Ravens cornerback Chykie Brown had rough day at the office.
Brown was kicked out of practice by Head Coach John Harbaugh after the fourth-year cornerback kicked a football in frustration after dropping an interception.
Brown wasn't sent to the sideline. Harbaugh took the extra step of calling him out in front of the team and sent Brown inside the team's facility.
Message sent.
"Chykie was having a heck of a practice, and then he got riled up because he dropped the interception; he kicked the football," Harbaugh said.
"I just talked about that last night – I made a point about those kinds of things – and [today I] took an opportunity to make a point with the defense and the coaches. … It's practice and we want to have fun, but as a head coach, when you have an opportunity to make a point that they'll remember in a situation like that in practice, that's really important."
The incident started before Brown's mistake.
The defense was having its way with the offense, forcing three-and-outs versus the first- and second-team offenses. With the third-team offense trying desperately to move the chains, rookie quarterback Keith Wenning ran a quarterback sneak on third-and-1.
The defense thought that was foul play considering they're not allowed to touch the quarterback. Inside Linebackers Coach Don Martindale came onto the field shouting in protest. Harbaugh responded by flagging him with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the bench.
The defense continued to have its way, and racked up four straight sacks. On the fourth, quarterback Joe Flacco desperately tried to get rid of the ball and threw it right to Brown.
Brown has struggled to make plays in training camp thus far. When he dropped another chance, he kicked the ball in frustration. That would likely result in a flag in a real game, and Harbaugh wasn't having any of it.
In addition to scolding Brown, Harbaugh also yelled at Defensive Coordinator Dean Pees and said discipline starts with him.
Brown was only out of practice for about five minutes. He returned to the field, talked with Harbaugh and made a couple nice plays.
"I brought Chykie right back out, and the thing I loved about it was he responded with a great practice and played really well," Harbaugh said. "To me, that's a sign that he's going to be just fine."
It wasn't long until Brown got into another scuffle, however, this time with wide receiver Steve Smith Sr. The two were engaged in a physical blocking drill that got a little overly heated. They both started swinging and had to be separated by teammates.
It was quite the eventful practice as the team returned to playing with pads after two days without them. But Harbaugh said it's not his first time kicking a player out of practice.
"It's a regular; it happens every year," Harbaugh said with a laugh. "If it only happens once, it'll be a record."
Here are some other notes from practice:
- The defense was "relentless" for the majority of the day. The first-team defense was particularly strong as the front seven badgered Flacco and gobbled up the run game.
- Part of the reason for the defense's success was that starting guards Marshal Yanda and Kelechi Osemele were given the day off. So was outside linebacker Pernell McPhee and tight end Owen Daniels.
- A.Q. Shipley laid one of the biggest hits of training camp when he went to help right tackle Rick Wagner and popped linebacker Nicholas DiMarco, who had a pair of sacks earlier.
- Wide receiver Kamar Aiken continues to impress. He went up high to catch a couple of touchdowns in the back of the end zone.
- Outside linebacker Terrell Suggs was jacked up and dominant throughout practice. He kept imploring his defense to take it to the offense, bringing out some of that cocky edge the unit wants to revive. After Brown was kicked out of practice, Suggs made a play and called out, "I got you coach!" to Pees. Suggs also chatted with Harbaugh about the incident.
- Brown did bounce back somewhat after returning to practice. He got a pass deflection (it would have been a difficult pick) on third down and got a lot of encouragement from his defensive teammates. Many players have been trying to pump Brown up.
- Left guard Ryan Jensen and defensive end Kapron Lewis-Moore got into a fight with Jensen ending up on his back. Harbaugh asked the defense who started it, and, of course, they pointed to Jensen. Harbaugh penalized the offense 15 yards.
- In a typical Suggs move, he walked up to Ravens Senior Vice President of Public & Community Relations Kevin Byrne and just swatted his clipboard out of his hands. "I've been waiting 10 years to do that!" he yelled.
