Casey Willett's Blog

Ravens Camp Day 3

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 12:10:50 GMT

5:30

The last day of training camp for the rookies ended with Joe Flacco as the holder for field goals and trying to run trick plays out of it. After practice Patrick Carter practiced with special teams coach Jerry Rosburg on his holding of the ball for field goals.

After practice, several of the Ravens veterans including Todd Heap, Willis McGahee, Jarrett Johnson, and others were talking with one another before they headed off to a team meeting for the first time as a full team this evening. As was expected, Terrell Suggs has not shown up at the Best Western to report for camp.

Part of the talk going into this camp is that the veterans will have to stay at the team hotel during the whole camp. For Tavares Gooden, he has been compared to Ray Lewis in several ways: they both went to Miami, they both wore #52, and now they both will be sharing a hotel room in Westminster.

Do you think he tells Ray to turn the t.v. down at night so he can go to sleep?

Remember that there is nothing here for fans or media tomorrow, so the first chance you will have to see the whole team will be at 8:45 a.m. on Friday.

2:15

Players are starting to come in quickly here as the Ravens veterans have to be in for 3 p.m. practice.

Ed Reed, Ben Grubbs, Justin Bannan, Justin Green, Antwan Barnes, Yamon Figurs, Gary Stills, and Adam Terry are just some of the veterans who have reported here to camp in the last hour.

As for the rookies, qb’s, and injured veterans, are getting ready for an afternoon practice that will start at 3:30 p.m. on the lower fields this afternoon.

More after the afternoon practice.

12:51

So the Ravens need your help. They are having a poll to help determine music that will be played during the pre game music. This week it is the rock version battle. Here are the choices for you to vote for:

Good Charlotte – I Don’t Wanna Be In Love

U2 – Beautiful Day

Foo Fighters – Hero

Linkin Park – Bleed It Out

Ozzy Osbourne- Crazy Train

Head over to the Ravens website if you want to vote. I would personally vote for Linkin Park. Can you think of any rock songs that would be good intro songs?

Here is a couple I would suggest:

Thousand Foot Krutch – Move (thanks to John Rallo for recommending this song to me)

Saliva – Ladies and Gentlman

As I wrote about on Monday, I did not think that Coach Harbaugh’s name would make it long on the billboard outside, and sure enough it has not. His name has been taken off of the sign out on the street.

Ben Grubbs and Jason Brown have arrived and checked into the team hotel. The vets have physicals starting this afternoon.

12:07

So far only Todd Heap has been the only veteran today seen at the team hotel. Dan Wilcox came in earlier today, but he was here when the rookies, quarterbacks and injured vets reported.

In case of inclement weather this afternoon during or before the 3:30 p.m. workout, the Ravens would likely just use the gym here at McDaniel College to get their work done.

Over 1300 fans attended practice yesterday for the first day. That is still an impressive number figuring that is was mostly rookies here. The rookies have all been very good about signings autographs after practice, although that amount of fans and number of autographs will grow greatly once the veterans are on the field with the team on Friday.

Really appreciate all the kind words and compliments from all of the readers of the blog.

10:57

So the morning session of the practice is over and here are a few of the highlights from this morning:

- Todd Heap was on the field as practices begin, but then walked off with Ozzie Newsome. Veterans do not have to report till today but Todd was here very early. Just so no one worries, Todd walked off with Ozzie just talking to him.

- Kyle Boller took the snaps with the 1^st team when they did team drills as he did yesterday. Troy Smith was next followed by Joe Flacco. All of the quarterbacks had a decent day; no one had an exceptionally good or bad day.

- While doing a drill where the running back throws their shoulder into the goal post padding on a blocking drill, Allen Patrick throw his shoulder into the goal post then fell and took out some equipment. He got up and was ok.

- Ravens offensive line coach John Matsko is an intense coach to watch and was constantly in the ear of O Neil Cousins and David Hale this morning. Matsko was getting onto cousins for constant mistakes and being out of breath. For David Hale, it was much more about him getting his back side beat constantly during drills.

- Coach Harbaugh said he was looking forward to getting back to the team hotel after practice so he could be there when the “varsity” players report to camp.

- Dan Cody was kind enough to join Bob Haynie for a few minutes this morning. Dan is going to see some playing time at defensive end, and looks impressive so far. Dan is very motivated to prove that he is still a good football player and can contribute to this team. Dan’s change of roles is partly due to the fact that it was going to be an up hill battle for him to try and make the team as a backup linebacker and special team’s guy. One of the factors working against Dan is his height when it comes to special teams. Dan will get a lot of extra reps this camp with Terrell Suggs not attending camp. Dan is expected to be a guy that will be a 3^rd down pass rusher.

- Coach Harbaugh had a scare as he was burned while playing corner back by Patrick Carter. A little bit later Marcus Smith turned Mark Carrier so bad when he was playing corner that Mark Carrier came out of his shoe.

7:53 a.m.

Today is the last day of the rookies, quarterbacks, and injured veterans camp here at Westminster. Throughout the day, the veterans of the Ravens will begin to report here to the Best Western in Westminster to begin the full team portion of camp. As I mentioned late last week and has been confirmed through several other sources, Terrell Suggs is not expected here today as well as Samari Rolle who has been given approval from the team to miss due to the death of his father.

