Ravens Training Camp: Frustration Brewing On Offense?
The Baltimore Ravens have had relatively smooth sailing through the first week or so of training camp, but hit some rough waters on Friday.
Specifically, the offense had its share of struggles on Friday, with some players letting their frustration out on the field. Reportedly, quarterback Lamar Jackson punted the ball downfield and threw his helmet in frustration after a blown play, while tight end Mark Andrews received an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for shouting an expletive after a play. This also comes off the heels of offensive coordinator Todd Monkey's comments on Thursday, when he referred to the unit as being "not nearly where we need to be."
For coach John Harbaugh, though, the players' frustrations on Friday were just part of the process. In fact, Harbaugh even went as far as to say the offense had a strong showing, despite a few hiccups.
"It's a reflection of their perfectionism," Harbaugh told reporters. "They're chasing perfection, and that's what you want to see from your players. When your players take that mindset, you're going to have a chance. Coaches pretty much always have that mindset. When the players take on that personality because they feel like they're capable of it, that's what you want to see.
"The offense had a good practice today. They won the practice with the points, by about eight points, I think. That doesn't happen often. Usually, the defense wins those practices. The defense also had a good practice, but the offense made a bunch of plays."
Saturday reportedly marked another frustrating day for Baltimore's offense, but it seemed to be by design this time. According to tight end Isaiah Likely, coaches intentionally put the offense in tough situations to test it, as well as test the defense on the other end of said situations.
"It's going to be a hard day for the offense," Likely told reporters. "It was third-and-longs. As a defense, you want to be in those situations because you want your pass rush to get back there and you really want to be able to have the secondary be able to just make their plays and be special.
"So as an offense, it was really ...We were playing uphill today, and I felt like for the first time in this training camp, it was a learning experience. I mean, you could say the defense won, but in my head, we don't really lose, we just learn."
It's important to remember that this is just training camp, and with so many new pieces on offense, there were always going to be some growing pains. Better to get those growing pains out of the way now before the games really begin.
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