The Baltimore Ravens held their first full team practice under cloudy skies at the Under Armour Performance Center in Owings Mills early on Thursday morning.
With the music rocking and rolling, the players, donned in their shorts and helmets spent a portion of the morning going through their normal drills with position coaches before conducting their 11 on 11 drills.
The uptempo of the Ravens offense was on display as Joe Flacco and company continue to install new components.
Steve Smith Keeps Impressing
Veteran wide receiver Steve Smith Sr. continued to show why the Ravens went after the vaunted free agent during the offseason. Going against Lardarius Webb during one of the team drills, Smith Sr. torched past Webb for a 70-yard touchdown on a perfectly executed throw by Taylor.
While no words were exchanged this time between Smith Sr. and Webb, Smith Sr. did spin the ball after scoring.
More Notes & Observations
Third-year wide receiver and a player seemingly on the bubble this year, Deonte Thompson saw a lot of snaps on Thursday morning. After an unfortunate offseason, Thompson made several nice grabs from both Taylor and Flacco including a 25-yard touchdown reception.
Undrafted receiver Jeremy Butler continued to impress again today. The former Tennessee-Martin pass catcher ran with the second and third team offenses yet is battling hard and catching everything thrown his way. Butler made an outstanding diving catch on a ball thrown by Keith Wenning that looked doomed from the start.
Running back Bernard Pierce looked healthy during team drills showing his quickness and making hard cuts with ease. Pierce looks lighter this year and will be seeing his reps increased with the league suspension of Rice for two games. Pierce stated he was clear for full contact yesterday after recovering from offseason shoulder surgery.
Kyle Juszczyk had a solid outing today. “Juice” looked sharp during team drills and showed great hands. The jury is still out on his blocking ability until the team straps the pads on beginning on Saturday.
Flacco at Ease with New Center
Quarterback Joe Flacco looks at ease taking snaps from new center Jeremy Zuttah as the two continue to build chemistry.
During 2-minute drills, Flacco showed off his new footwork and his quick release. Flacco went 8/12 for close to 100 yards including the 25 yard touchdown pass to Deonte Thompson.
Injury Notes
The Ravens took the field with 87 players out of the 90 men on the roster. Head coach John Harbaugh announced that cornerback Aaron Ross tore his Achilles while trying to complete his conditioning test and cornerback Dominique Franks failed his conditioning test.
Terrence Cody is still out as he recovers from an ailing hip.
The Ravens will hold practice tomorrow beginning at 10 a.m. with Harbaugh, Steve Spagnuolo, Jimmy Smith and Lardarius Webb speaking after.
Follow me @sportguyRSR
