
The Ravens have landed in Philadelphia for three days of practices and Saturday’s second preseason game.
It’s the second straight year the Ravens have participated in joint practices, as they hosted the San Francisco 49ers at the Under Armour Performance Center last year.
This time, however, the leader on the other side won’t be Ravens Head Coach John Harbaugh’s brother. The Eagles are a bit more of an unknown dance partner.
Here are seven things to watch as practices begin Wednesday at 11:35 a.m. at the Eagles practice facility:
1) The practice tempo
Teams across the NFL practice at different intensity levels and tempos. Eagles Head Coach Chip Kelly is known for his insanely fast-paced offense, and he apparently goes at a frantic pace in practice, too. The Ravens don’t think they’ll have any trouble hanging. “It’s hard to believe anybody practices faster than us. It really is,” defensive end ![]()
2) How the teams get along
The Texans and Redskins made headlines last week with their joint practice brawl, prompting a league-wide memo prohibiting fighting. Then the Cowboys and Rams got into it this week. The Ravens run a physical practice while still staying within the rules and looking out for each other. Baltimore is going in with no intention of causing trouble. Still, when two different teams with perhaps different ideas of practice intensity get together in close proximity for such an extended period of time, there’s always potential for some friction. Harbaugh said he’s emphasizing to his team not to get into any “extracurricular stuff” right after the play. We’re counting on the Eagles to do that,” he said. “Really, when you practice together, you’re like a team. You have to function as a team in a sense, and that’s what we tried to do last year with San Francisco. We’ll try to accomplish that again.”
3) Ravens run defense vs. Eagles’ talented running backs
Baltimore’s defensive front is adjusting to the post-Haloti Ngata era, plus dealing with an injury to defensive end ![]()
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4) Test for the pass rushers
The Ravens-Eagles pass-rushing drills should be quite entertaining. The Ravens’ duo of ![]()
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5) Where’s the offense at?
The Ravens’ first-team offense passed its first test with flying colors in the preseason opener, beginning the game with a 16-play march that ended with a touchdown. That was all the action the unit got. The time in Philadelphia will be a much more extended look at how the unit should fare against other teams this season. Neither team will game-plan for practice, but one-on-one battles are still won and lost. With two talented teams on the field, the level of play will be high.
6) Ravens’ injury progress
All eyes will still be looking out to see if rookie first-round wide receiver ![]()
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7) The Tim Tebow buzz
Let’s be honest, Tim Tebow is an interesting guy. Back from a year spent as a college football analyst, Tebow is now competing to be a backup quarterback. When Philadelphia signed him, pundits speculated that it was to use him on two-point conversions, since teams may attempt more this year with the extra points being moved back and are more difficult. If so, the Ravens will get good practice defending another team’s two-point conversions, and a chance to get at Tebow. It will be fun to see what Suggs may say to or about Tebow.
8) Harbaugh returning to his old home
It will be interesting to see Harbaugh back in his old environment. Harbaugh was in Philadelphia for 10 seasons (1998-2007) as their defensive backs coach and special teams coordinator. It’s where he got his start in the NFL before coming to Baltimore in 2008. Harbaugh has been back for regular-season and preseason games, but not for this extended period of time. Perhaps he’ll have time to settle in and let the memories flood back.



