SB Nation - Demetrius Williams

Saturday Injury Report: Ravens at Packers

Brandon — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 00:03:13 -0000

The Green Bay Packers have 11 players on the injury report including a few starters. It's even worse for the Ravens: several starters are among the 15 players listed.

The report includes CB Charles Woodson, QB Aaron Rodgers, and RB Ryan Grant, but all three players fully participated in practice on Saturday and should start on Monday. The most important player listed this week is LT Chad Clifton, who was limited in Saturday's practice, though Mike McCarthy said he did some team reps. I expect Clifton will play, but if he can't then his backup, OL T.J. Lang, is unlikely to play due to a concussion suffered in practice on Thursday. If neither Clifton or Lang were available, I thought LG Daryn Colledge would slide over to tackle, but McCarthy would rather leave Colledge at LG and start either OL Allen Barbre or OL Breno Giacomini at LT. The idea of Barbre at LT, after his disastrous stint at RT, is scary. LB Aaron Kampman is still listed, but there is no chance he'll play after tearing his ACL against the 49ers. LB Jeremy Thompson won't play after he spent Friday night in the hospital due to a neck injury suffered in practice on Friday, but McCarthy expects he'll be fine.

The Ravens have listed four key defensive players: S Ed Reed, LB Terrell Suggs, LB Ray Lewis, and DT Haloti Ngata. Reed wasn't able to practice until Saturday, but he expects to play. Suggs was expected to miss a month, but he said there is a chance he can play on Monday. Lewis might be slowed by his foot injury, but I haven't read anything to suggest he'll miss the Packer game. Ngata will play, but ankle injuries and defensive lineman are bad combinations, so he won't be 100%. The only other players who could miss the game are former practice squad S K.J. Gerard, and former Titans' practice squad player CB Cary Williams. TE L.J. Smith will miss the game too, but I think the Ravens can find a way to replace the 2 catches he's recorded so far this season.

The complete injury list is after the jump.

Player	Pos.	Injury	Saturday Participation	Saturday Status
Allen Barbre	T/G	Ankle	Full Participation	Probable
Brandon Chillar	LB	Hand	Full Participation	Probable
Chad Clifton	T	Hamstring	Limited Participation	Probable
Ryan Grant	RB	Shoulder	Full Participation	Probable
Ahman Green	RB	Groin	Full Participation	Probable
Aaron Kampman	LB	Knee	Out	Out
John Kuhn	FB	Hand	Full Participation	Probable
T.J. Lang	G/T	Concussion	Did Not Participate	Questionable
Aaron Rodgers	QB	Ribs	Full Participation	Probable
Jeremy Thompson	LB	Neck	Out	Out
Charles Woodson	CB	Shoulder	Full Participation	Probable


Player	Pos.	Injury	Saturday Participation	Saturday Status
Matt Birk	C	Ankle & Elbow	Full Participation	Probable
Prescott Burgess	LB	Shoulder	Full Participation	Probable
Joe Flacco	QB	Concussion	Full Participation	Probable
Jared Gaither	T	Knee	Full Participation	Probable
K.J. Gerard	S	Shoulder	Limited Particpation	Questionable
Jarret Johnson	LB	Not Inj. Related	Full Participation	Probable
Ray Lewis	LB	Quadricep	Full Participation	Probable
Le'Ron McClain	RB	Not Inj. Related	Full Participation	Probable
Haloti Ngata	DT	Knee	Limited Particpation	Probable
Ed Reed	S	Back	Limited Particpation	Questionable
L.J. Smith	TE	Shoulder	Did Not Participate	Doubtful
Terrell Suggs	LB	Hamstring	Did Not Participate	Doubtful
Kelley Washington	WR	Knee	Full Participation	Probable
Cary Williams	CB	Knee	Limited Particpation	Questionable
Demetrius Williams	WR	Knee	Full Participation	Probable

Ravens v. Broncos: Prediction & 'Open Thread'

