Ravens coach John Harbaugh kept the message to his team simple.
“The main point of emphasis was the fact that so much improvement is made between the first week and the second week of training camp, between the first game and second game,” he said. “That’s our emphasis for this week.”
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But some players are progressing slower than others.
The quarterback competition remained close as incumbent Kyle Boller, former Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith and first-round draft pick Joe Flacco each had moments of brilliance and disaster on Sunday morning at training camp at McDaniel College in Westminster.
Smith, who was named the starter for Saturday’s game against the visiting Minnesota Vikings at 7:30 p.m., was intercepted on three of his first eight attempts on Saturday. Sunday started just as rough, as he threw a pass that was tipped and intercepted by safety Dawan Landry.
Flacco struggled throwing the ball down field, as he overthrew receivers several times. The rookie also received a lot of instruction from offensive coordinator Cam Cameron, who ran a pocket presence drill with the quarterbacks to improve their footwork.
Boller, who started the first preseason game against New England, was the best of the three on Sunday. He made the play of the day when he rolled out to his right and connected with rookie receiver Marcus Smith for a gain of about 45 yards.
“The mentality of the offense is to stay aggressive,” Ravens receiver Mark Clayton said. “As our defense flies around, we want the same on offense. We want to be like no other offense in the league, and when teams come to play us we want to show them something different.”
But so far, that “something different” hasn’t been anything positive.
In the Ravens’ 16-15 win over New England, the team gained just 204 yards, had a meager 35 yards rushing on 21 carries and converted only two of 12 attempts on third down. The offensive line also continues to develop chemistry, as injuries have taken a toll on the group. Sunday morning, the unit struggled with pass protection against a blitzing defense and second-team center Chris Chester sailed a shotgun formation snap over Smith’s head.
But there were bright spots, including a slick pass from Flacco to tight end Adam Bergen on a check-down and a great block by Marshal Yanda on a toss play.
“This is our opportunity to really make our team a lot better,” Harbaugh said. “Our guys responded to that and had a really good practice today.”
