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New York Times
12 hours ago
- Sport
- New York Times
As Ravens work on cadence, they'll live with some penalties now to avoid them later
OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Some offensive penalties the Baltimore Ravens will probably live with. Early in Monday's practice, undrafted rookie receiver Jahmal Banks was flagged for offensive pass interference on his back-shoulder catch against cornerback Robert Longerbeam down the far sideline. It was a borderline call, and it's tough to fault Banks too much for working to get open and making the play. Advertisement Toward the end of practice, DeAndre Hopkins' circus catch of a Lamar Jackson pass in the back of the end zone was nullified when the veteran receiver was flagged. Hopkins was jostling with Nate Wiggins, and his hand appeared to get stuck in the area of the cornerback's face mask. Hopkins is one of the best contested-catch artists of his generation, so the Ravens certainly aren't going to fret over the occasional call on the potential future Hall of Famer. Flag on the play but the catch was tooooo fire not to share 😮💨@Lj_era8 ➡️ @DeAndreHopkins — Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) July 28, 2025 Then, there are the penalties that drive John Harbaugh and the coaching staff nuts. An early false start penalty on the offense, one of two on the day, prompted Harbaugh to yell toward the offensive sideline Monday. Limiting pre-snap penalties was deemed a priority heading into the season after they were one of the few things that proved capable of slowing Baltimore's offense last year. The Ravens led the league in penalty yards assessed (1,177) and were tied for second in total flags (161). Of those flags, 45 were thrown because of infractions before the snap, according to NFL Penalties. The Ravens were flagged for false starts 21 times, illegal formations 10 times and delay of games six times. Through the first week of camp, that trend continued with a handful of pre-snap offensive penalties each day. Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken was asked multiple questions about the penalties Saturday after a practice in which the offense was flagged numerous times before the snap. 'There really isn't anything different other than we're starting back up again, and it's hot, and we have a number of guys going in the game,' Monken said. 'Sometimes, it's the quarterback that takes a little bit of time at the line of scrimmage, more than he should, and then all of a sudden you're making calls at the line, and you may forget you're on a different cadence. Advertisement 'All of those things are a part of it, but I'm not going to give in. We're going to fight like heck to be good at it. Why can't we be elite at cadence? Other teams can; we sure as heck can be and should be.' Monken called himself the 'king of overreacting,' but he understands that the team needs to work on using different cadences to gain an advantage over the defense. 'Now is the time to do that,' Monken said. 'We're practicing some other things in the throw game and the run game to obviously try like heck to be on point when we play the first game. But obviously, we have a lot of work to do, but that's not the only thing.' Asked after Monday's practice whether the Ravens would simplify some of the cadences this week to cut down on some of the pre-snap penalties, Harbaugh cited interviews from a recent Kansas City Chiefs training camp practice, where the same issues were being discussed. 'You've got to keep pushing that,' Harbaugh said. 'Over the years, people that didn't want — and I've had coordinators like that here that didn't really want to do cadence or didn't really want to take a chance at having the issues — will say, 'Well, we'll get into that later,' but we want to get these plays off early. 'And what happens is you never have cadence the whole season. You can't just bring it out two weeks from now or three weeks from now or four weeks from now. It always looks bad early. You have to push through it, you have to practice it, and you've got to practice it under the toughest conditions — heat, pads, whatever it is — and try to get really good at it.' It seems to happen to the Ravens every year. Their depth chart at cornerback is well stocked at the start of training camp, but then injuries start occurring once practices and preseason games begin. Advertisement Veteran free-agent signing Chidobe Awuzie practiced sparingly late last week, although he did take on a representative workload Monday. However, the Ravens started practice without Jaire Alexander and rookie sixth-round pick Bilhal Kone. They then watched fourth-year corner Jalyn Armour-Davis get helped off the field due to an injury he sustained in the individual phase of practice. Harbaugh said Alexander, whose injury issues with the Green Bay Packers were well documented, had his knee drained after some swelling. He's optimistic that Alexander will return to practice Tuesday. Kone hurt his shoulder on a fall in Saturday's practice. Harbaugh doesn't expect him to miss extended time and called it a 'pain-tolerance thing.' Things are less certain for Armour-Davis, who will have an MRI to determine the extent of his undisclosed injury. Missing any amount of time would be a significant setback for Armour-Davis, the oft-injured corner who is perceived to be on the roster bubble. Harbaugh said the team is hopeful Armour-Davis' latest injury isn't 'too serious.' • The pads came on for the first time in camp Monday, and tempers flared. Outside linebacker Odafe Oweh and rookie offensive tackle Carson Vinson engaged in the first scrap of training