Bruce Raffel — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 14:07:46 -0000

Stay with Baltimore Beatdown all day and post your comments and thoughts as you watch us shock the world and certainly the Rocky Mountain area and yank the Denver Broncos from the ranks of the NFL unbeatens! I'll join in the aftermath of the carnage when I return home from the game, where I'll be drinking Dom Perignon and eating baked brie off of silver platters served by french maids with long black gloves and high boots in the Club Level. It's the Ravens' annual Halloween game and the cheerleaders will be dresses in all sorts of provocative outfits to bother and distract me. However, they won't be able to distract the Ravens from returning to their early season form as the Bye week that both teams enjoyed last week ends up helping the home team more than the visiting one.

(See more on "Ravens v. Broncos: Prediction & Open Thread" after the 'Jump')

If the Denver Broncos can fly 2500 miles and beat an angry, tough, hard hitting Baltimore team in their own stadium in front of 70,000 screaming fans who are just as angry and frustrated by the results of the last three games, well, then I'm right on their bandwagon with them. Until then, I see the Ravens offense putting points on the stingiest team in the NFL, even in the second half, when the Broncos have shut down everyone up until now. I also see the defense getting back on track, with enough pressure to harass and fluster Kyle Orton into throwing more than just a useless last second Hail Mary interception. For the first time in three games, the Ravens run defense returns to its past of keeping the opposition's rusher under 100 yards and forces the opposition to throw much more and sooner than they want, leading to the game changing plays that we know this defense is all about.

Joe Flacco continues to show why he is the best young QB in the game today, as he withstands the pressure and his offensive line gives him the time to find his open receivers. I expect Todd Heap, Mark Clayton and Kelley Washington to make big contributions and even won't be surprised to see a significant appearance from seldom seen Demetrius Williams and perhaps even L.J. Smith. Derrick Mason will be blanketed by Denver's Champ Bailey, which should have Flacco looking elsewhere for the big plays on offense. Speaking of big plays, right now there is no one in the league putting together a better all around season than Baltimore's Ray Rice. Whether it be running the ball or catching it out of the backfield, expect him to get the touches necessary that he's sure to make at least, if not a handful of big plays that turn the tide of the game in Baltimore's favor and keeps it there for all sixty minutes. Between Rice, Willis McGahee and LeRon McClain, the running attack will wear down the Broncos athletic, but small defensive front seven and take its toll as the latter stages of the game roll around. This time, the last couple of minutes won't be needed to either pull one out for either team as the Ravens finally prove that they could have came into this game at 6-0 just like the Broncos. The differences are that we are 3-3 and pretty damn angry about it and the Broncos and their fans will see what this team is made of as Denver falls for the first time all season.

Ravens 27-16

Final Practice/Injury Report: Cincinnati Bengals (3-1) at Baltimore Ravens (3-1)

Kirkendall — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 15:20:13 -0000

OUT	Questionable	PROBABLE
LB Rashad Jeanty (finger)	S Kyries Hebert (hip)	RB Cedric Benson (hip)
T Andre Smith (foot)	DT Tank Johnson (foot)	CB David Jones (foot)
	S Chinedum Ndukwe (hamstring)	LB Rey Maualuga (knee)
		DT Domata Peko (chest)
		S Roy Williams (forearm)

BALTIMORE RAVENS

QUESTIONABLE	PROBABLE
T Jared Gaither (neck)	CB Chris Carr (groin)	DT Haloti Ngata (back)
	LB Tavares Gooden (shoulder)	S Ed Reed (knee)
	LB Jarret Johnson (shoulder)	WR Demetrius Williams (illness)
	WR Derrick Mason (neck)

