Ravens’ Training Camp Preview

It’s that time of year again — it’s time for training camp.

But I want to know what it feels like to have a winning baseball team in August and be able to travel to Westminster in what I hope to be the start of a very special season. I want to be able to go to training camp in the morning and go to a critical game at Camden Yards with the Orioles in a pennant race. I want to be in August and not have the top question lingering around Baltimore sports to be a sprained ankle of a lineman that might not even make the team.

But alas, from this point forward, it’s all Ravens, all the time. But if the Orioles are ever in the pennant race at this time of year, it’d be the craziest Baltimore has been about sports since the Ravens’ Super Bowl title back in the January of 2001. As we go into training camp, the Orioles’ dismal season of historic proportions becomes more and more of an afterthought with every passing day. And that trip up to Westminster? It’s almost like officially turning the page. From that point, it’s all about the Ravens, unless Brian Matusz tosses a no-hitter or something. The trip to Westminster is the start of something that we, the fans, hope turns out to be quite special.

This year, Super Bowl asperations are abound. My advice for fans that are dreaming about a Super Bowl trip: stop it. No one should care if a team looks good on paper. What’s visible on paper in July can be something completely different from what transpires on the field starting in September. Remember the Ravens’ 2007 season? Yeah, remember that.

It’s almost as if some believe that the additions of Anquan Boldin and Donte’ Stallworth vault the Ravens to the Super Bowl. But those same folks will probably struggle to tell you when the last time the Ravens beat Peyton Manning.

No more Super Bowl talk. Let the players play and the coaches coach, and let’s see where this season takes us. Here are a few questions I have coming into the season:

1. Will offensive coordinator Cam Cameron be able to save himself…from himself? The answer to this question in the initial handful of games last year was a resounding ”no.” Cameron couldn’t help from having his second-year quarterback with the big arm fling the ball all over the stadium. Joe Flacco was still a maturing quarterback with a below-average receiving corps and an offensive line more suited to run-block than to drop back and pass-block, but Cameron still had Flacco throw the ball at quite the rate. Flacco’s pass attempts for the first six games of the season last year: 43, 26, 35, 47, 31, and 43. The nasty side effect of this was that Flacco was hit hard  entirely too much.

Now, it’s obviously not totally fair to just point to the raw attempts that Flacco had because of the given game situations throughout those first six games. But when watching the Ravens early last year, it was pretty clear that they weren’t playing to their strengths. Cameron had a corps of running backs — Ray Rice, Willis McGahee and Le’Ron McClain – that 28 other teams in the NFL would love to take off the Ravens’ hands. But Cameron chose to put the football in Flacco’s hands early in the season — probably too much, too fast, especially given what was surrounding Flacco at the time — when the Ravens were much more suited to run right over teams. Alas, by the end of the Ravens’ sixth game of the season, Flacco had a gimpy ankle and the Ravens were basically forced to play to their natural strengths from that point on in the season. Although the running game’s effectiveness picked up considerably and Rice matured into one of the league’s top all-around backs, Flacco’s ankle issue lingered for the rest of the season and the passing game struggled.

Cameron now has what appears to be an above-average receiving corps with the additions of Boldin and Stallworth, the re-signing of Derrick Mason, and the drafting of receiving tight ends Ed Dickson (third rounder out of Oregon) and Dennis Pitta (fourth rounder out of BYU.) So, can Cameron maintain a 50/50 split on offense? Or will a quarterback that appears that he may be ready to become a star, along with Cameron’s new toys on the perimeter, be too much for Cameron to resist throwing the ball all over the stadium? The fact remains, though, that Rice, a top-five running back in the league, needs 25 touches a game. McGahee needs his touches. McClain needs to be a force on short-yardage situations.

2. Will Ed Reed get a grip? Reed has apparently wanted a new contract since last year and has made it public knowledge that he wants a new deal. It’s often said that Reed marches to the beat of his own drum, and this request for a new contract further confirms it. This is an injured 31-year-old free safety that has three years left on his current deal. He had a hip reconstruction during the offseason and has dealt with the nerve impingement over the last couple of years. He’ll probably start the season on the Physically Unable to Perform list, in which he’d be mandated to miss the first six games of the season. It’s not totally guaranteed that Reed even steps on the field this season.

And Reed finds this to be the proper time to publically announce that he wants a new deal? Look, football is an incredibly physical game at the NFL level and players tend to have very short life spans in the league. Players know that they’re one hit away from retiring, and players who may be nearing the end of the road realize they may only have one contract left. But Reed is in the middle of a lucrative deal and no one even knows whether he’ll play this year. And if he does play, will this be same player as in years past? Reed and his team would be best off if Reed left the drama behind him once he arrives in Westminster.