camp early in the full-team session. Punches were thrown, and Vinson emerged from the fracas without a helmet. But order was restored quickly, and there was no further incident. • Rookie Tyler Loop, who didn't miss a kick during the first week of training camp, had a much harder time Monday. Loop went 5-of-8 on field goal attempts, missing from 43, 38 and 45 yards. The 43-yard attempt banged off the left upright. The 45-yard miss generated some confusion because one of the referees under the uprights ruled it no good, the other ref down there didn't make a call, and holder Jordan Stout insisted it was good. Undrafted rookie John Hoyland, Loop's competition for the kicking job, went 4-for-4 and ended practice with a make from 47 yards. • Wide receiver Rashod Bateman was sent home sick and didn't practice. Fellow wide receiver Keith Kirkwood, who missed the previous two practices, was back in uniform but mostly did conditioning work and didn't take part in the crux of practice. Meanwhile, inside linebacker Jake Hummel was activated off the non-football injury list and practiced for the first time this summer. Hummel was nursing a hand injury that occurred before training camp. Advertisement • By his standards, tight end Mark Andrews had a quiet start to training camp last week. However, he was responsible for two of the offense's few big plays Monday. On a day when the defense again dominated, Jackson found Andrews twice streaking down the middle of the field for big gains. On the first one, Andrews punctuated a long catch by stiff-arming Wiggins. On the second, Andrews ran full speed with nobody near him and didn't stop until he reached the end zone. Andrews' form shouldn't have surprised anyone who has watched a Ravens training camp practice over the years. If things aren't going well for the offense, Jackson typically finds Andrews to try to get some momentum. That's been the trend for years. • Ravens defensive coordinator Zach Orr predicted last week that rookie outside linebacker Mike Green would show his skill set more when the pads came on, and Orr was correct. Green was one of the most noticeable players on the field, playing with speed and physicality. He got the best of Ravens offensive tackles a few times in team drills, and he was also a force in one-on-ones. After practice, Green was serenaded by fans, who sang 'Happy Birthday' to him. Green turned 22 on Monday. • Another Ravens player who had a dominant practice with the pads on was veteran defensive lineman Nnamdi Madubuike. The two-time Pro Bowler interrupted several plays and gave Baltimore's offensive linemen fits. • The Ravens didn't have much success in a late-practice red zone drill, but No. 3 tight end Charlie Kolar appeared to create a highlight when he outdueled middle linebacker Roquan Smith for a touchdown catch in the back of the end zone. Much to Kolar's dismay, the referee ruled the play incomplete and said Kolar didn't have control of the football. That provided little solace to Smith, who pleaded for an offensive pass interference call on Kolar.
New York Times
a day ago
- Sport
- New York Times
Ravens determined to right their wrongs of the past by prioritizing the little things
OWINGS MILLS, Md. — The Baltimore Ravens' first week of training camp featured little drama, no distractions and a business-like, team-wide approach that suggests the players and coaches understand what's at stake this season. The Ravens believe they're going to be very good. They also acknowledge the legitimacy of a question that will loom over this team over the next six months: Will they be good enough when it matters? Advertisement They haven't been in recent seasons, particularly over the last two years when they've posted 25 combined regular-season victories but only two in the playoffs. 'I think this group is determined to right the wrongs that we've had,' veteran outside linebacker Kyle Van Noy said last week. 'We've felt like we've let some games slip, and we just got to knock it off, just in general as a team.' Ravens coach John Harbaugh made clear on several occasions last week that he has neither the time nor the appetite for 'narratives,' and that included the notion that this is a Super Bowl-or-bust season in Baltimore. That won't stop outsiders from labeling it as such. Offensively, the Ravens return their entire coaching staff and all but one starter. Veteran wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins and now-healthy running back Keaton Mitchell should augment a unit that was arguably the best in the NFL last season. Defensively, the Ravens appear much deeper with the acquisitions of veteran cornerbacks Jaire Alexander and Chidobe Awuzie and the selections of safety Malaki Starks and edge rusher Mike Green in this year's draft. Like 31 other teams, the Ravens have depth questions at a few spots, and they are a ways away from learning whether they've found an acceptable successor to longtime standout kicker Justin Tucker. However, that didn't stop ESPN last week from ranking the Ravens' roster as the best in the NFL. That hasn't and won't stop other pundits from including them on the list of teams with legitimate Super Bowl upside. 'It's always cool to be on a team with high-caliber players who have incredible talent, but I think you've got to put the work in,' running back Derrick Henry said last week. 