As they walked off the field following Saturday night at M&T Bank Stadium, second-year running back J.K. Dobbins told Head Coach John Harbaugh that he couldn't wait for home games.
For a bunch of Ravens players such as Dobbins, all they've known is a quiet M&T Bank Stadium in which they mostly cheered for themselves after COVID-19 mostly cancelled fans for the 2020 season.
But on Saturday night, 23,589 fans flocked back to watch a practice. For the first time since the team began hosting a training camp practice at M&T Bank Stadium, tickets were all completely claimed – and the fans were loud.
"If that's what it's like with that [many fans]," Dobbins told Harbaugh, "I can't wait for it to be packed."
For all of the second-year players, rookies, and veterans who joined last year, such as Calais Campbell and Derek Wolfe, this was a taste of Baltimore fans' excitement for the coming season.
"It felt like I just got done playing a game," Bateman said. "Back in college, we didn't have fans. So, it was good being able to see that. Especially being in Baltimore, it feels special. Everybody is welcoming me with open arms, so I'm taking it all in and having fun. Today was a special day, for sure."
"It was really electric," Oweh added. "I haven't played in front of fans in a while, because the Big Ten didn't have fans, and COVID and everything. So, it was really, really electric, and the butterflies were in my stomach. I was just getting pumped up. I already know it's going to get better than that, so it's good, it's good."
Because of COVID restrictions, players couldn't sign autographs like usual, but numerous players threw their gloves and towels into the stands as they left the field.
"It was so much fun to be in here with the fans. They were into it, weren't they?" Harbaugh said. "We had like 23,000 fans there. It was a lot of happy people, so that was great. [It's] just kind of a little bit back to normal."