Practice

BENGALS	WED	THUR	FRI
T Andre Smith (foot)	OUT	OUT	OUT
RB Cedric Benson (hip)	DNP	FP	FP
LB Rashad Jeanty (finger)	DNP	DNP	OUT
LB Rey Maualuga (knee)	DNP	LP	FP
S Chinedum Ndukwe (hamstring)	DNP	LP	DNP
DT Tank Johnson (foot)	LP	LP	LP
DT Domata Peko (chest)	LP	LP	FP
CB David Jones (foot)	FP	FP	FP
S Roy Williams (forearm)	FP	FP	FP
S Kyries Hebert ()	--	LP	DNP

RAVENS	WED	THUR	FRI
T Jared Gaither (neck)	DNP	DNP	DNP
LB Jarret Johnson (shoulder)	DNP	LP	FP
WR Derrick Mason (neck)	DNP	LP	LP
WR Demetrius Williams (illness)	DNP	DNP	LP
CB Chris Carr (groin)	LP	LP	FP
LB Tavares Gooden (shoulder)	FP	FP	FP
DT Haloti Ngata (back)	FP	FP	FP
S Ed Reed (knee)	FP	FP	FP

Practice Report (Thursday): Cincinnati Bengals (3-1) at Baltimore Ravens (3-1)

Kirkendall — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 13:17:41 -0000

Every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evening, we'll (TRY TO) update the practice/injury chart leading up to Sunday's game. The chart is pretty self-explanatory. If the player is listed as out, they're out for the game. If they did not participate, they didn't practice. If they were limited, then they only participated during a portion of practice (typically means missing 11-on-11 drills). If the player is listed as full participation, it simply means that they practiced fully and that the only reason they're listed is because injury was an issue the week before.

Practice

BENGALS	WED	THUR	FRI
T Andre Smith (foot)	OUT	OUT
RB Cedric Benson (hip)	DNP	FP
LB Rashad Jeanty (finger)	DNP	DNP
LB Rey Maualuga (knee)	DNP	LP
S Chinedum Ndukwe (hamstring)	DNP	LP
DT Tank Johnson (foot)	LP	LP
DT Domata Peko (chest)	LP	LP
CB David Jones (foot)	FP	FP
S Roy Williams (forearm)	FP	FP
S Kyries Hebert ()	--	LP

RAVENS	WED	THUR	FRI
T Jared Gaither (neck)	DNP	DNP
LB Jarret Johnson (shoulder)	DNP	LP
WR Derrick Mason (neck)	DNP	LP
WR Demetrius Williams (illness)	DNP	DNP
CB Chris Carr (groin)	LP	LP
LB Tavares Gooden (shoulder)	FP	FP
DT Haloti Ngata (back)	FP	FP
S Ed Reed (knee)	FP	FP

Ravens 53 Man Roster: My Picks

Bruce Raffel — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 11:00:24 -0000

Here are my picks for what the Ravens will end up doing later today when they announce the 53 man roster that they will be trimming down to when they release 22 guys to get down to the NFL max.

Offense

QB: Joe Flacco, Troy Smith, John Beck

WR: Derrick Mason, Mark Clayton, Demetrius Williams, Kelley Washington, Justin Harper

RB: Ray Rice, Willis McGahee, LeRon McClain, Jalen Parmele

TE: Todd Heap, L.J. Smith, Davon Drew, Edgar Jones

OL: Matt Birk, Ben Grubbs, Jared Gaither, Chris Chester, Marshal Yanda, Michael Oher, David Hale, Oniel Cousins

Defense

DB: Ed Reed, Dawan Landry, Fabian Washington, Domonique Foxworth, Haruki Nakamura, Tom Zbikowski, Chris Carr, Lardarius Webb, Frank Walker, Derrick Martin

LB: Ray Lewis, Terrell Suggs, Jarret Johnson, Tavares Gooden, Jameel McClain, Brendon Ayanbadejo, Paul Kruger, Prescott Burgess, Antwan Barnes

DL: Haloti Ngata, Trevor Pryce, Justin Bannan, Kelly Gregg, Dwan Edwards, Brandon McKinney

