At around two-and-a-half hours, Thursday's practice was the longest of training camp so far. With temperatures in the high-90s, it was also the hottest. After a non-padded practice on Wednesday, the pads came back on Thursday.
Those conditions were exactly what Head Coach Jesse Minter embraced.
"We wanted it to be a really physical day," Minter said. "We wanted it to be a long practice. We wanted them to kind of fight through some things."
For a few moments, one of those things looked like it was going to be each other.
During 11-on-11, several players appeared to be jawing at each other on separate occasions, including Trey Hendrickson and Mark Andrews after a play. Minter, who entailed his distaste for training camp fights on Tuesday, had already told players to cut the extracurriculars before Tavius Robinson and Carson Vinson got into a dust-up, which turned into a pile of players who were separated quickly.
There were no punches thrown or helmets ripped off, but Minter still called a team huddle before going into the next period, where he reminded players of their purpose in the present.
"I know that in a game, people do things," Minter said. "People tug on your jersey after the play [to] try to get you to respond [or] chirp in your ear [to] try to get you to respond. We just have to be so dialed in on why we are out here — making each other better.
Again, [I] love the competitive spirit [and] love the physicality, and let's just keep it about the football."
The Ravens did just that for the rest of practice, and by its end, all three phases of the game had highlights.
Here are other notes from Thursday's practice:
- The defense had another big day, with their best sequence coming in the moments leading up to the scuffle. Hendrickson zipped into the backfield and picked up an easy tackle for loss (he did the same thing a few plays later), which was followed by Keondre Jackson swatting away an out route to Matt Hibner on the right sideline.
- That was the most electric play of practice until moments later. After Rasheen Ali caught a screen pass, he ran up the right sideline and gained a good chunk of yardage, but T.J. Tampa ripped the ball out of his hands. Dominic DeLuca recovered the loose pigskin, sending the defense into a frenzy.
- Later in practice, Nate Wiggins had arguably the best pass breakup of the day. Guarding Ja'Kobi Lane one-on-one, Wiggins stuck with him on a vertical route down the right sideline. The throw from Lamar Jackson was right at Lane's apex, but Wiggins timed his jump perfectly and knocked the pass away.
- Both the first and second-team offenses ran tempo drives at the end of practice. The first team worked their way down the field on the backs of Jackson and Zay Flowers, as the two connected for a few chunk plays. While he didn't test the deep part of the field much, Jackson continued to look comfortable operating from under center.
- After Durham Smythe made a tough catch over the middle near the goal-line, Jackson & Co. hustled to the line of scrimmage, but someone made a mistake, causing Minter to substitute the first-team offense for the second unit. Jackson threw his helmet to the ground in obvious frustration.
- The second team took over at the spot of Smythe's catch, and Tyler Huntley immediately connected with Josh Cuevas in the end zone on a pretty lob pass. The second team went back to the same spot to run another play, and someone was called for a false start, causing Huntley to angrily spike the ball into the grass. On the next play, Huntley found Cuevas for an easy touchdown on a play-action rollout to the right. Cuevas now has five touchdowns over the past two practices.
- At the end of practice, Adam Randall barreled through the line of scrimmage for some nice gains on the ground before catching a touchdown. His physical running style really pops with the pads on, and his experience as a former wide receiver showed up, too.
- Tyler Loop appeared to go seven-for-seven on field goal attempts. He made two from at least 50 yards, including what looked like a 61-yarder.
- Andrews had a few catches during the live periods, including a juggling one-hander toward the left sideline, while Rashod Bateman made a tough diving catch through a pass interference from Wiggins in man coverage.
- In addition to Teddye Buchanan and Travis Jones, both of whom are still on the PUP list, Aeneas Peebles, Carl Jones Jr., and Dayton Wade didn't practice.
The Ravens are off Friday before practicing Saturday and Sunday.
