Marquise 'Hollywood' Brown Sits After Two Days of Practice
Rookie wide receiver Marquise "Hollywood" Brown did not practice Monday after ramping up his workload for two days over the weekend.
After sitting out much of the offseason as he recovered from Lisfranc foot surgery, Brown took the field for the first time on July 31 – the team's sixth training camp practice – for position drills and catching passes versus air.
Ten days later, on Saturday, Brown participated in his first team drills against Baltimore's defense and came out of practice feeling good.
Head Coach John Harbaugh was asked for the reason for Brown's absence Monday.
"He's recovering. All those kinds of things are just part of training camp," Harbaugh said. "I'm not going to get into every single guy or why he's here or why he's not. We don't have any serious injuries. It's just part of our process."
The Ravens have eased Brown back into the mix as they're careful with their speedy first round pick. Asked if he felt as fast as he did at Oklahoma, Brown said, "I feel like I'm moving pretty good out there."
Anthony Levine Continues to Prove His Value
Every Ravens fan can probably run the replay of C.J. Mosley's division title-sealing interception against the Browns last season through their head. But do they remember who made stops on the other three downs?
On first and third downs, veteran Swiss-Army knife defender Anthony Levine Sr. knocked passes away from Browns tight end David Njoku. Because of those plays, the Ravens got to fourth down for Mosley to make his pick.
At age 32 and in his eighth season with the Ravens, Levine is one of the team's most tenured players. Only four players have been in Baltimore longer. Still talking trash like a young kid, Levine continues to back it up and prove his value, both on special teams (where he carries the "Co-Cap" nickname) and defense.
Levine did so against Monday when he anticipated a Lamar Jackson pass to tight end Mark Andrews and stepped in front for a pick-six.
Levine said he thrives one people saying he's the "odd man out."
"I've been counted out my whole life," Levine said. "People would tell me that I wasn't going to make it to where I am now. I was on the practice squad, and they told me that I was going to be a practice squad player. And now, I play special teams, I'm just a special teams player. Now, I'm playing defense. People set this standard on me, and I'm just trying to break those barriers every time. Now, I'm getting older, and it's like, 'Does Levine still have it?' You all saw today. I still got it."
A New First-Team Entrant in Left Guard Competition
The battle for the starting left guard spot has a new entrant, as undrafted rookie Patrick Mekari got reps with the first-team offense Monday. He split time with the starters with Jermaine Eluemunor.
Eluemunor and rookie fourth-round pick Ben Powers have seen the most time with the first team during training camp. Eluemunor, who started in the preseason opener against the Jaguars, had a tough practice Sunday.
Mekari is a 6-foot-4, 308-pound guard from Cal-Berkeley. He earned Associated Press second-team All-Pac-12 honors as a senior, playing mostly at left tackle but also at right guard and right tackle.
Harbaugh said the plan was to get Mekari first-team action all along, but he has been recovering from a back injury.
"We have been kind of working him up to this," Harbaugh said. "He played well in the game. He had a good practice yesterday. We'll see what he can do."
Rookie Jaylon Ferguson Is Turning It On
While much of the training camp buzz has been about third-round rookie wide receiver Miles Boykin, the Ravens' other third-round pick, outside linebacker Jaylon Ferguson, is starting to stand out as well.
Ferguson, who holds college football's all-time career sacks record, flashed last week during the joint practices with the Jaguars and rolled that into Thursday night's preseason opener, where he recorded a tackle for loss.
"I really liked what we saw from Jaylon Ferguson," Defensive Coordinator Wink Martindale said Sunday. "He's just going to get more and more playing time. He made it simple, just being physical with the man across from him. He wasn't thinking about 10 other things, which rookies do. You saw a lot of good rushes, and you saw his power, which we've been looking for in training camp going against somebody else."
Veteran outside linebacker Pernell McPhee has been coaching up Ferguson and said he reminds him of himself when he entered the league in 2011.
"He's starting to figure it out, especially after the game," McPhee said. "He finally got to play live. He was very physical today and I think he's going to be physical now. People should be excited for the future."