'Everybody can look good in the jersey and have a big name, but it is about the work you put in, the chemistry you build on the field each and every day, pushing each other to get each other better. We're all more interested in the work than all the hype and what it looks like.' Advertisement Henry is readying for his second season with the Ravens, but he's plenty familiar with the franchise's recent playoff heartbreak. It was Henry's Tennessee Titans that, in the divisional round of the 2019 playoffs, went to Baltimore and upset a top-seeded Ravens team that had gone 14-2 in the regular season. That game was arguably the most disappointing loss in franchise history, but other candidates have emerged in the years that have followed. With two-time MVP Lamar Jackson as the starting quarterback, the Ravens are just 3-5 in the postseason. In the 2020 divisional round, they were beaten 17-3 by Buffalo. Three years later, they had a chance to book a trip to the Super Bowl on their home field and laid an egg in a 17-10 AFC Championship Game loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Last season, they were beaten 27-25 in Buffalo, again in the divisional round. Those losses all featured similarities. The Ravens turned the ball over offensively and didn't force turnovers defensively. They lost the battle at the line of scrimmage. The overriding theme was that an often dominant team in the regular season rolled into the playoffs and suddenly lost its form and identity at the worst possible time. 'I'm not going to say we've underperformed, but I feel that we've had championship-caliber rosters,' Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey said earlier this offseason. 'I feel that we've prepared like a championship team, and there's just been something we have to do, but I don't feel that we're far off.' Asked last week whether he's pondered what has held the Ravens back in the postseason, Van Noy said, 'We could be here all day talking about that.' 'If we just continue to play complementary football, which we do a majority of the season, I think we'll put (up) a better performance in the postseason,' Van Noy continued. 'The coaches do a great job of getting us ready. Us players, leadership, we are on the same page, but just with the right mindset every single time, and be cohesive and execute at a high level during the high-pressure games.' Advertisement The recent playoff flameouts have certainly produced plenty of scar tissue and added to the pressure that these 2025 Ravens face heading into the season. It was a popular topic last week, and to their credit, the Ravens didn't hide from it. 'I'm really not trying to think that far (ahead), because every time we had those discussions, man, we get to the playoffs, but we don't punch in,' Jackson said. 'We don't finish, so I'm pretty much just trying to finish camp the correct way and then get ready for the Bills (in Week 1). I'm not really trying to think about the Super Bowl yet.' If there was an easy answer to why the Ravens haven't been at their best in the playoffs, the team's widely respected brain trust and its deep bench of analysts and coaches presumably would have corrected the issue by now. Trying to figure out that elusive solution was at the forefront of the organization's priorities this offseason. To that end, Harbaugh and his coaching staff established a detailed grading system that rates everything about every player each day. Players are graded on things like how they run to the ball and ball security. There's a greater emphasis put on certain fundamentals and characteristics that Harbaugh and the staff feel are essential to playing winning football in January. The daily grades are strategically posted on walls and monitors throughout areas of the Under Armour Performance Center that the players frequent daily. The idea beyond the system is for it to be a reminder to players of what they need to focus on, so a crash course isn't needed come December and January. 'It's the details that matter, it's the details that win games,' said tight end Mark Andrews, whose fourth-quarter fumble and drop of a potentially game-tying two-point conversion were defining plays in the playoff loss to Buffalo in January. 'For us, this is the start of training camp, so we have to be diligent about doing the little things right and carrying those over to make them second nature. So, I think to the point of having those grading scales of the different things that the coaches are doing, (it) just puts an emphasis on, throughout practice or games, to make it a habit. That's an awesome thing.' Van Noy, a two-time Super Bowl champ, said the little details matter a lot, particularly late in the season. Advertisement 'When you get into the playoffs, those little details need to be executed at a high level,' he said. 'You can't just talk about it. You have to be about it every single day. I think we're doing that.' The players have vowed to do their part as well. Jackson has spoken about spending more time with his receivers outside the team facility and holding each other accountable. Several established Ravens players stayed on the field after select practices last week to work on different skills. One day featured tight end Isaiah Likely and safety Kyle Hamilton going over releases and jams at the line of scrimmage. Humphrey, Alexander and wide receivers Zay Flowers and Rashod Bateman have reinstated the 'Breakfast Club' lift, a trend initially started by former Ravens safety Eric Weddle. A small group of players gathers at 6 a.m., nearly eight hours before practice is set to begin, and works out together. The only rule is, if you come in at 6:01 or later, you're not allowed to take part in the workout. 'We're trying to create an environment where everything matters,' Humphrey said last week. '6:01 a.m., does it really matter? No. But does it? Yes. So, it's kind of just another thing we're trying to do. Everything matters. Accountability is going to be the key to the season.'
