The Ravens spent Thursday’s practice turning up the heat in more ways than one.
What started as a humid day at The Castle - thanks to Wednesday’s showers - became the team’s third padded practice in four days and, by the looks of it, its most heated session of camp so far. The tempo was high, the pads were popping and a few tempers flared along the way.
Tight end Mark Andrews and edge rusher Trey Hendrickson got into it after a physical blocking rep. Center Ethan Pocic and linebacker Reid Williford had a back-and-forth in a veteran-rookie exchange that nobody saw coming.
Lamar Jackson showed his frustration by spiking his helmet after a rough stretch for the offense. And the biggest dustup came when edge rusher Tavius Robinson and offensive linemen Carson Vinson and John Simpson ended up in a post-play scrap that teammates quickly broke up.
Ravens head coach Jesse Minter said Tuesday that fights are not something he wants to see in practice, and none of Thursday’s flare-ups crossed that line. Minter also made sure the tension didn’t linger, pulling the team into an extended huddle after the Robinson-Vinson-Simpson incident.
Still, once the session was over, Minter had no issue with what he saw.
“We wanted it to be a really physical day,” Minter explained. “We wanted it to be a long practice.
We wanted them to kind of fight through some things - long drive drills, where it is intentionally an eight- or nine-play drive, regardless of the down and distance. You want to be able to do all that with a high, high level of physicality and also keep your wits about you.”
That plan showed up in the workload, too. Thursday was the Ravens’ longest practice of training camp, running past the two-hour mark for the first time this summer.
Left tackle Ronnie Stanley and defensive tackle C.J. Okoye both came off the field early, which wasn’t a major alarm bell for players that size, but still fit the tone of the day.
Minter also let the team finish with live tackling, and rookie running back Adam Randall handled all three offensive snaps in that period. The 6-foot-4, 232-pound back was stopped twice, including once on a firm tackle by cornerback Marquise Robinson, before ending the segment with a touchdown catch from Skyler Thompson.
Even the coaches got dragged into the fun. Ravens defensive backs took turns tackling assistant coaches, who are likely to feel the effects of that experiment by morning despite wearing extra protection.
“Coaches will do anything to make players better,” Minter said after practice. “We have a great group of coaches. All those guys are willing to do whatever it takes…Much appreciate to those guys for doing that.”
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