Fans cheered loudly when Lamar Jackson ran onto the field Saturday for his first practice since Wednesday. They cheered louder when he led a touchdown drive to "win" practice.
Jackson's return from illness raised the excitement level, and he appeared to feel much better than Wednesday when he departed early. Most of the quarterback reps were taken by Jackson, his activity level was high, and he looked stronger as the day progressed.
The highlight sequence from Jackson was leading a 60-yard scoring drive while the Ravens were in their hurry-up offense. The scenario was one minute, 20 left, down by five points. He put the Ravens into the red zone with a completion over the middle to Mark Andrews, then Jackson connected with Nelson Agholor for the touchdown on a post pattern.
Following Agholor's touchdown catch, Jackson ran over to Agholor to greet him as he came off the field and high-fived with other offensive teammates as they came off the field. Jackson didn't display that kind of energy on Wednesday. He also had a 50-yard touchdown connection to Tylan Wallace, and while Jackson did have two passes intercepted by Marlon Humphrey, his accuracy and timing improved as he got more reps.
Head Coach John Harbaugh was pleased with what he saw from Jackson, especially since it was his first full practice of the week.
"I thought he looked good, he had a lot of energy," Harbaugh said. "I know he worked really hard to get out here and worked really hard to make sure he was ready to put his best foot forward as best as he could. I thought he did. Even as the practice went on you could see him finding himself even more and more. I was really happy about it."
Here are my observations from practice:
- Veteran cornerback Trayvon Mullen was carted inside early in practice after taking a hard fall. "He fell on it, his shoulder, so we'll have to see where we're at when we get back in there," Harbaugh said.
- Wide receiver Zay Flowers was excused from practice to attend a wedding.
- Devontez Walker, Rashod Bateman, and Andrews also made plays during the offense's best showing of the week. The entire unit benefited from Jackson's return. It was the sharpest the offense has been all week.
- Humphrey's two interceptions capped his strong first week of camp. Even though one of Humphrey's interceptions appeared to be a miscommunication between Jackson and Agholor, Humphrey said he reported to camp 10 pounds lighter than last season, and he's showing that with his speed and quickness. On a deep pass intended for Devontez Walker, Humphrey was running stride for stride with the rookie speedster and was in perfect position to break up the pass had the ball not been overthrown.
- Humphrey is just one of several cornerbacks having a strong camp. Nate Wiggins had an interception today and displayed sticky coverage against most of the receivers he was matched against.
- Isaiah Likely outjumped Kyle Hamilton for a touchdown grab in the corner of the end zone, which is no easy task. Likely made the most of his reps and consistently got open. Perhaps his strongest day of camp.
- Ar'Darius Washington had two impressive pass breakups, knocking the ball away from Sean Ryan and Malik Cunningham. The Ravens signed veteran safety Eddie Jackson earlier in the week, but Washington is still competing for reps behind starting safeties Hamilton and Marcus Williams.
- Speaking of Williams, he closed quickly near the goal line to prevent Justice Hill from reaching the end zone after catching a short swing pass. The Ravens' secondary is loaded with players who are rarely fooled, and Williams is among them.
- The offensive line had a solid day, consistently giving Jackson and backup Josh Johnson ample time to throw. Andrew Vorhees and Tyler Linderbaum did a nice job preventing pressure from coming up the middle.
- Perhaps the biggest challenge for the offensive line was Travis Jones, who continued to push the pocket with force on several occasions. Jones could be having his best camp entering his third season.
