Tuesday's joint practice against the Indianapolis Colts was a chance for Lamar Jackson to lead the first-team offense against another opponent.
Jackson was in excellent sync with his tight ends, connecting with Mark Andrews twice in the red zone for touchdowns, and making several completions to Charlie Kolar. However, Jackson was also intercepted late in practice, as was backup quarterback Cooper Rush.
While Jackson is happy with what he's seeing from Baltimore's offense, he believes there's still work to do.
"It was great work against a good defense," Jackson said. "I think overall it was a good day. We get great work out of these type of practices.
"There's always room for improvement. [In] camp, we have good days, we have bad days, we have OK days, we have great days. We're right where we need to be right now."
Head Coach John Harbaugh said that Baltimore's starters were able to get significant practice reps against quality starters from another team. The Ravens are not planning to play their starters during Thursday night's preseason game against the Colts at M&T Bank Stadium.
Tuesday's joint practice, and another against the Commanders on Aug. 21, may be the closest some starters may get to live action against another team before Week 1 in Buffalo.
"I felt really good about the work, they got a lot of reps," Harbaugh said. "They got seven out of every 12 reps. That was good to see them get all those reps against another defense, and that's a really good defense."
With tight end Isaiah Likely (ankle) sidelined, Kolar is taking full advantage of getting more reps with Jackson.
"Charlie is getting a great feel for the game," Jackson said. "He's looking like a little Mark and a little Isaiah out there, in his own way. He's coming along great."
Kyle Hamilton Sits Out Joint Practice With Minor Issue
The Ravens were nearly at full strength for Tuesday's joint practice against the Colts, but Pro Bowl safety Kyle Hamilton did not participate.
Head Coach John Harbaugh said Hamilton's issue was not anything serious.
"It's one of those camp deals," Harbaugh said. "Hold him out of this one, try not to make it anything more of a problem than it needs to be."
Hamilton's absence created more reps for second-year safety Sanoussi Kane, who had another solid day in the competition to be the No. 3 safety behind Hamilton and Malaki Starks.
Other Ravens who did not practice Tuesday were cornerback Robert Longerbeam, offensive tackle Emery Jones, and Likely. Jackson and Rashod Bateman returned to practice after missing Monday's session.
Harbaugh Says Practice Fight is a 'Learning Opportunity'
A fight broke out in the middle of practice during the drill that most often leads to skirmishes – the punt return vice drill in which two players try to keep one gunner from the other team away from getting past them to the returner.
The fight happened after Ravens safety Malaki Starks cleanly blocked Colts running back Tyler Goodson to the ground near the end of the play. Fellow Ravens rookie Keyon Martin gave Goodson another little shove that he took exception to, and he threw an open hand hit to Martin's helmet.
As Starks and Martin started to walk away, however, Ravens cornerback Nate Wiggins came flying in from the sideline to get in Goodson's face, and that's when punches started swinging and the fight broke loose.
Both Wiggins and Goodson were ejected by officials and thrown out of practice.
"You can pretty much chalk it up and predict that it's going to happen because it's one of those full-field, really competitive drills," Harbaugh said. "It happened, but it should be a learning experience opportunity for our team, too. You don't have to throw a punch to get thrown out in the game. You go back at them, [and] they may throw you out."
Nnamdi Madubuike Says Run Defense Got a Lesson
The Colts have one of the league's top running backs in Jonathan Taylor, and he found some holes to run through early in Tuesday's practice.
The Ravens had the league's top run defense last season, allowing just 80.1 yards per game. Most of the defensive line and linebackers, minus retired nose tackle Michael Pierce and linebackers Malik Harrison and Chris Board, are back.
However, Baltimore knows it can't just assume that it will be at the top of the heap again, and Taylor's runs on Tuesday were a reminder.
"Definitely have to lean more on the fundamentals," Madubuike said. "Jonathan Taylor, he was hitting those gaps really late, and sometimes, when you have the B-gap integrity, you think he's going to peak in C, but he is really waiting for you to peak and see, and then he hits the B-gap. So, it's like, 'Oh, OK. You need to more gap integrity in your B-gap. So, I think stuff like that is good to be tested in these joint practices, and it gets us better as a team."
