After spending much of training camp hitting receivers in the short and intermediate areas of the field, Lamar Jackson aired it out during Tuesday’s practice, targeting receivers deep downfield early and often.
Deep balls, David Ojabo and a deep kick in today’s @RussellStReport daily camp update, c/o @LifeMedInst. pic.twitter.com/ReSfedrjla
— Nikhil Mehta (@nikknowsball) August 13, 2024
Jackson finished 22-31 in 11-on-11 work, good for a 71% completion rate that doesn’t tell the whole story. His eight incompletions were all drops or tough deep balls, or in one case both: Mark Andrews beat Jalyn Armour-Davis down the field but let a catchable pass bounce off his hands.
Though he didn’t complete more than a handful of deep passes, Jackson’s ball placement was excellent, letting wide open receivers run under the ball and giving covered receivers their best chance at making a play. One such pass was a deep shot to Rashod Bateman down the left sideline that the fourth-year receiver almost reeled in with one hand with Brandon Stephens in tight coverage.
Jackson threw passes to a wide range of Baltimore pass catchers, including two connections on post routes with 29-year-old receiver Keith Kirkwood, who’s gotten a surprising amount of targets across training camp.
“All that Kirkwood has done is come in and do what we ask him to do,” said Todd Monken after Tuesday’s practice. “He does a great job in the run game and has made some plays when given the opportunity on the field.”
Monken also praised the recently-signed veteran wideout Anthony Miller, who showed off his fresh legs with multiple deep catches during practice.
“You can see his explosiveness, you can see him getting in and out of breaks,” said Monken.
Jackson stood tall in the pocket against a slot blitz to find Miller wide open off a busted coverage for an early touchdown, and Josh Johnson dropped in another sideline deep ball to Miller in between Ka’Dar Hollman and Ar’Darius Washington in coverage.
Veteran receiver and Baltimore native Deonte Harty also got in on the action after working mostly on kick returning in training camp so far. He reeled in a deep crosser from Josh Johnson with some late separation against Pepe Williams. Special teams coordinator Chris Horton said he plans to see Harty play during the Ravens’ second preseason game on Saturday after sitting out the opener against the Eagles.
“I think we’ll get him out there at some point and just see where he is,” said Horton Haven’t decided how much we want to get him out there because I know what he can do as a returner, but I definitely think we will see him at some point.”
On the defensive side of the ball, Marcus Williams had one of his best days of practice, working with Kyle Hamilton to bait Lamar Jackson into a near-interception early in practice. Hamilton flashed into underneath coverage, so Jackson tried to target a receiver down the sideline. Williams came from the middle of the field to break up the pass and almost came away with a turnover for his efforts. Towards the end of practice, Williams led a solid defensive stand against the no-huddle offense with multiple pass breakups.
Hamilton’s presence on the practice field was also a welcome sight after his injury scare on Sunday. It was hard to see any limitations, either; Hamilton participated in almost every part of practice and didn’t appear to be taking it easy, either. He showed plenty of range in disguised coverages and ended practice with an extremely impressive pass deflection with Jackson targeting Zay Flowers deep downfield.
“You guys saw that play he made today; I mean, that was ridiculous,” said defensive coordinator Zach Orr. “I’d be hard-pressed to find somebody else in the league that can make a play like that. Now, we wish he would have caught the ball – he’ll tell you that too – but it was a heck of a play. Kyle Hamilton, like we’ve always been saying, he’s one of one. We’re glad he’s part of our team.”
Ar’Darius Washington and Pepe Williams continued a solid week with Arthur Maulet still recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery, each notching a few PBUs while seeing a lot of targets. Washington also picked off Josh Johnson – the third-year safety’s third interception of camp – for what would’ve been a touchdown in a real game. He’s a major reason why the Ravens are confident their secondary can withstand Maulet’s absence into the regular season.
“He plays all over the secondary,” said Orr after practice. “He’s a scrappy guy, he’s explosive, he’s a takeaway machine.”
Outside linebacker David Ojabo had one of his most explosive days of camp, beating Ronnie Stanley for one sack and blowing by rookie right tackle Roger Rosengarten for another pressure. He’s still waiting to be fully cleared by team doctors after last season’s ACL surgery, but the Ravens believe that his athleticism will factor into their pass rush this year.
Tuesday’s practice wasn’t without controversy, however. Justin Tucker kicked a gauntlet of progressively-longer field goals, converting every attempt until he lined up for a 68-yard kick, two yards longer than his record-setting make in 2021. Off Tucker’s foot, the ball didn’t look like it would have the distance, but it appeared to barely clear the crossbar between the goalposts. Returner Pepe Williams signaled that the kick was good, and Tucker and the kicking unit certainly celebrated by it. But after a brief conference, the referees indicated that the kick was…no good?
Chris Horton said he had “no idea” if Tucker’s 67-yarder was good or not.
Spoiler alert: it was good.
Good: Justin Tucker from 68 yards today.
Not good: the officials standing there who said he missed.
(via IG/deestroying, h/t @ryanmink) pic.twitter.com/G2tOZNgZvt
— Jonas Shaffer (@jonas_shaffer) August 14, 2024
Justin Tucker, ladies and gentlemen.
One Response
It was definitely GOOD!!