Specialists

P: Sam Koch

PK: Steven Hauschka

LS: Matt Katula

That’s only 52 guys and my final spot is a tough one to decide upon. I am looking at one of the following guys:

Yamon Figurs, Jason Cook, Jason Phillips, Joe Reitz, Kelly Talavou

Figurs still has the speed and with Webb looking a bit shaky on returns, Yamon gives us another option behind Chris Carr. Jason Cook gives us another fullback along with LeRon McClain. Jason Phillips was a 4^th round draft pick in 2009 and Ozzie doesn’t like to release draft picks. Perhaps Phillips will be IR’d to keep our hands on him (I expect the Ravens to IR undrafted rookie LB Dannell Ellerbe as well). Joe Reitz gives us more depth on the offensive line as well as Kelly Tavalou does the same for the defensive line.

I don’t want to take the easy way out by only selecting 52 players, so I will have to go out on a limb and make my selection and therefore the 53^rd spot on the Baltimore Ravens roster goes to Yamon Figurs.

The other players I was undecided about go onto our Practice Squad, where we can have up to eight players. Of course, I would expect the team to peruse other teams’ cuts to add a player or two to either our roster or Practice Squad, and vice versa for the rest of the league. However, in advance of that info, my Practice Squad would look like this:

Cook, Reitz, Talavou, Foster, Riley, Peerman, Smolko, Stallings

Additionally, as I stated earlier, the team would place both Dannell Ellerbe and Jason Phillips on Injured Reserve (IR), which would end their 2009 seasons, but ensure the team retains their rights while giving the players their full 2009 salaries, which do count against the team’s salary cap. However, being rookies, that should not be much of an issue.

Your thoughts and comments on those last few slots?

Baltimore Ravens' Starters Dominate Carolina Panthers, 17-13

Bruce Raffel — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 15:10:12 -0000

"That's what's most exciting, the way we are clicking both offensively and defensively," Lewis said. "The bottom line is everyone is lining up and playing fast. We're all playing well right now."

The quote above from the Baltimore Ravens' Ray Lewis epitomizes the consensus of opinions on the team's dominating victory over the Carolina Panthers in week 3 of the pre-season last night. While it still was an exhibition game, the starters played into the third quarter and left with a 17-3 lead. The Panthers excuse could easily have been that they were without both of their two starting running backs, DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart. However, their backups were irrelevant and despite a couple of nice long passes to All Pro WR Steve Smith from QB Jake Delhomme, Carolina could only muster ten of their 13 points against the Ravens second-stringers in the fourth quarter.

Ravens QB Joe Flacco looked like he had the teams' offense running on all cylinders and might even be a decent fantasy pickup afterr going 23 for 28 and 247 yards, with a nine yard TD pass to TE Todd Heap in the second quarter. Flacco engineered touchdown drives of 80 and 90 yards against what has consistently been a very solid defense, much less on the road on the Panthers home field in front of a very disappointed crowd.

See the highlights from NFL.com by clicking here.

While Derrick Mason was his usual solid self with six receptions for 71 yards , Kelley Washington stepped it up big time and more than likely nailed down his spot as one of the Ravens top receiving threats in the absence of Mark Clayton, who is still recovering from his hamstring tear, although he is supposed to be ready for the season opener in two weeks. Washington had only three catches but totalled 66 yards with the long one of 42 yards. Demetrius Williams also had four catches but was not the long threat that Washington was.

Ray Rice was the main target on offense, as he touched the ball 18 times last night, inlcuding ten rushing attempts and eight receptions for just under 100 total yards. However, the star of the offense was without a doubt the second year QB out of the little school in Delaware, from the College Football Subdivision (formally Division 1-AA). Flacco looked calm and poised like a veteran, scrambling out of the pocket and finding his receivers downfield time after time.

Defensively, the Ravens overwhelmed the Panthers whether they tried to run or pass the ball. Even though the great Steve Smith made his two big catches, the rest of the team were stymied by the Ravens suffocating defense which pressure Delhomme all evening and while he did not throw an interception, he was sacked twice and harassed all night long.

