to play” and said that he his best position was, “left tackle, certainly,” without hesitation. While the future doesn’t look bright for current left tackle Bryant McKinnie, the chances of Monroe being able to play on Sunday are slim considering he’d only have a few days to pick up the offense. Monroe may see the field, but in a limited capacity, if at all.
A Somber Terrell Suggs
If Terrell Suggs didn’t play for my favorite team, I’d absolutely hate him. However, Suggs is in Baltimore, he’s a villain, and above anything else, he can back up his trash talk with his play on the field. On Tuesday evening, ESPN aired an E:60 piece on Suggs, covering multiple controversial topics such as guns, infidelity, Roger Goodell, and his hate for Tom Brady.
Today, Suggs had a whole different tune compared to how he was in the piece, which was originally filmed in April at his suburban Baltimore home.
Compared to his typical attention-grabbing voice that can easily be heard from the opposite side of the room, Suggs sounded like he needed to adjust his volume knob up a few notches. He wasn’t apologetic for what he said, but I sensed the feeling that he didn’t like the way that he was portrayed in the piece. Suggs said he didn’t want to retract anything in regards to what he said; he stood behind his statements 100 percent. However, his clear focus was on the Miami Dolphins.
During the E:60 piece, he said that sometimes you never know what type of Terrell Suggs you would come across, and today, it was the quietest version of T-Sizzle that I’ve ever seen.
Flacco The Comic?
During the beginning of training camp, we started to see Joe Flacco break out of his shell compared to the “Joe Cool” Ravens fans have come to know. This week, Flacco has been the subject of a lot of criticism coming off a Ravens franchise record and career-worst five interception performance. Flacco has shown throughout his career that he doesn’t allow criticism to affect him, and was in a good mood to face the media, even knowing that his performance would once again be questioned.
Typically, the Ravens bigger stars take the podium first, followed by some of the more topical, but less popular guys. Flacco was bumped back a few spots for whatever reason, and used it as an excuse for a pretty good joke to tell the members of the media.
“I throw five interceptions and I’m like sixth on the podium?” Flacco said, drawing a laugh from the crowd.
Flacco’s performance was no joking manner, but it certainly was not all his fault. With a faulty game plan and tight ends that forgot how to catch, Flacco has to just take things in stride and realize that his income dictates more criticism. One thing I really gathered today was that Flacco certainly puts the blame on himself, and just totally gets “it.”
Everyone has bad days at work, and Flacco isn’t an exception.
Practice
During practice, the media is only allowed to witness the first 30 minutes, which is always special teams drills. During that time, Jacoby Jones was seen out on the field for the first time since suffering a knee injury at the hands of friendly fire from teammate Brynden Trawick during the Week 1 opener against the Denver Broncos. Jones was fielding kickoffs and didn’t appear to have a limp during the portion open to the media.
Players not practicing were: WR Marlon Brown, WR Deonte Thompson, OL Ryan Jensen, LB Albert McClellan, CB Lardarius Webb, DL Terrence Cody.
The official injury report will be released around 4:00 with official designations of all of those who did and didn’t participate during practice.
For more Ravens news and information, follow me on Twitter @RavenManiac.
