Tuesday was a grand Baltimore sports day for me, my sister, Caitlin, and her fiance, Zach. We all went to Baltimore Ravens’ training camp in the morning and then we went to Buck Showalter’s big Baltimore Orioles’ debut at Camden Yards that night. It was quite a day, and well worth the time and money.
My first thought upon my training camp visit was that it was a lot more people than my previous visits to camp. My second thought was that the Ravens have to do a much better job at camp of playing to their fans. With the way that Ravens’ camp is set up, there are two fields and one of the fields has bleachers along the sidelines of that field and just past one of the field’s end zone. Obviously, most of the fans set up shop at this field. With the other field, there’s no bleachers anywhere and there’s not a whole lot of room for fans to set up shop along the perimeter of that field.
So where do the Ravens decide to scrimmage? On the latter field towards the end zone where the least amount of fans can get a good view of the action – the farthest end zone away from the sideline bleachers on the other field. I don’t like that. You should always play to the fans. One thing that Brian Billick always did was scrimmage on the field surrounded by bleachers. If you’re going to visit training camp, set up shop where the cameras are pointed. There are a few cranes with cameras mounted on the top of them, and wherever those cameras are pointed, that’s where the scrimmaging is going to take place.
Despite the bad placement of scrimmage, I still got some good photos of the team’s scrimmage. I’ll get to some of my other thoughts on the actual team with the photos. I’ll put up the Orioles’ photos in a separate post.
(EDIT: Don’t click on the photos. It’ll take you to Facebook since that’s where I copy and pasted the photos from. The easiest way to get photos on the site is to upload them onto Facebook and copy and paste them from there.)
This photo below is courtesy of my sister. It’s Fabian Washington in the foreground with Maryland head coach Ralph Friedgen and Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo in the background. Both of the coaches were visiting camp yesterday. Maryland and Navy will play on Sept. 6 at M&T Bank Stadium to open the season.
The rest of the photos were taken by me. Below is David Reed in a one-on-one drill with new acquisition Doug Dutch.
Below is Donte’ Stallworth in a one-on-one drill with Prince Miller.
Below is Michael Oher at left tackle. The Ravens have been shuffling Oher and Jared Gaither between right and left tackle for most of camp, but I’d be surprised if Oher isn’t at left tackle for the opener against the New York Jets. Oher was drafted to be the franchise left tackle, and that’s what he’ll be. Gaither, by the way, probably needs to gain about 15-20 pounds. He looks pretty skinny out there (or as skinny as 311 pounds can be.)
Below is Derrick Mason down after a hit by Dawan Landry. Mason needed assistance getting off the field, and it turns out he has a right ankle sprain that isn’t considered to be serious.
Below is Tom Zbikowski, whom the Ravens will rely heavily on as long as Ed Reed is on the Physically Unable to Perform list. With it looking probable that Reed will miss the first six games of the season, Zbikowski will have to step up big, and he trained in the offseason as if he’s ready to step up.
Below is Shayne Graham kicking, with Sam Koch as the holder. Graham and Billy Cundiff are battling to be the kicker for the Ravens.
In the trenches on a field goal attempt:
Below is Ray Rice, who looked ripped. He’s by far the toughest Raven to take a picture of — too damn quick. In my mind, he’s a top-three fantasy selection. Some combination of Chris Johnson, Maurice Jones-Drew and Rice are my top three.
Below is Stallworth. With Rice, Mason and Anquan Boldin controlling the moderate routes, Stallworth should be able to get a lot of one-on-one coverages down the field.
Hey! It’s Joe Flacco!
Below is Flacco and Boldin talking amongst themselves. Flacco-to-Boldin will be a huge connection this year if the two are healthy. Book it.
Below is Kelly Gregg rushing the passer alongside blue-chip defensive tackle Haloti Ngata. It was good to see Gregg back out there after struggling with injuries last year. He’ll probably rotate with big Terrence Cody during games to fill the spot next to Ngata.
Below is Marc Bulger. Smart pickup by the Ravens. If Flacco misses a few games, they have a backup plenty capable of winning games and weathering the storm.
