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Camp Notes - Redundancy of camp beginning to wear on team

Posted On: 8/8/06
Written By:  
Tony Lombardi
Redundancy of camp beginning to wear on team
The Ravens practiced in full gear today under pleasant conditions and a steady, moderate breeze.  Among the missing today were WR Brian Bratton, WR Clarence Moore, CB David Pittman, DT Haloti Ngata, S B.J. Ward, RB Cory Ross and OG Brian Rimpf.  Of this group, the team is most concerned with Brian Rimpf who has a hamstring injury, the severity of which has not yet been fully disclosed although early indications are not promising.
 
Speaking of hamstrings, Mark Clayton had his worked out by Bill Tessendorf prior to practice and the promising receiver seemed to respond well.  Clayton ran through most drills without complication.
 
Musa Smith and Mike Anderson both returned to the field after being down for a day.  Rob Abiamiri was seen on the sidelines working with strength and conditioning coach Jeff Friday.
 
Steve McNair was light on repetitions today.  He spent a majority of the practice huddled with offensive coordinator Jim Fassel.  Brian Billick returned to a role of prominence with the offense today for the preoccupied Fassel.
 
The team looks a bit bored, likely tired of hitting the same guys day in and day out – guys that know the tendencies of their practice opponents.  They appear to be ready to play a game.  The redundancy appears to have grown tiresome and while that is a necessary evil of training camp, it tests the players’ individual and collective tolerance for repetition.  It’s like a band that has practiced the same songs over and over.  It’s time for some live action.  The team will get theirs on Friday night.
 
The reserve receivers and tight ends dropped the ball often today with the repeat offenders being Devard Darling, Quinn Sypniewski, Bobby Blizzard and Rufus Skillern.  This comes on the heels of yesterday’s practice during which we saw a bit of the same.
 
The offense ran though the 2 minute drill with the second and third units today.  Kyle Boller was up first with the second team.
 
1-10-35: Boller dirts ball ~ offsides defense
1-05-40: Boller to Sypniewski 10 yards
1-10-50: Boller 2 yard run
2-08-48: Boller to Darling 6 yards, clock stops Darling run out of bounds (1:06)
3-02-42: Boller to Anderson, 7 yards
1-10-35: Boller to Sypniewski (dropped)
2-10-35: Boller to Darling, incomplete
3-10-35: Boller to Williams on a skinny post, incomplete
 
END OF DRIVE
 
The Ravens then simulated Bingo, which is a special teams drill designed to get the field goal unit on to the field and set to attempt the kick in an expedient fashion, assuming no timeouts and a ticking game clock.  Stover nailed the 42 yarder.
 
Brian St. Pierre then stepped up to lead the third unit through the 2 minute exercise:
 
1-10-35: St. Pierre to LaTendresse, 10 yards
1-10-45: St. Pierre to Moses, incomplete (low snap from Chris Chester out of gun)
2-10-45: St. Pierre to Blizzard (dropped)
3-10-45: St. Pierre to Daniels, 15 yards
1-10-40: St. Pierre to Moses, incomplete
2-10-40: St. Pierre to Darling, incomplete
3-10-40: St. Pierre to Bryant (dropped)
4-10-40: Offsides defense
4-05-35: St. Pierre to LaTendresse, 15 yards
1-10-20: St. Pierre to Williams, 18 yards
 
FIELD GOAL
 
Other observations: Rufus Skillern made a very good post corner move to create plenty of separation and an inviting target for Kyle Boller.  Boller delivered but Skillern did not finish, dropping the well placed pass in one on one drills.  Skillern later short-armed a slant pattern when on coming traffic approached; Devard Darling is using his strength and size to shake off defenders.  He needs to be more consistent than he was today with catching the football; B.J. Dean trying to impress might be wise to avoid Rod Green in the future.  Green destroyed Dean who was trying to pick up the LB/DE off the edge.  It was no contest; the Ravens ran a screen to P.J. Daniels, the first of its kind since camp opened.  It needs work – still!  Despite the play’s inadequacy, Brian Billick was quick to point out to the defense that they failed to communicate: “I didn’t hear anybody call ‘screen!’”
 
The Ravens worked on a fake field goal with the holders alternating (Araguz/Koch) and attempting roll out passes; Musa Smith rebounded from an illness on Monday and continues to impress.  He is showing suddenness and solid change of direction skills.  The staff is excited about Smith’s performance so far during camp; Brian St. Pierre is well out in front of Drew Olson thus far in camp.  Today St. Pierre was impressive when recognizing that Gerome Sapp was cheating towards the middle a bit.  St. Pierre knowing that Sapp couldn’t make it back to the sideline to support his corner hit a streaking Romby Bryant down the sideline in stride beating Derrick Martin who was in press coverage.
 
Neither punter was particularly impressive today.  When punting from their own 5 Yard line Araguz hit punts of 35 and 31 yards while Koch managed kicks of just 25 and 35 yards.  Admittedly they were kicking into a steady breeze but as of now, both punters have tailed off and neither is grabbing a wide open job.
 
Other notables: The flanker screen will be a featured part of the Ravens offense with Mason and Clayton expected to be on the receiving end; the Ravens worked on the reverse, faking a dive into the line and handing to Clayton coming around.  They also used the reverse to set up that dive which worked well with P.J. Daniels; Demetrius Williams is showing big play capabilities, going up to make tough catches over defenders.  Once on a 15 yard in pattern Boller delivered a pass to Williams who was tightly covered by Evan Oglesby.  Oglesby momentarily stripped the ball as the two fell to the ground.  Williams stayed with the ball and eventually snared it out of mid air before it hit the ground prompting Jim Fassel to exclaim, “That’s the way to make a play.”
 
Gerome Sapp timed a run blitz very well during live action, blowing up a running play in the backfield, tackling Justin Green for a 3 yard loss; Drew Olson was a bit better today but he remains well behind St. Pierre.  It will be interesting to see if the Ravens for a third year in a row try to sneak a young QB on to the practice squad; I wonder why the Ravens don’t have their QB’s wearing a red shirt during practice like every other team does?

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Posted On: 8/8/06
Written By:  
Tony Lombardi

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