GREEN BAY, Wis. — Green Bay Packers left tackle Rasheed Walker said he’s been waiting to go against his old Penn State roommate, Ravens outside linebacker Odafe Oweh, one on one in the NFL and has been talking plenty of trash in the meantime.
At the Ravens-Packers joint practice Thursday, they finally got to face off. How did they fare?
“I got the best of him,” Walker said confidently.
Oweh might argue that, considering he got some pressures on starting Packers quarterback Jordan Love, but the Packers certainly walked away with their fair share of victories over the Ravens’ starting defense and the starting offense. When the two teams combined on the same field for two-minute drills, the Packers finished with three field goals while Justin Tucker missed a 62-yard attempt.
Here are observations from the Ravens’ only joint practice of the preseason.
Flash and fizzle
The Ravens defense came out with stifling coverage and the exotic pressures it is known for.
In one series against Love and the starting Packers offense, the Ravens tallied a takeaway along with numerous highlight plays.
Linebacker Roquan Smith made an interception, and on the next play defensive lineman Justin Madubuike pressured Love into throwing an incompletion. Oweh then pressured Love as he threw a short pass to Romeo Doubs, whom Smith immediately “tackled.”
Nose tackle Michael Pierce and cornerback Trayvon Mullen added pass defenses before Love made his best play of the series: a deep touchdown pass to Malik Heath, who had a step on Ravens cornerback Nate Wiggins.
“They do a lot of different things, have a lot of different personnel, throw a lot of different pressures at you,” Love said. “So it’s one of those things that you just kind of got to be ready for whatever. They did a couple different pressures that we weren’t ready for.”
The Packers offense conferred between drills and reviewed what the Ravens were throwing at them.
“I’m just trying to learn on the fly what their kind of flavor of the day for some of those pressures were,” Love said. He and his teammates adjusted. When they returned to the field for work in the red zone, they flipped the momentum.
Love made three straight touchdown passes. Two were with starting cornerback Brandon Stephens in coverage. Stephens lost Doubs when the receiver cut back toward the goal line, giving Love an opening. He later stayed glued to Doubs’ back, but Love placed the ball on the opposite side. The other touchdown was a jump ball between Christian Watson and Pro Bowl safety Kyle Hamilton. Watson came down with the catch. Hamilton left with an injury.
The Ravens did not give up much on the ground, but the Packers advanced down the field through their passing game. They continued to pick on Stephens and Wiggins, and they also found pockets in the middle of the field.
Danger danger
Looking at the kids of Green Bay and their bikes waiting to chauffeur him to practice, Hamilton paused to consider the safety of getting on a bike that didn’t fit his 6-foot-4 frame.
“This is dangerous!” he exclaimed, watching cornerback Marlon Humphrey take off on a little bike. Hamilton proceeded to pick a larger bike and made it safely to practice (although he didn’t put both feet on the pedals).
Little did he know, it wasn’t a bike that would be the end for him. After contesting the pass to Watson, Hamilton walked to the sideline, where he talked with team personnel away from his teammates. He kept grabbing his left hip.
Hamilton took a few steps back and forth, looking a bit wobbly, before going down to his hands and knees. He stayed on all fours for a bit before getting up and walking off the field.
Although Hamilton returned, that was the end of practice for him. He kept to the sidelines.
Coach John Harbaugh said after practice that the injury wasn’t serious.
Weak spot
Ahead of the preseason game against the Atlanta Falcons, Harbaugh said he’d need at least two more games before he named a starting offensive line. There were only two more preseason games left at the time.
But Harbaugh wasn’t being evasive. At the time, the same players had been dominating the starting snaps. Then things got shaken up.
Since the game against the Falcons, new faces have earned first-team reps and others have changed positions.
At practice against the Packers, second-round pick Roger Rosengarten was not the first right tackle to go out, although he eventually earned his time with the ones. Patrick Mekari, who has also taken snaps as the starting center with Pro Bowler Tyler Linderbaum out, had that honor. Meanwhile, seventh-round pick Nick Samac was snapping the ball to Lamar Jackson.
Faced with the Packers’ starting defense, the offensive line crumbled. Although all but Linderbaum and starting left tackle Ronnie Stanley had played in preseason games, they’d mostly been going against backups. Jackson made up for a lot with his feet, but Rosengarten and right guard Daniel Faalele looked outclassed on the right. The line also committed multiple false starts.
“I feel like we’re going vertical and we’re getting to the backfield. We’re gonna do a lot of destruction back there. I think you guys saw a little, saw a little bit of that today,” Packers defensive lineman Lukas Van Ness said.
In the one series when Jackson and the starting offense went out for a two-minute drill, they stalled quickly. Following a first-down completion to tight end Isaiah Likely, Jackson found wide receivers Malik Cunningham and Rashod Bateman, but it wasn’t enough. Tucker was forced to attempt a field goal from 62 yards. He was on the mark but short.
The Ravens’ second- and third-string offenses did not fare much better. Their series ended in an interception and a turnover on downs.
The highlights came in red-zone drills, when Jackson threw touchdowns to tight end Charlie Kolar and wide receiver Zay Flowers.
