Spring football is here, which means it's time for fresh hopes and dreams of the Lombardi Trophy. Some notes on the Baltimore Ravens' first practices under head coach John Harbaugh:
Quinn Sypniewski is out after tearing his ACL, and the injury is either season- or career-ending, depending on who you believe. This won't affect the Ravens much--out of 42 tight ends, Syppy-cup was 41st and 42nd in Football Outsiders'
DVOA and DPAR rankings, and his career-long reception was 13 yards. They've already brought in
two new rookies, including 6'7" rookie Joe Reitz.
The Ravens are fighting again... A scuffle between third-round draft pick Oniel Cousins and free agent Amon Gordon turned into a full-on team activity, with offensive and defensive players mixing it up and coaches in the fray, trying to get everything sorted. Later, Corey "You'll Next See Me Giving Up a TD" Ivy got into it with Frank "I don't even get a nickname" Walker. When asked about the situation, defensive end Trevor Pryce said, "Hooray, we're all tough. But are we a good football team?" It's a good question. David Steele could
be right--practice hard, and players will carry that aggression through to Sundays.
Or the team still doesn't get that "self-control" thing, which means more "Unsportsmanlike conduct? I got yer unsportsmanlike conduct
right here!" flag-throwing idiocy (I couldn't find a video of Bart Scott's temper tantrum, but that game's highlights are
painful to
watch).
I wouldn't take Willis McGahee in any fantasy leagues this year.
Without Ogden (let's be realistic--he's not coming back to protect Kyle
Boller, Troy Smith and/or Joe Flacco) and after cutting Mike Flynn, the
Ravens' offensive line looks pretty uncertain. Week two will be the
line's acid test--Mario Williams, Amobi Okoye and DeMeco Ryans could
cause a lot of pain for whatever quarterback's unlucky enough to be
under center that day.
Last quick draft notes: I generally trust GM Ozzie Newsome's judgment, but with did we really need
two more safeties who can't defend the pass? Zbikowski and Nakamura will both get touches returning kicks and on special teams, but I don't get it. Baltimore's
run defense was tops in the NFL in DVOA, while pass defense was 22nd. That said, the trade with Jacksonville was an absolute steal, and the trade with Oakland for Fabian Washington was a pretty good deal, given that he's only 24 and a former (admittedly underachieving) first-round pick. They'll let him compete with Samari Rolle for the second corner job, given that Baltimore ranked 31st against #2 receivers last year (they were 6th against #1 receivers, so it's not just that their backup CBs were terrible while Rolle and McAlister were injured).