The Ravens will finally get to hit someone else this week.
Baltimore will open the preseason against the Washington Redskins Thursday at M&T Bank Stadium, and the coaches dialed back the intensity of Tuesday's practice to help get the team ready for the game. The players were in shorts and shells for the unseasonably cool morning practice, and the session ended about 30 minutes earlier than most days.
There weren't full-contact drills like there have been in the previous padded practices, and the Ravens also spent a portion of practice specifically preparing for Thursday's game.
This is the point in training camp where practices start to transition more into the regular-season format as full-contact drills become less frequent, and Tuesday's practice was a step in that direction.
Here are some of the other practice news and notes:
- Quarterback Joe Flacco (back), cornerback Marlon Humphrey (undisclosed), right tackle Austin Howard (undisclosed), wide receiver Breshad Perriman (hamstring) and left guard Alex Lewis (undisclosed) all didn't practice. They have all missed multiple days of practice, which puts into question their status for Thursday night. Head Coach John Harbaugh did not give any injury updates after practice.
- Veteran cornerbacks Brandon Carr and Jimmy Smith came up with some nice players in practice. Smith beat wide receiver Mike Wallace to the football in the end zone for the interception, and Carr made a leaping pass breakup on a pass intended for receiver Chris Moore. Smith and Carr are in line to be the starting cornerbacks, and they have played well throughout training camp.
- Moore hauled in a long pass down the sidelines from quarterback Ryan Mallett. It was one of the more impressive plays of the day, and a good sign for the second-year receiver looking to carve out a role for himself.
- Harbaugh spent the early part of practice keeping a close eye on the receivers during individual drills. He chatted with young targets like Moore, Michael Campanaro, Tim White and Keenan Reynolds, as all of them are working to earn their spots on this team.
- Wide receiver Griff Whalen made an impressive one-handed touchdown snag during one-on-one drills.
- Rookie offensive lineman Jermaine Eluemunor has been working with the first-team offense while Lewis and Marshal Yanda are sidelined. The fifth-round pick has a big opportunity in the preseason to show the coaching staff that he can handle the workload of a starting lineman.
- Safety Chuck Clark has been solid throughout the summer and he showed off good instincts on a safety blitz during team drills. He timed the blitz perfectly and shot the gap in the middle of the offensive line to get into the backfield for what would have likely been a sack.
- Tight end Larry Donnell looks like he's quickly adjusting to his new team. He reeled in a touchdown during team drills and outside linebacker Terrell Suggs responded by yelling out "Randyyyyy" because Donnell wears Randy Moss' old No. 84.