Last night NFL Network ran a story on O.J. Brigance of the Ravens. If you did not get a chance to watch it on television last night, here is the video from the NFL website. O.J. is an inspirational person and makes you really think about how precious life is. Having seen and got to know O.J. over the last 3 or 4 years, he is always positive and upbeat, even now here at training camp as he comes passing by the lobby in his motorized wheelchair, he always has a smile on his face and says hello to everyone.

As of right now, the plans are still for practice to get going as planned at 8:45 a.m.

Ravens Camp Day 2

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:19:19 GMT

5:45

So the first day of camp is done as far as on the field goes for the Ravens, this afternoon concluded the first of the two-a-days for the team.

Here are a couple of notes from the afternoon practice:

- Watching Trevor Pryce play cornerback is an interesting thing to watch. He got turned around by Marcus Smith on a play that resulted in Trevor falling to the ground which caused some of Pryce’s defensive teammates to critique his cover skills.

- Dan Cody is getting a lot of work on learning the defensive end position

- The Ravens added another tight end to the roster this afternoon as they signed #84 Adam Bergen 6-4 from Lehigh who has three years of NFL experience

- Although it is early in camp, Haruki Nakamura has made some impressive plays in the secondary. Earlier this morning, Haruki tipped a Troy Smith pass that was intercepted by Tom Zbikowski. This afternoon Haruki made a diving deflection that prevented a catch that would have resulted in a touchdown.

- Joe Flacco shows flashes with some of his throws, just how strong and accurate his arm is.

The Ravens return to practice tomorrow morning when they have an 8:45 a.m. practice. Also tomorrow will be the day when the veterans will report to the team hotel. Samari Rolle will not be reporting as he has been allowed to miss to deal with the passing of his father with a funeral planned for Saturday. As I mentioned last week, I do not expect Terrell Suggs to report to the Westminster facility.

1:49

The Ravens have released cornerback Lenny Walls from the roster. The Ravens this morning added Aaron Walker and could possibly be adding some other players in the next day or so.

Here is what Coach Harbaugh had to say about the first days of camp “It’s not an evaluation time right now. It’s rookie camp. It’s the same thing we did for three days in June. It’s a chance to get these guys re-acclimated and go through the offense for the fifth time, give them a chance to compete come Friday.”

Coach Harbaugh also had a interesting comment about the attitudes of the quarterbacks: “They’re doing a nice job, all three of them. They look fluid. The fact that they’re friends and the fact that they’re good guys taking the attitude that they want to be as good as they can be and help the other guys be as good as they can be, that’s just them being good guys. Make no mistake about it, every one of those three guys wants the job. It’s not really a nice guy contest. We’re all nice guys, but it’s a quarterbacks contest.”

Check back later for a report from the afternoon 3:30 p.m. practice.

8:11

So a quick blog before heading to practice, I was a little late this morning after the top notch SAFE security thought media were not allowed at the team hotel although I have a parking pass and a credential with my name and all camp written on it, but it is what it is.

Its S.A.F.E. management, what can you expect? They even stopped a Ravens employee and questioned if they were suppose to be here.

When the players get ready to walk out of the doors here at the hotel there is a friendly reminder waiting on them. There is a note on the door that reminds players to sign autographs after practice and to show appreciation to the fans who come out to support them during camp. Also on the flyer is a note to tell players to not leave a teammate alone signings autographs.

Well off to watch the first practice of 2008 training camp with rookies and some injured vets. I will be doing updates every hour on the radio, but not on blog till later this afternoon.

11:04

So the first practice under John Harbaugh of the 2008 training camp has concluded. The practices did not run as long today due to the limited number of players available for him to use.

Here are some notes from practice today:

- Troy Smith did not have a very good practice this morning. He was picked off three times during the morning session. Chuck Pagano one of the Ravens coaches, Prescott Burgess, and Tom Zbikowski all intercepted Troy today.

- The Ravens parted ways with quarterback Brad Roach last night and signed Aaron Walker, a tight end.

- Trevor Pryce took his conditioning test today and as was told to us by the staff, he “crushed” it.

- Several of the players were wearing arm and hammer patches on their uniforms today and will during camp. The patch is to signify guys that attended 85% of the voluntary off season workouts.

- Coach Harbaugh pointed out that this is just like the rookie camp that the team had at the Owings Mills facility.

Tune into the Bob Haynie Show to hear audio from Coach Harbaugh, Troy Smith, Kyle Boller, and Joe Flacco.

12:45

News has circulated here at Owings Mills that Samari Rolle’s father passed away last week and will not be here for the begging of camp for the veterans. The funeral for Samari’s father will be on Saturday, and he has been told to take as much time as he needs. No matter what you think of Samari, you have to feel for the guy for everything that he has been through lately.

Here is the ESPN article courtesy of James Walker.

From Ravens training camp: Day 1

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:58:31 GMT

Before Coach John Harbaugh can even pull into the parking lot here at the Best Western to begin training camp, he is greeted by a welcome sign outside of the team hotel.

All is quiet around here at 7:53, there are only two of us from the media here and none of the players have reported as of yet. Ravens linebacker’s coach Greg Mattison is sitting here in the lobby enjoying the continental breakfast while he reads the sports.

This will be a running blog as the day goes on, so keep checking back for updates.