The kicking game continues to be a concern, as second year PK Steven Hauschka missed what should have been a 27 yard chip shot, but did hit a 38 yarder and both his PAT's. While he still looks to be the leader between himself and rookie Graham Gano, who did not attempt a kick last night, some people are saying that the team should be dialing free agent and former Raven kicker Matt Stover right about now. However, Stover is definitely not the answer to our kicking concerns, as he cannot hit the long one and carrying two kickers on the roster is just out of the question, as it takes up another roster spot which is ridiculous. Besides, if you can't hit a 50 yard field goal nowadays, you are just not NFL material.

All in all, we can continue to dissect this game in the comments you all post below and throughout the week. However, the Ravens play again on Thursday night in Atlanta against the Falcons in their final tuneup prior to the regular season kicking off on September 13th when they host the Kansas City Chiefs at M&T Bank Stadium in downtown Baltimore. The final pre-season game should only feature our starters for a series or two, and then the reserves will battle it out for the last few open roster spots, including the kicking competition, which still figures to go down until the wire.

The NFL Network will replay the Ravens-Panthers game on Tuesday at 4pm.

Ravens Training Camp: Friday AM Edition

Bruce Raffel — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 16:00:59 -0000

The Baltimore Ravens have three more days of camp remaining up at McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland before they head back to Owings Mills for the rest of the pre- and regular season. Today and Saturday are open to the public, but Sunday is closed to both the fans and media as it is a walk-thru for the exhibition game against the New York Jets on Monday Night.

Injury update: Guard Chris Chester is in shorts and his jersey but not practicing due to a right calf strain that is not serious but wrapped. Ed Reed is practicing and without the red (no contact) jersey.

QB Joe Flacco sets up behind his starting offensive line (from left to right): Jared Gaither, Ben Grubbs, Matt Birk, Marshall Yanda and rookie Michael Oher. If they stay healthy, that's a pretty impressive group which should protect our prized QB quite well.

Ray Rice lines up behind LeRon McClain in the backfield. In passing formations, Todd Heap is joined by WR's Derrick Mason, Demetrius Williams and Kelley Washington in three-wide sets.

Flacco pump fakes as D-Mase puts a double-move on Domonique Foxworth, leading to a long sideline completion. Then Joe throws a bullet to the sidelines that Mason makes a fingertip catch and tiptoes to stay in bounds.

Today's field goal competition continues to be neck and neck. Steven Hauschka hits from 35, 45 and 50 yards, but is wide right from 41 and short from 54. Similarly, Graham Gano is good from 35, 41, 45 and 50 but is wide right on his 54 yard attempt, although is definitely was long enough where Hauschka's was short.

After Justin Harper catches a short 5 yard TD reception, CB Chris Carr lightly bumps Derrick Mason, who falls to the ground feigning injury, screaming "Trainer, trainer!" Carr and Reed help him up, all three laughing but for a moment, it was not funny at all!

The kickers are practicing free kicks (Hauschka good from 60 yards!) as well as onsides kicks.

Long after practice is over and most players have finished interviews, autographs and headed to the locker room, Flacco is still on the field playing catch with a couple of little kids with lacrosse sticks. Finally, with fans still waiting and chanting his name, he begins to stroll over to the stands to sign autographs as the fans erupt with cheers.

Ravens Training Camp: Saturday Edition

Bruce Raffel — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 16:20:11 -0000

Sorry for the lateness in posting my notes and photos on yesterday's practice session, the only one session this day due to placekicker Graham Gano hitting a 36 yarder that Head Coach John Harbaugh said would eliminate the PM session if he made it. He split the uprights and the players had off until they practice today at 2:30pm (no am session today). However, Gano had his roughest day kicking prior to the all important kick. He missed three of five attempts, either wide or on his two 53 yard attempts, one landing short and the other hit the crossbar and bounced back onto the field.