3. Is there enough depth in the secondary? Will the Ravens create enough pressure? These two issues obviously go hand in hand. If a team creates pressure, that’s less time that the secondary has to maintain coverage, and a stingy secondary can make up for some deficiencies with the pass rush. The pass rush struggled last year, as Terrell Suggs had the worst year of his career, Trevor Pryce got a year older, Brendon Ayanbadejo got injured in Week 4, and Kelly Gregg didn’t play until Week 15. Also, Paul Kruger, Jameel McClain and Antwan Barnes didn’t develop the way the Ravens probably hoped.

The Ravens drafted outside linebacker Sergio Kindle to back up the very fundamentally sound Jarrett Johnson and Terrence Cody to rotate with a now fully healthy Gregg on the interior alongside Haloti Ngata, who is probably the team’s most valuable defender. Each draftee was hoped to provide a help to the pass rush. Those plans now have a bit of a hitch in them, as Kindle has a fractured skull from falling down two flights of stairs back home in Texas. There will be speculation as to how exactly he fell down those stairs, but the bottom line is that Kindle will miss training camp and probably won’t be able to contribute to the squad until mid-season. Kindle isn’t even allowed to travel to Baltimore for three weeks. If he’s not even healthy enough to travel for three weeks, I’d imagine that getting into football shape will be a difficult process for Kindle this season.

The Ravens’ pass-rushing hopes now rest on Gregg and Cody being able to collapse the pocket along with Ngata, the possible revitalizion of Suggs, the health of Ayanbadejo, and how well Kruger, McClain and Barnes develop. Although Kindle’s presence would certainly help, my guess is that a lot of teams in the NFL would take this pass rushing scenario.

The secondary has injury concerns, as well. Although Fabian Washington says he’s ready to play during training camp after tearing his ACL last November, the Reed injury still lingers, and hopeful future No. 1 cornerback Lardarius Webb has ACL problems of his own. For God-knows-what-reason, Webb was covering a kick during a December game in which the Ravens were blowing out the Chicago Bears and tore his ACL on the play. Webb’s status for training camp is unclear. Why Webb, who turned into an immensely valuable cornerback who could stick to receivers and play the run in a very physical and aggressive fashion, was covering kicks, I have no idea. Yes, Webb is a deft tackler. But you don’t put someone as valuable as Webb in a situation where an injury is just waiting to happen. Webb also was a very valuable return man last year.

Also remember that backup cornerback Cary Williams is suspended for the first two games of the season.

For the season opener at the Meadowlands against the New York Jets, it looks like Tom Zbikowski will be in Reed’s usual free safety spot alonngside strong safety Dawan Landry, while Domonique Foxworth and Washington should be the starting corners. If Webb were healthy, he’d probably be the team’s No. 1 corner for the opener. Walt Harris and Chris Carr may be the nickel and dime men, and Ken Hamlin could be the primary backup safety.

I wouldn’t be shocked if Frank Walker gets a call during training camp.

4. Who’s the hidden gem? Ravens’ general manager Ozzie Newsome always seems to find a diamond in the rough in every draft or in the form of an undrafted free agent. He found Webb in the third round last year out of little-known Nicholls State and signed Dannell Ellerbe as an undrafted free agent. Both made an impact last year. Who’s it going to be this year? I’ll say wide receiver David Reed out of Utah, who the Ravens selected in the fifth round of April’s draft. Look for Reed to make an impact as a kick and punt returner and as a slot receiver during the latter part of the year.

5. Will there be a training camp next year? We’ll be hearing about a possible lockout in 2011 all of this coming season. It’ll be the No. 1 football story for the entire year. Personally, I think there’s too much for the owners and the players to possibly lose for the cancellation of any games next year. I have to believe they’ll find a way to split up the zillions of dollars at stake. I really hope the owners don’t get their way on the 18-game regular season, though. There are enough injuries as it is.

Tagged as: Anquan Boldin, Antwan Barnes, Baltimore Orioles, Baltimore Ravens, Brendon Ayanbadejo, Brian Billick, Brian Matusz, Cam Cameron, Chicago Bears, Chris Carr, Dannell Ellerbe, David Reed, Dawan Landry, Dennis Pitta, Derrick Mason, Domonique Foxworth, Donte Stallworth, Ed Dickson, Ed Reed, Fabian Washington, Jameel McClain, Jarrett Johnson, Joe Flacco, Kelly Gregg, Ken Hamlin, Lardarius Webb, Le'Ron McClain, Meadowlands, New York Jets, NFL, Nicholls State, Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Ozzie Newsome, Paul Kruger, Peyton Manning, Physically Unable to Perform, Ray Rice, Sergio Kindle, Super Bowl, Terrell Suggs, Terrence Cody, Tom Zbikowski, University of Utah, Walt Harris, Westminster, Willis McGahee