Samstag, 27. Dezember 2008

Ravens training camp notes

The first two-a-days of the season for the Baltimore Ravens were all about the quarterbacks.

Rookie head coach John Harbaugh -- who actually played some cornerback Tuesday --cautioned the local and national media in attendance that this is not considered an "evaluation day" until the entire team reports to camp. The practices were pretty thin and involved just rookies, quarterbacks and players coming off injuries.

But we will give you some first-day observations of the quarterbacks anyway:

Joe Flacco confirmed what we saw in minicamp -- he has a very strong arm. The ball flies off his hand and his throwing motion seems natural and effortless. He made several nice throws down the seams and isn't afraid to check down and take what the defense gives him when necessary.

Kyle Boller looked decent in over two practices. His ball Tuesday fluttered a little too much for our liking, but he made good reads in 7-on-7 drills. Boller says his experience is his advantage in this three-way competition.

"The experience with 40-something starts ... is huge,'' Boller said. "That's a lot of experience, and when I get in there in games it should be easy for me. I'm at the point in my career now where things should've slowed down, and I think that's where I'm at.''

Troy Smith had the toughest day of the trio with three interceptions total in 7-on-7 drills. One wasn't Smith's fault, as a receiver dropped the ball in the end zone and it was tipped to rookie safety Tom Zbikowski. But physically, Smith looks in tremendous shape. He says he ran a ton in the offseason and ended up coming in a couple of pounds lighter than his ideal playing weight of 215 pounds.

"I don't know what it is,'' Smith said. "I guess it's just a lot of water weight that I'm losing, but I checked in at camp at 213 (pounds). So I'm doing pretty good."

Entering training camp, Harbaugh said the team is in no rush to pick a starting quarterback before the third or fourth preseason game. He wants to give each player an ample opportunity to prove himself.

"We're going to have to decide before we play the Bengals [Sept. 7],'' Harbaugh said. "That's the timetable that's thrust upon us."

In non-quarterback related news, Ravens starting cornerback Samari Rolle will be a late arrival for training camp due to the sudden passing of his father.

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