Saturday was also another "plus-30" day, giving the veterans over the age of 30 off for the day. That didn't stop center Matt Birk, who was out there in shorts walking through drills as he is still picking up the playbook and is such a great mentor to the young offensive line.

Tackle Oniel Cousins, who limped off the field on Friday, was there in shorts with his ankle in a brace, but not practicing. He said, "it's sore." Guard Ben Grubbs in dressed the same way, but Marshall Yanda is practicing hard. His amazing recovery is truly a welcome sight based on the recent injuries on the line to Terry, Cousins and Grubbs.

In 11-on-11 drills, Flacco is flushed out of the pocket twice in a row, but then completes a sweet 17 yard sideline pass to Marcus Smith. Next he sees his receivers covered and "hoofs" it 30 yards down the sidelines for a TD. However, Flacco then targeted Smith on the opposite sideline but CB Frank Walker read his eyes and picked it off.

On passing drills with WR's 1-on-1 with DB's, the receivers are either dropping everything or the QB's overthrowing them, while the better passes are being broken up by the DB's, or in Domonique Foxworth's case, intercepting it. Finally Ernie Wheelwright grabs one over the middle but they return to poor form when one clanks off of Todd Heap's hands. Granted these are tough passes that the DB's know are coming and then Foxworth picks off another one, his second of the morning.

Justin Harper had a great day today. He catches two in a row, although the first one was a long toss that was out of bounds despite another one-handed grab. Harper also seems to catch the balls with his arms more than his hands. Meanwhile Ray Rice drops an easy one, earning groans from the fans. But Harper makes the fans happy with a short stop and catch then run for a nice TD.

Back to 11-on-11 drils. Flacco zips a rocket to Marcus Smith 20 yards over the middle but Lardarius Webb knocks it away before Smith can secure it. Joe then hits Demetrius Williams over the middle for a nice gain in traffic. Troy Smith gets in the action with a sharp 15 yard sideline pass to Wheelwright who tiptoes out of bounds.

Offense now going no-huddle and when Flacco hits Rice for a nice swing pass out of the backfield. The nice thing about the play was how Marcus Smith drew the DB's away by going long, opening the field for Rice's gain.

The next passing drill has the receivers going against both the LB's and DB's. Flacco's pass is picked by Chris Carr, who laterals to Haruki Nakamura, who weaves his way downfield like Ed Reed does. Webb breaks up two straight passes, both intended for Wheelwright from Troy. Flacco throws a bullet that Smith catches while sliding on his knees.

FIGHT!!! In the trenches, something happens and a scuffle breaks out. All the players gather around and start pushing and grabbing like a rugby scrum until it settles down and they break it up. Reportedly it was between OL Joe Reitz and rookie Paul Kruger, but according to Coach Harbaugh, it wasn't really anything.

Troy Smith hits a couple of nice ones to L.J. Smith and another one handed grab by Justin Harper! Flacco splits defenders to put one into Marcus Smith in stride. Smith throws a short swing pass to Rice, who fakes rookie LB Jason Phillips into twisitng his ankle on a great move (Phillips is okay). Smith double pumps to Harper, whose move beats both Evan Olglesby and K.J. Gerard for a long, sweet 70 yard TD pass that Justin celebrates with a pretty lame dance in the end zone. If he plans on getting there during the season, he better come up with a different routine!

Flacco hits Kelley Washingotn underneath to beat the blitz for a big gain. Lardarius Webb blitzes again and the play is held up for what would have been an easy sack, if of course, Webb could have brought the much bigger Flacco down.

On one of the final plays, LB's Tony Fein and Prescott Burgess meet RB Cedric Peerman in the backfield, slamming him to the ground.

