The Ravens' first week of Organized Team Activities is in the books.
It was a good week, but Head Coach John Harbaugh said the team has a ways to go.
"We basically look like a team that's practiced for three days," he said. "There's plenty of things that we need to work on.
"We were better today than we were yesterday, and we were better yesterday than we were the day before. You didn't want to see us two days ago. But I think we're on our way and we have a lot of good young players. We just have to go to work and improve and become as good as we can be."
Here are some notes from practice:
- Injured players who did not practice were quarterback Joe Flacco (knee), wide receiver Steve Smith Sr. (Achilles), outside linebacker Terrell Suggs (Achilles), cornerback Jimmy Smith (foot), running back Trent Richardson (hamstring), wide receiver Michael Campanaro (calf), defensive end Bronson Kaufusi (back) and running back Kenneth Dixon (hamstring). Cornerback Will Davis (knee) was in uniform but stayed to the side of the field doing sprints and riding a bicycle.
- Second-round pick Kamalei Correa was lining up at inside linebacker with Za'Darius Smith and Albert McClellan on the outside. Correa handled it well, coming up to fill the right gap and stop Terrance West once in the backfield. Harbaugh said Correa has inside linebacker traits and is learning all the different positions.
- Weddle's impact on the defense and enthusiasm are quite apparent. He's already directing the defense from the back end and is very active before the snap. At one point, Offensive Coordinator Marc Trestman pointed Weddle out to one of his players and said, "You see Eric Weddle lining up across from you?"
- Lardarius Webb had a possible interception go off his hands, but he was in the perfect spot on a deep pass down the sideline. If contact was allowed, Webb might have stretched out more to make the catch and take a hit.
- Defensive end Brent Urban got a lot of snaps and batted down one pass at the line of scrimmage.
- Inside linebacker Arthur Brown got props throughout practice and had excellent coverage running with a tight end down the middle on one play.
- Backup quarterback Ryan Mallett is running with the first team with Flacco out and had a few passes that were up for grabs. He was lucky he wasn't picked off, including once by Correa.
- Safety Anthony Levine was playing a little closer to the line of scrimmage at times. The Ravens have hinted at possibly using a safety at linebacker.
- There was a little scuffle at one point of practice between Brown and center Jeremy Zuttah. It was quickly broken up and play resumed.
- Tight end Dennis Pitta looked like his old self. There doesn't seem to be any lingering issues with his hip and he got through practice, including a couple falls (not tackles), without* *problems.
- Wide receiver Breshad Perriman looked explosive off the line and didn't have any hitch in his step as he returns from last year's knee injury.
- Interestingly, the Ravens had players rotate to different position coaches to work on ball handling. For example, the defensive linemen worked with Offensive Line Coach Juan Castillo on securing the ball and offensive linemen spent time with Defensive Line Coach Joe Cullen. It appears, a year after turnovers were a problem, that the Ravens want everybody to get their hands on the football.