USA Today
2 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Ravens added WR DeAndre Hopkins as an accessory, not a necessity
Baltimore WR DeAndre Hopkins has an undeniable acclaim as a star pass catcher in the NFL. Still, the Ravens were already thriving before he arrived. Baltimore Ravens wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins has an undeniable reputation as a veteran in the NFL. Still, the Ravens had already reached climactic status on the offensive side of the ball in 2024. Given this, offensive coordinator Todd Monken shouldn't get too distracted by a desire to force-feed Hopkins the ball when other options have shown themselves to be adequate in an already stable offensive attack. Furthermore, recent game logs suggest that Hopkins may play best as a third or fourth option (considering Ravens tight ends Isaiah Likely and Mark Andrews) in the passing game. Hopkins was targeted five times in Super Bowl LIV, making only two catches in the biggest game of his career. Surely, Hopkins creates a red-zone advantage against smaller slot defenders, but seeing that the Ravens led the NFL in rushing yards and finished No. 7 in total passing yards in 2024, a change to the offensive structure isn't merited. Hopkins isn't in the prime of his career anymore, and Monken should be focused on the star players on the Ravens offense who actually are.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Ravens are observing early signs of a Jaire Alexander rebirth in Baltimore
As fans of this great game of football, we've grown up on their in-house production arm, NFL Films. It's hard to gauge how many hours have been poured into watching Baltimore Ravens highlights. It's even harder to determine how many terabytes we've stored on hard drives, flash drives, and laptops we have sitting around the office. At the time of this story being published, we haven't even digested a week of training camp practices yet, but here we are, imagining what the 2025 NFL Films Ravens yearbook might look like. Will it end with a Super Bowl celebration and parade? Fingers are crossed. We do, however, know how the story begins. How about a glance at the acquisitions of DeAndre Hopkins and Jaire Alexander, two veterans and former All-Pros that Baltimore hopes can put them over the hump and in football's biggest game. Jaire Alexander looks no worse for wear. Rule number one of every training camp is avoiding the temptation to overreact. Guys are wearing shorts. No one has any pads on. Contact and tackling are impermissible. We've all kept one eye on Jaire Alexander, however. Put, though it's hard to put a lot of stock in anything, it's also hard to ignore how good he looks. He's making plays. He's breaking up passes. He fits in with his new Ravens teammates. Everyone paying attention seems to be noticing. We're off and running. It's been a while since Alexander has been named an All-Pro or voted on the Pro Bowl roster, 2022 to be exact. He hasn't played more than seven games in each of the past two seasons. Injuries aside, it's easy to see why Baltimore would take a chance on him. Still, some ask questions similar to the following: What if he isn't who he used to be? Here's a better question. What if he is? This article originally appeared on Ravens Wire: Jaire Alexander is making a strong impression on Ravens teammates
USA Today
5 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Ravens are observing early signs of a Jaire Alexander rebirth in Baltimore
Ravens are observing early signs of a Jaire Alexander rebirth in Baltimore As fans of this great game of football, we've grown up on their in-house production arm, NFL Films. It's hard to gauge how many hours have been poured into watching Baltimore Ravens highlights. It's even harder to determine how many terabytes we've stored on hard drives, flash drives, and laptops we have sitting around the office. At the time of this story being published, we haven't even digested a week of training camp practices yet, but here we are, imagining what the 2025 NFL Films Ravens yearbook might look like. Will it end with a Super Bowl celebration and parade? Fingers are crossed. We do, however, know how the story begins. How about a glance at the acquisitions of DeAndre Hopkins and Jaire Alexander, two veterans and former All-Pros that Baltimore hopes can put them over the hump and in football's biggest game. Jaire Alexander looks no worse for wear. Rule number one of every training camp is avoiding the temptation to overreact. Guys are wearing shorts. No one has any pads on. Contact and tackling are impermissible. We've all kept one eye on Jaire Alexander, however. Put, though it's hard to put a lot of stock in anything, it's also hard to ignore how good he looks. He's making plays. He's breaking up passes. He fits in with his new Ravens teammates. Everyone paying attention seems to be noticing. We're off and running. It's been a while since Alexander has been named an All-Pro or voted on the Pro Bowl roster, 2022 to be exact. He hasn't played more than seven games in each of the past two seasons. Injuries aside, it's easy to see why Baltimore would take a chance on him. Still, some ask questions similar to the following: What if he isn't who he used to be? Here's a better question. What if he is?