Ravens Training Camp: Friday AM Edition

Bruce Raffel — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 16:57:07 -0000

It's good to see previously injured Jared Gaither and Demetrius Williams in uniform, although Gaither is only walking through drills without any contact. In his absence, Michael Oher is playing left tackle. Willis McGahee is in front of me, getting prepared for the morning by taking out his diamond earrings. The wide receivers are running through the "gauntlet," complaining how much the tips hurt their arms

As reported yesterday, Mark Clayton's injury to his hamstring is serious enough to keep him out at least the first two pre season games, but Coach Harbaugh expects him to be ready for the regular season. In his absence, Kelly Washington moves up to be the third receiver along with Derrick Mason and Demetrius Williams.

In 11-on-11 drills, Joe Flacco hits D-Will, who fumbles and the defense recovers. The 1st team offense is going against the 2nd team defense and vice versa. Jalen Parmele is stuffed by Ray Lewis and Antwan Barnes, both of whom get up and dance like it was a real game.

On 3rd and one, LeRon McClain bullies for a first down, then walks off the field saying, "no one's stopping me on third and one!"

The defenses are having their way with the offenses. Flacco scrambles for a gain but is run out of bounds. Next play the pocket collapses for a "sack." On the third play, Flacco's long pass to Mason falls incomplete, prompting Ray to yell, "we'll take it!" Another coverage sack of Flacco ends that stretch of plays as Troy Smith and the 2nd team offense comes in. The defenses, be it the 1st or 2nd teams are looking tough! Troy's first pass is batted down at the line but then he hits Justin Harper down the sideline for a 70 yard TD pass that Harper reels in one-handed beating Tom Zbikowski into the end zone as Troy and the other wideouts run down to congratulate him.

Joe throws incomplete to Kelly Washington, covered by Domonique Foxworth, as Ed Reed covers Mason. After the play, Reed yells, "we know you like a book!"

Field goal team comes on and both Graham Gano and Steven Hauschka hit their attempts from 41, 45 and then 53 yards.

A Flacco pass to Heap glances off his fingertips and into the opportunistic hands of Ed Reed, who then weaves his way down field into the end zone. Gee, sound familiar?

Meanwhile, I notice that Willis McGahee's left knee is getting wrapped on the sidelines, although towards the end of practice I don't see it wrapped anymore.

On the other field I see the offensive and defensive lines going at it one-on-one, with some nice matchups between our 2009 1st and 2nd round draft picks, Michael Oher vs. Paul Kruger.

Back to the main field, the QB's are finding the RB's out of the backfield but virtually nothing downfield to the wideouts against both defenses.

Graham Gano wanders by and says to me, "Hey, how's it going?"

Troy Smith throws three straight times to what is looking to be his favorite target, Justin Harper. He overthrows long, then a perfect pass over the middle hits Harper in the hands before he drops it and finally another incompletion along the sideline. Harper is beginning to get the reputation of a wide receiver who makes the tough grabs but not the routine ones.

Uh oh, OL Oniel Cousins just went down on a running play, holding his knee. He finally gets up but limps real badly over to the sideline where he gets on a cart. With the loss of Adam Terry for the year, Cousins was thought to be a valuable backup so this does not bode well for what is looking to be a thin offensive line.

Long snapper Matt Katula is practicing snaps to punter and kickholder Sam Koch right in front of me. Koch is built like a linebacker! Next to them, I see L.J. Smith standing along the sidelines, showing off his tatooed "guns!" Gano hits twice, from 39 then 35 yards.

