News & Notes: Tyler Loop Has…

The Ravens brought in veteran kicker Jake Moody this week, and Special Teams Coordinator Anthony Levine Sr. has been pleased with the way Tyler Loop has responded.

Moody is on the practice squad, and Head Coach Jesse Minter said he expects Loop to be the Ravens’ kicker Week 1 in Indianapolis. But it has provided Loop’s first competition since last season’s painful ending.

Levine said he called Loop to  tell him the Ravens were adding another kicker and that “he already knew.”

“What he did was embrace it,” Levine said. “He said, ‘Coach, I am ready for it. I understand what is going on, and I am going to accept this challenge.'”

The challenge for Loop is transferring his practice performance, which was excellent over the course of camp, to games.

“It is not really hard as long as you stay within your mechanics and your technique and stay locked in on your swing,” Levine said. “As long as [Loop] is doing that, [he’ll] continue to work on his technique and take that from practice to games. Is it hard? It is not hard, but we have to continue to make that jump.”

The Ravens signed Moody after Loop missed two field goals in Friday’s preseason finale. He was 5-for-8 over the Ravens’ three preseason games. Moody has a Michigan connection with Senior Special Teams Coach Randy Brown’s son, who was with the Wolverines when Moody played for them.

“We have been talking with him, and he came out, [and] he looks good; he is doing good,” Levine said of Moody. “He is a great guy. I like being around him. He came in, he’s working. So, we will see how he continues to do.”

Ravens Have a Target Completion Percentage for Lamar Jackson

Last offseason, Chicago Bears Head Coach Ben Johnson set a 70% completion rate goal for quarterback Caleb Williams.

Williams ended up connecting on 58.1% of his passes, which ranked 43^rd in the NFL. He did, however, throw for over  400 yards more than he did as a rookie.

As he leads his own offense in Baltimore, Offensive Coordinator Declan Doyle has the same general target for Lamar Jackson. Jackson has flirted with 70% before. His career high was a 67.2% completion rate in 2023. Last year, Jackson was at 63.6%.

Only one NFL quarterback, the New England Patriots’ Drake Maye, topped 70% last season. Two quarterbacks, the Miami Dolphins’ Tua Tagovailoa and Detroit Lions’ Jared Goff, did it in 2024.

The all-time single-season record is 74.4% by Drew Brees in 2018. Brees hit 74.3% the following season in New Orleans and Doyle had a front-row seat as a first-year coaching assistant with the Saints.

“That number, for us, we want to be around 70%,” Doyle said. “That is just like highly-efficient offense [where] we are finding our checkdowns, we are finding the space that the defense is giving us. To me, it’s all about play to play – that is the macro, and we have to focus micro. How do we make this as efficient as we can on this play that we are studying right now? Then, continue to do it play to play.”

Ravens Will Soon Decide on a Starting Center

The Ravens’ decision on who will start at center is going down to the wire.

Danny Pinter’s season-ending injury and Ethan Pocic’s ramp-up from last year’s torn Achilles have impacted the decision as to who will replace departed Pro Bowler Tyler Linderbaum.

Jovaughn Gwyn started the preseason finale, and the team has been pleased with how he’s practiced. Gwyn has roots with Offensive Line Coach/Run Game Coordinator Dwayne Ledford from their three years together with the Atlanta Falcons.

Doyle said the competition is “still up in the air.” After this week, Doyle will sit down with Ledford and Head Coach Jesse Minter and discuss the plan.

“[I] feel really good about how both of those guys have responded with the reps we have given them, but that is where we are at right now,” Doyle said.

Zion Young Has Made Strides on His Pass Rush

Undrafted rookie outside linebacker Ethan Burke has been the story of the week after overcoming the odds to make the Ravens’ 53-man roster.

On Wednesday, Defensive Coordinator Anthony Weaver spoke about the progress that second-round rookie outside linebacker Zion Young has also made.

Young had two tackles and a quarterback hit in two preseason games (he didn’t play in the finale as he dealt with something minor).

“I have been really impressed at how he has adjusted his rush plan between now and college. In college, you can get by just by being a better athlete, being more physical than guys. You cannot do that in this league,” Weaver said.

“You have to adjust your angles, your plan of attack, things like that, and he has already made those adjustments. … I feel like his pass-rushing ability has already grown leaps and bounds. I think his run defense is going to be elite. So, [the] ceiling is very high for that kid.”

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