Practice Report: Ravens' Defense Thrives in…

Defenses won the first of two joint practices between the Ravens and Vikings.

Head Coach Jesse Minter’s defense nearly pitched a shutout in the Ravens’ preseason debut, and it carried that momentum into Wednesday’s joint practice against a talented Vikings offense, engineered by Head Coach Kevin O’Connell.

“I thought on defense, [I] really liked the way we played at the line of scrimmage,” Minter said. “I thought we were all over the place, just doing a good job of being physical, getting to our run fits, playing well in coverage.”

On the other side, the Ravens offense was under siege against frequent and exotic blitzes from Vikings Defensive Coordinator Brian Flores.

“Nobody probably pressures more in the league than ‘Flo,'” Minter said. “He does a phenomenal job. He is one of the best coordinators in the league. So, it is a great test.”

Here are my notes from practice, with help from new Ravens play-by-play announcer Kyle Youmans, who predominantly focused on the Ravens defense:

• The news of the day was an unfortunate injury to center Danny Pinter, who seemed to get rolled up on during an 11-on-11 play. Teammates were on a knee for several minutes before Pinter was carted off the field. Minter said he didn’t have an immediate update after practice.

• On the very next play after Pinter went down, replacement center Jovaughn Gwyn opened a huge hole up the middle and gave Vikings rookie defensive tackle Domonique Orange a ride before tossing him to the turf. Derrick Henry rolled through the open space for what would have been a big gain.

• Baltimore’s secondary was suffocating throughout the practice (more details on that below) and won the battle of physicality up front. However, the Vikings scored touchdowns on back-to-back two-minute drills to close out the practice. The first was on a long touchdown pass from Kyler Murray to Justin Jefferson with Marlon Humphrey trailing and Malaki Starks getting to the corner of the end zone a tad too late. The second touchdown was a dime by J.J. McCarthy to Myles Price.

• Conversely, Baltimore’s first- and second-team offenses were stopped on their two-minute drills. Lamar Jackson hit Mark Andrews for one first down where he got out of bounds, but pressure threw off back-to-back plays, and two short completions to Zay Flowers ended the drive. The second-team offense got backed up by a false start, and pressure then got to Tyler Huntley, who was sacked to end the drive and practice.

• Cornerback Keyon Martin was at the center of the practice’s biggest dust-up. As it often happens, it started during a punt return drill in a battle between gunners. Martin got tangled up with Vikings cornerback De’Veawn Armstead, who stood over him for a while as Martin tried to get to his feet. Martin took exception, but the minor fracas was broken up quickly. Safety Keondre Jackson also got into it with a Vikings special teamer one rep after slamming him to the ground. Jackson was a force on special teams drills.

• The other tussle was between Ravens guard John Simpson, who loves playing with an edge, and a Vikings defensive lineman. Simpson ended up on top of the Viking, who was on his back. But generally speaking, both teams were on good behavior.

Defensive Notes

• One of the best receivers in the NFL, Jefferson had a couple impressive plays. The best may have been plucking a long shot over Ravens cornerback Nate Wiggins. Wiggins bounced back to break up another even deeper shot on the next play, this time intended for Jordan Addison.

• Wiggins was arguably the Ravens’ top practice player. He also broke up a long thrown on a curl route intended for Jefferson.

• Marlon Humphrey had a sack on a delayed blitz and a couple of pass breakups, including one on Jefferson and another that he nearly had for an interception.

• Aside from his scuffle, Martin also had a strong practice, forcing an incompletion on third down and forcing a throwaway from Murray on another play. He also caused problems for the Vikings offensive line with a delayed blitz.

• As Minter mentioned, the Ravens were very physical on their defensive front. Aeneas Peebles got into the backfield for a sack. Broderick Washington also made a play in the backfield, Rookie outside linebacker Zion Young had a couple very strong rushes.

Offensive Notes

• First-round rookie guard Vega Ioane was stout in pass blocking drills against the Vikings’ defensive lineman, with multiple stonewalls at the line of scrimmage. While the Ravens offensive line was hit with a lot of pressure, it didn’t seem to be coming from the right guard.

• During 11-on-11 drills, the Ravens offense was under siege from blitzes and pressure. That disrupted Jackson, who took multiple sacks on the day from talented Vikings pass rushers Andrew Van Ginkel and Dallas Turner.

• Wide receiver Rashod Bateman was one of the offensive standouts, as he made a couple of catches early, including a contested grab during 7-on-7s. Bateman also came back to catch a ball and spun out for a big gain.

• Wide receiver Devontez Walker had a couple steps on his defender for what could’ve been a deep touchdown, but the pass was underthrown by Huntley.

• Arguably the offense’s top play of the day was about a 20-yard gain to Flowers on a perfect throw by Jackson, who got the ball out quick after a three-step drop.

• Jackson hit Andrews twice with sidearm throws to avoid oncoming Vikings defenders. The first was another great throw, as Jackson bought time and whipped the pass over the middle while rolling left.

• The Ravens did find some answers to the Vikings’ blitz with their quick/short passing game, which is often how offenses have to beat pressure. LaJohntay Wester popped open for long long catch and run. Baltimore wasn’t able to hit many chunk plays against the Vikings’ pressure on Day 1, however.

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