Here's the highlight of my day: A meaningless long incomplete pass to WR Ernie Wheelwright falls incomplete, with Frank Walker holding him all the way down the field. Derrick Mason is standing on the sideline yelling at Frank, "they'll call that every time, practice good habits, Frank!" The jawing between the two continues until the next snap. Harper then catches a tough over the middle pass closely guarded by Walker and then another completion on the sideline near us. Mason turns to me and another guy standing next to me and says, "fellas, how ya' doing?" I reply, "perfect weather out here," to which he respoinds, "not to us." Mason and Walker continue to go at it, verbally. Mason: "I sat out two weeks and I still got it! You couldn't do it. I can play this game for another 20 years abnd you still don't have a spot!" Frank retorts something hard to hear and Derrick comes back with "Don't get me started. I got more money than you can count!" Walker says, "That don't matter," with Mason repeating over and over, "scrape your pennies, Frank, scrape your pennies." Willis McGahee gets in on it, saying, "Frank, Frank." Walker brushes him off, "stay out of it, McGahee!" Walker to Mason: "I've been on three teams!" Mason finally laughs and relents, "Frank, I'm walking away, I'm done." As Derrick walks away, Walker yells after him, "I stuck that 85 today!" That was one of the best exchanges I heard all of camp! I caught up with Mason as he was walking to the locker room and asked him, "What was upwith Frank Walker back there? He said, "Ah nothing, Frank likes talking every once in a while so you got to oblige him now and then."

When Mason had his first press conference the day he returned to the Ravens, he said he was a little disappointed the team didn't have a marching band and some Girl Scouts out to greet him. So today a Girl Scout Troop came on the field after practice and they all played little flutes for him, and were mobbed by the press. Afterwards, Derrick signed autographs for every one of them and was real friendly.

I had planned to interview Oniel Cousins after practice but his injury settled that. Check back later for my interview with WR Kelly Washington, whose role will definitely expand due to the injury to Mark Clayton.

Ravens Training Camp: Wednesday AM Edition

Bruce Raffel — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 16:56:26 -0000

Today at the Baltimore Ravens Training Camp, it's obviously another "plus-30" day, which means all players over the age of 30 have the day off. Only center Matt Birk is around the fields, dressed in shorts.

In passing drills, the QB's are throwing long soft tosses to the WR's, while the OL is drilling one-on-one with the linebackers. LT Jared Gaither is going up against rookie LB Paul Kruger and is throwing him around. Oniel Cousins, whose role should expand significantly with the loss of Adam Terry for the season, is holding his own. Here is a nice matchup, 1st round draft pick, RT Michael Oher, versus 2nd round draft pick, Kruger. Oher is winning this battle, but is not dominating Kruger the way that Gaither was.

Click on the "Jump" for reports of 11-on-11 drills:

In 11-on11 drills, QB Joe Flacco swings a pass to Ray Rice, who hustles downfield for a nice gain. Next he hits Demetrius Williams over the middle on a quick hit in front of Frank Walker. A handoff up the middle to FB LeRon McClain nets a couple of yards at most. Flacco throws a screen pass to McClain in the flat that fooled the defense as Joe looked them to his right before throwing left.

Note: In Ed Reed's absence, Haruki Nakamura is teamed up at safety with Dawan Landry for the 1st team defense.

Troy Smith runs a bootleg but is met in the backfield by LB Paul Kruger. 3rd string QB John Beck completes a long pass down the sidelines to WR Justin Harper but it is caught five yards out of bounds.

Interestingly, the offense is now running three complete groups simultaneously moving downfield play-by-play at the 30, 50 and 30 yards lines. They keep moving until they run out of field, turn around and do the same thing the opposite direction, and it all looks very efficient.

Back to 11-on-11 drills: Long pass incomplete to D-Will, broken up by Frank Walker, and Williams stays on the ground for a few moments and gets up slowly. As the practice continues, he looks fine so no worries. Troy Smith's pass over the middle to WR Ernie Wheelwright glances off his fingertips and is picked by Derrick Martin. One of the better all around plays of the day has Nakamura blitzing up the middle but he is picked up nicely by Ray Rice, giving Flacco the time to find D-Will over the middle for a completion, even though he was guarded closely by Domonique Foxworth.

The kicking competition is still neck-and-neck, with Graham Gano hitting from 51 yards and Steven Hauschka from 45 yards. Hauschka then lined up with the kicking team and consecutively nailed his attempts from 28, 32, 40, 45, 50 and finally 55 yards. This competition will obviously go down to the wire.